Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

Well folks, thanks for being understanding of my need to take a minor break from the good ole Baseball Milquetoast blog experience last week but rest assured because we're back now and ready to be better than ever!  I've spent most of this pandemic writing about West Coast caps and since I'm ready to start showing love to the East Coast once again, we're going to start that trend off with a Reading Phillies hat which is fitting as I'm totally STOKED on Pennsylvania at the moment. I've never been much of a fan of red hats and especially less so over the last four years but there's a small chance I'll warm up to them again soon because 2020 has been a wild year so who knows what's going to happen next, right?!? Reading wore this cap from 1992 through 1997 but the lack of the New Era flag tag on the sweatband confirms that this particular one wasn't worn after 1996. I have come to believe that the MILB batterman began to appear on MILB caps in 1993

I've finally run out of classic Eastern League caps, y'all. The last few weeks have been fun but I'm really excited to share a recent pick-up that has a timely meaning to me. I'll be in Philadelphia this weekend celebrating a good friend's birthday and because "R" is her last initial, I'll be wearing a Reading Phillies snapback in her honor. Like the Albany-Colonie Yankees logo, this one reminds me of fond memories collecting baseball cards as a youngster. As far as I can tell from the old photos in my research, this is the logo that Reading stuck with from around 1980 until 1991. The following year was when the caps went from maroon to MAGA-tized red and the serifs went from pointy to bubbly: I tried finding a card from a recognizable player from that 1992 season but there really were none. The closest I could find was Mike Lieberthal. The maroon crown with the green underbrim is such a legendary combination. Don't fight it, Fig