Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

01/20/2022 update: I fixed the broken image links and some text in the paragraphs below which were a complete mess. Rest assured, I left the overall content and tone consistent with the time in which this post was first published Like John "Hannibal" Smith, I love it when a plan comes together and what I don't love is when a plan falls apart. I intended to a story and some photos of a fresh and new fitted last Friday but my plan was beset by sweltering heat at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Even though my plan was temporarily halted, I consider myself to be resilient so I'm going to show those photos today. With no further ado, I present to you this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection which is the cap worn by the team of Virginia's state capital, the Richmond Flying Squirrels.  The Flying Squirrels identity was one of the agency's earliest creations when it was known as Plan B Branding and I appreciate that the outline silhou

The 2016 MLB All-Star Game will be here in less than two weeks and I have an important question to ask: do you have a cap that is equally garish and banal enough to show support for your team? If you are a San Francisco Giants fan like I am, click here to pick one up in your team's flavor. I'm less than enthused about the stars on the eyelets but I appreciate that there are efforts being made to take new and interesting design choices on this year's on-field cap. In keeping with a trend that was started in 2014, this year's All-Star Game's on-field cap is a Diamond Era style hat where the colorways are not necessarily consistent with the one's a team uses normally. There are a few interesting palette choices overall and you can see a few examples of how this looks here . While they decided to keep the All-Star Game cap understated this year, you've no doubt seen the atrocity that is the 2016 Home-Run Derby cap . This design schema is in contrast to h

I'm not usually into Giants hats in colorways other than black and orange but the combination of dark navy and gym red on the 2014 MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby cap is mighty snazzy. The left-side patch seems almost painted on here. Not complaining, just an observation! In retrospect, it would have been cool if they honored Prince's hometown of Minneapolis with some purple here. Standard issue Diamond Era materials on the inside but of course I must dock points because the cap was not Made in U.S.A. The red, white and blue batterman seals the deal here even though the cap is imported from China. We are one week closer to the 2016 MLB All-Star Game and since last week’s post, there haven't been many new images released of this year's cap and uniform lineup. As of now, the only photo I’ve found of the cap that the players will be wearing during this year's ASG in San Diego is this one: Oops, sorry about that. The image

June is here which means it's the perfect time to start getting excited about this year's All-Star Game! Wait a second, maybe it isn't. Unless you are a Royals or Cubs fan there's actually no point in getting excited since the fans of those two teams are diligently stuffing the ballots with the names of their own players so nobody on your team will be in the starting lineup. Womp Womp.  I understand that undying loyalty can lead one to extremes but I'd rather have a little diversity on the field than just choosing my guys because they're my guys. Besides that, the starting line-up should really reflect this season's premier players rather than homer selections. I guess I shouldn't be sour grapes just yet as voting is still underway, which means that other fans can zealously stuff ballots as well. As a San Francisco Giants fan, 2015's All-Star Game was special as for the third time in five years our skipper, Bruce Bochy, managed the NL team. Al

As I'm sure anyone reading this is already aware, Monday, April 3, 2016 was Opening Day however I have a question for the baseball purists out there: did it feel less special because there were three televised games on Sunday, April 3, which was the day before Opening Day? This question is tricky because some might say having Opening Day on a Monday is a tradition that must be observed but then there are also those that wonder who in their right mind would be upset that the baseball season began early ? I love the traditional aspect of the game but I admit that I fall into the latter camp simply because my motto is "more baseball, more better". Well that's not really my motto but one of my dreams is for Major League Baseball to expand and have a short-season league in the Southern Hemisphere (or make the Australian Baseball League a thing) so that MLB could have games year-round, meaning there would be two Opening Days! In that case, let's talk logistics

Chances are if you are wearing a black hat with an orange B on it, people will just assume you are a Baltimore Orioles fan which I suppose isn't necessarily a bad thing. That assumption however can become problematic if you are really fan of the San Francisco Giants. I spent many years rooting for the Giants when I lived in the Bay Area of California but now that I live in New York, I need a more subtle way to root for my team. One way that suits me well is wearing caps from the Giants' minor league teams, both past and present. This Bellingham Giants cap is an example of the former and I really connect with this unique logo. A simple design such as the orange B over the silver batter is pure elegance although the baseball diamond in the back reminds me of certain Brooklyn Dodgers retro caps that I've seen.  The combination of the grey underbrim, white sweatband and the Made in U.S.A. tag from the mid-1990's makes me so happy.  The black and orange MILB

The team logo for the Scottsdale Scorpions might not be widely recognized by most casual baseball fans but die-hard San Francisco Giants fans sure know it when they see it.  I have had my eye on this one for a good while now as I have enjoyed watching many young Giants wearing this Arizona Fall League affiliate's cap over the past few years. Major League Baseball's teams typically send their top prospects to varying Fall League teams every year but the Giants have consistently sent their top prospects to Scottsdale since the 2006 season and possibly before.  The first few current Giants who are Scorpions alumni that come to mind for me are Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford who both played for Scottsdale in 2009. All murdered-out simplicity at its finest but curiously there is no MLB/MILB tag on the inside but there is the Batterman patch on the back. I wish I could share some fun relics of Posey and Crawford as Scorpions from yesteryear but all the photos I

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

Ok now, I know these entries are named "Fresh Fitted Friday" but sometimes it's important not to overlook the virtue of the non-fitted cap. While I am not suggesting the likelihood of entry titles like "Sweet Snapback Saturday" or anything of the sort, I do feel that certain cap logos just seem to look better on snapbacks. When I moved to New York City in 2010, I noticed then that much of the city's cap culture had started paying attention to snapbacks. I tried to stay away from that trend as much as possible but some caps represent your favorite team so well that, when they come your way it's hard to turn them down. Such was the case when I came across this vintage San Jose Giants cap. I've found that I'm not the only San Francisco Giants fan in town as I see plenty of standard SF Giants caps out and about, so I am looking forward to wearing this San Jose Giants snapback. I especially like the way the orange visor sets off with the gree