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Showing posts with the label San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants Beer Pack 25th Anniversary Patch Hat Club: "Anchor Steam"

The Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend begins today  in Cooperstown and ends on Sunday when Fred McGriff and Scott Rolen are enshrined in the Class of 2023. As a San Francisco Giants fan, I have yet to see a Giant who I actively cheered for get inducted in my lifetime and our next best shot means waiting until Buster Posey appears on the 2027 ballot. Giants fans will just have to hate-watch the results starting with Chase Utley who makes his  BBWAA  ballot debut next year. This will be especially poignant considering 2023 was Jeff Kent's last year on that ballot. Kent was a notoriously bad fielder so despite  outslugging Utley in almost every offensive category,  comparing the two second basemen is futile. Both played for 16 seasons but the writers will likely vote Utley in based on some combination of his superb defensive metrics and his solid offensive numbers while Kent was discarded from the ballot because his defensive capabilities left so much to be desired. Personally,

1993 San Francisco Giants

I’m taking a respite from the National Day themes for this post because there’s finally been some big news in the baseball world this week as David Ortiz was the only former player elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America–BBWWA for short which by the way, note the ridiculousness of the two B’s in the acronym–on this year’s 2022 Hall of Fame ballot. While congratulations are in order for Ortiz, these results mean Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa have missed election for the 10th and final time and next year will be off the ballot. All four of those players deserve plaques in Cooperstown but the tribunal that comprises the BBWWA could not come to a reasonable consensus to recognize that. The Hall of Fame candidacies of these legends now lie in the hands of the “Today’s Game Committee” which looks to honor the players who dominated the game from 1988 through 2016. Luckily that time frame encompasses the years Bonds racked up his 14 All-Star Game appe

2002 World Series - San Francisco Giants (Alt logo from 2003-06)

I neglected my posting duties last week by not sharing a Fresh Fitted for the first Fresh Fitted Friday of 2022 but that just means this week's cap has to work extra hard to assume that role! For the very special honor of starting the year off right I have selected a 2002 World Series cap which when combined with this particular San Francisco Giants logo, is a bit of a mind-bender. I viewed footage from all seven games of the 2002 World Series and can confirm that this alternate logo was not worn during any of them, which makes sense because it did not appear until the 2003 season. Nevertheless, I have a soft spot in my heart for this one as this design was very popular when i moved to the Bay Area in 2005.  January 7 is National Bobblehead Day so this cap is teaming up with a Tim Lincecum bobblehead that I procured at a special event at AT&T Park in 2011. Fun fact: the orange-brimmed cap Lincecum is wearing was only worn during Game 4 of the 2010 World Series, which in case y

2011 San Francisco Giants "Ring Ceremony" Cap

I've already mentioned this before but can't help reiterating 2021 is a milestone year for this blog as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. Having the opportunity to do something I truly enjoy for a decade is a strong reminder of how very fortunate I have been during that time. When I published my first post in August 2011, my passion for ballcap collecting had just been reignited after spending my first full year in New York City. Of course, I  wore ballcaps when I was in the Bay Area but it wasn't an everyday thing like it is for me now. My move here during the Giants historic postseason run in 2010 must have amplified my desire to flaunt my love for the Bay as well as connect with people from home. Thankfully, there was an East Village bar called Finnerty's where Bay Area ex-pats congregated and wearing a Giants hat was an easy way to spot each other as we enjoyed the spoils of New York while far from home. Wearing my fresh Giants cap with the 2010 World Series patch

2010 World Series - San Francisco Giants

By this time next week, the 2020 World Series will have wrapped up and it's only fitting that the last Fresh Fitted Friday of this year's baseball season should also be the conclusion of the Orange October series that I've been running over the last few weeks. To say the circumstances of this year's World Series are unprecedented would be the biggest baseball-related understatement of the decade but it's still important to take a moment to recognize the significance this year's matchup plays in the overall history of the Fall Classic. Except for a very small (and fortunate) percentage of the baseball fan population, watching the World Series is almost always something that you watch on your TV at home and most times it's between two teams who are not that important to you. But this year, only one of things is true in my case! As a San Francisco Giants fan, my only desired outcome regarding this series is for the Los Angeles Dodgers to lose to the Tampa

1994-95 San Francisco Giants

As of now, having only four teams remain in the MLB postseason makes it tricky to find a cap relating to the San Francisco Giants-themed  Orange October series I've been running. Because of this, I ask you to bear with me as I attempt to tie-in the Tampa Bay Rays' historic 2020 season to the 1994-95 Giants cap I've selected for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post. This doesn't mean I had no other options, though! I briefly considered busting out the cap the Giants wore during the ill-fated 2002 World Series because Dusty Baker was at the helm then and is in his  first year managing the embattled Houston Astros, who are just one game away from getting eliminated from the ALCS. Do you believe in Dustiny?!? That hat must wait for another time though because an argument can be made that Tampa Bay has an even stronger connection to the Giants organization and it's one that a lot of folks might not know about.  In the Minneapolis Millers  post a few weeks ago, I men

1951 Minneapolis Millers (EFF Retro)

Welcome to the first Baseball Milquetoast post of MLB's 2020 postseason!  Those who remember my grim outlook at the beginning of the season might feel the urge to blow me a raspberry paired with a healthy "I told you so!" because those early predictions didn't come true and to that I say, hold your raspberries until the final out is recorded in the World Series as there's still time to fail, friends! In all seriousness, I hope this season wraps up as planned even though I'm feeling mighty bitter about my Giants postseason plans get squashed on the very last day of the regular season. That it was at the hands of a division rival stings but not as bad as it would if they lost to the Dodgers. Still though, I'm not at all sure how to process my emotions about the PADRES playing the villain. To their credit, the Padres have been grinding all season and I wouldn't be mad if they made it all the way to the World Series as they've been a fun team to wat

San Jose Giants - 2013 California League All-Star Game

Unless something changes between now and next week, the last cap in this recent tour throughout the California league is going to be this San Jose Giants cap which features a patch commemorating San Jose hosting the 2013 California League All-Star Game. Side-patch mania is at another one of its peaks with cap collectors currently and while I'm not personally seeking out these newfangled releases, my thing will always be vintage caps of Giants affiliates that feature truly special patches such as this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  selection. This patch ranks right after the 2007 MLB All-Star Game patch as far as I'm concerned. I love the Giants wordmark logo featured prominently on top of what looks like the In-N-Out logo and bonus points for the text specifying that the exhibition game was played between the Carolina League and California League. I'm only just now popping tags on this one so forgive me for the sticker shock here but wow... a Made In China cap retailed

2019 All-Star Game San Francisco Giants cap - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

Welcome to the first blog of the 2020 baseball season! There were many bumps on the road up to this point but I’m hopeful the league and its teams continue to be dynamic in solving the new challenges it faces as they arise. T here's plenty else to talk about besides this rollout but I'll get to all that after we get through some "story time" on this week's cap. Last week's 2007 All- Star Game Los Angeles Dodgers cap was the first––and likely last––time I'll post a LA Dodgers hat on this blog but featuring such an adversity-laden combination of a hat was too strong an urge to resist and now to restore harmony, I feel compelled to  showcase a SF Giants cap. To that point, this week's hat is the 2019 variant worn by Will Smith who, as the sole Giants representative in that game, gave up a home-run to Joey Gallo and then got Francisco Lindor to ground out to end the eighth inning. Just one example why 2019 was a terrible year for the Giants. This hat

Augusta GreenJackets - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

While last week's first in-person game of the year was the true beginning of this MLB season for me, I’m even more pumped to attend my first San Francisco Giants game of 2018 this coming Saturday in Atlanta. Yes, I have to settle for an away game but it’s my first time at the newly built SunTrust Park so I’m commemorating the experience with a cap that honors both teams. The Augusta GreenJackets have been affiliated with the Giants since 2005 and wore this logo from 2006 through 2017, which was their last year playing in Augusta, GA. Wait, what? OK, so they’re still the Augusta GreenJackets but after the 2017 season, they moved from Lake Olmstead Stadium in Augusta, GA to SRP Park, which is located in North Augusta, South Carolina. Thanks to this newly learned factoid, I can’t stop thinking about other teams that play and/or have played in cities adjacent to a city with the same name in a bordering state. For current MILB clubs, I’ve got Bristol Tigers and Bl