Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

Apologies for starting this week's post with a math lesson, but it's Pi Day so I must mention the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is referred to by the Greek letter “π” and has an irrational number value, which means it continues on into infinity. However, I am assigning it a rational number value of 3.1415926535 to save space here. Mathematics enthusiasts have celebrated that wacky number on March 14 (also written as 3/14) every year since 1988 as Pi Day which provides enough pretext for eating copious amounts of pie, whether they be sweet, savory or even both. The last time March 14 fell on a Friday was in 2014 and unfortunately I did not have the idea then to dedicate a post to it like I did this year! The only pie-related baseball caps I am aware of are the Lehigh Valley IronPigs "Shoofly" alternate or the Portland SeaDogs "Whoopie Pie" identity and I am not jazzed enough about either one to make a special purchase for this post so ...

In my Milwaukee Brewers City Connect "Grill" cap  post from this past summer, I provided tiers of where each team's City Connect kits ranked in my opinion and while the hat was not the on-field design the Brewers wore for their City Connect games, that exclusive design from Hat Club was my preferred choice between the two. I mentioned then I had gotten some actual City Connect on-field caps and the Tampa Bay Rays cap has the honor of being the first to be posted here, although sadly my driving force in choosing it for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post was the passing of my Uncle Bobby in Tampa. He was instrumental in getting me to appreciate baseball in my early years and you will never forget the person who taught you how to throw a fastball. I never got a chance to see a Rays game with him but I will be wearing this City Connect hat in tribute whenever I make my first trip to their new ballpark which is slated to open in 2026. I brought up both Juan Soto and the...

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday  selection from the New York-Penn League takes us north of New York City metropolitan area to Duchess County which is where the Hudson Valley Renegades have played since their inaugural season in 1994. This cap logo was worn by the Renegades from 1994 up through 2003, which was their final season with the burgundy and green colorway.  In addition to the colorway switch-up in 2004, the MILB sweatband tag is from no later than 2003 which tells me that would be  the final year this cap could have been worn. For as long as this team has existed, it has relied on Studio Simon in Louisville Kentucky to design its entire brand identity. For an in-depth account of the team's rebrand in 2017, check out this  this excellent write-up   by Paul Caputo for SportsLogos.net. It takes a good amount of effort and desire to leave the city for fun day trips up to the Hudson Valley and while I definitely don't get up there enough, jus...