Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

Are you a U.S. citizen who has recently been considering a move to Canada? Perhaps a single-payer healthcare system appeals to you? Maybe you are intrigued that their nation's leader has actual political experience as opposed to simply being a crass reality TV star who inherited a real estate business from his father? Either way, no judgement!  Keep in mind, as a baseball fan in Canada you probably will not attend many live games. The Toronto Blue Jays are an option but what if you are moving to a western province? If your new home is in British Columbia, consider yourself lucky since the only minor league team in Canada affiliated with Major League Baseball is the  Vancouver Canadians . If you don't live in Toronto or Vancouver, independent leagues like the  Can-Am League  and the American Association  have teams representing cities such as Ottawa, Quebec City and Winnipeg. Of course, Montreal is still in serious need of a professional team but so are Canada's 4th a

In celebration of the 2013 World Series being underway, I thought it would be fun to showcase a couple of caps from a Pacific Coast League franchise where St. Louis outfielder Carlos Beltran played: the Spokane Indians. The PCL is a league that was officially founded in 1903, just two years after MLB's American League. I find comfort in the fact that baseball has been played in the Pacific Northwest ever since the United States' Western Expansion reached the  Oregon Territory .  So let's get to talking about this cap. First up you'll notice that the logo features the letters "S" and "I" interlocking on a royal blue crown.  As many of you know from reading this site, I love the style of serifs used here and I really enjoy that the "S" is so similar to the"S" in the Shreveport Captains cap logo. It's no secret that I heavily favor these old school caps made of 100% wool with the green-underbrims. I especi

This Tucson Toros cap logo is not the most iconic, but it's not without symbolistic importance. You might be asking yourself, "how is ripping off the Chicago Bulls logo symbolic?"and to that I can only reply with, can you not tell that there are no red tips on this Bull's  (oops!) Toro's horns? It seems like Pro-line went with the extra-round varietal of brims this particular season. Good ol' sweatband tags doing their jobs! I'm writing about about one final cap from a team based in a Spring Training state to close out the theme of the past few weeks. I chose to focus on this Tucson Toros cap in light of the Arizona Wildcats' elimination from the NCAA Championship. I always thought it was so handy that there was a Triple-A baseball team in the same town as a big school like the University of Arizona.  So after many years of baseball prosperity in Tucson, the death rattle began to shake when the Arizona Diamondbacks were born. It truly is sad

When the New York (baseball) Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, their fans in New York weren't the only ones feeling the heartache of losing their team.  For decades, the San Francisco Seals were a major force in the City by the Bay.  They marked their last season there by winning the Pacific Coast League's pennant in 1957 when they were an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.  The following year, they moved to Phoenix and became the top farm team of the newly arrived Giants who displaced them and this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is the cap they wore: I love this cap but it gets tiresome when people constantly confuse it for a Pittsburgh Pirates cap. It's orange not yellow, folks!  That green satin underbrim is what dreams are made of... Nothing but the best quality production from the good folks at Ebbets Field Flannels! Made in USA, every single time. Ride with Pride! This shot of "Willie Mac" is the best photo I c

Writing about the Springfield Cardinals Diamond Era cap last week was a nice change of pace as I don't often cover caps from teams affiliated with organizations that are rivals to the San Francisco Giants. I decided to continue with that trend this week as the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico also has a significant minor league baseball history and most of it was spent as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is the Giants' most vilified enemy. Here's a better look at this zany logo that I enjoy so much, as well as some obligatory photos of the inside tags that haven't changed much over the past few years: While most minor league teams switch leagues, towns and parent club affiliations regularly, Albuquerque endured a continuous player development relationship with the Dodgers from 1962 until the Dukes were sold and moved to Portland, Oregon in 2001. They became known as the Portland Beavers and began a ten season long affiliation with the S

I'm back on the train and I have to admit that it feels pretty darn good to post two weeks in a row after such a long absence. One benefit of the hiatus is that I've got a steady pipeline of hats to write about. This one is from a team whose cap logo  I've admired  for a while now and that team would be none other than the Nashville Sounds: Since 1901, Nashville has enjoyed virtually continuous professional baseball, the only interruption being a 14 year dearth that occurred between the Nashville Volunteers' final season in 1963 and the Nashville Sounds' inaugural season in 1978. Interestingly enough, the earliest images I could find of anyone wearing a Nashville Sounds cap or uniform was from a 1981 team set issued by Arby's. Yes, that Arby's. Here's a card from that set showing Don Mattingly in this iconic get-up.  It looks like that same photo shoot also provided the shot used for a 1982 Nashville Sounds promotional sc

The Albuquerque Dukes and Denver Zephyrs are two former Minor League Baseball teams that you probably don't remember unless they played in your hometown or you are a die-hard fan of the Dodgers or Brewers, respectively. Then again, that seemingly obscure nature of these clubs is what is so great about MILB teams in the first place. They provide endless entertainment to appreciative fans who might otherwise never see an MLB game in person. The Dukes and Zephyrs were two teams that I remembered because their prospects would go on to play in the MLB and I can remember my MILB cards featuring Pedro Martinez wearing a Dukes ballcap very similar to the one I have pictured here. I'll post an image of that card as a reference because it's difficult to imagine Pedro wearing anything but a Red Sox cap! However, it's no secret I'm no fan of the Red Sox or the Dodgers so this Dukes cap isn't something that I'll wear to a ballgame or anywhere for that matter, so I'