Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

In honor of today being  Harry Potter Day, this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday selection is this  Spellbinder cap designed by Clinker Wynne Studio  which by  my current count is the 14th cap I've featured from The Clink Room. I believe I should be thankful for that distinction because celebrating wizard stuff with number 13 would have maybe been too on the nose. Now I must admit  I was a bit too old to get into  the Harry Potter books when they first released in 1997 but thankfully was ready to appreciate these stories when the movies came out a few years later. I am still not as well versed as my niece who is a rabid fan and is really looking forward to visiting the Harry Potter Shop during an upcoming trip to New York in July. I am brushing up on Harry Potter lore in preparation beginning with a marathon viewing of the movies tonight although I need wizard strength to make it through them all in one sitting. This would be quite the feat as the reason f...

I can hardly believe it has been a full two weeks since Opening Day and yet, I can tell my honeymoon period might be winding down. I seem to be taking for granted that baseball games are being played every day because I have already forgotten to set my fantasy rosters a few times so far. To be fair this past week was an extra busy one for me but thankfully I carved out some time to make it to my first game of the year at some point this weekend for at least one of the three games between my San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. As long as the weather in the Bronx cooperates, the only thing I need to consider is what hat to wear. In previous times when the Giants came to town, I wore hats featuring some of the different variations of the current San Francisco logo as well as retro New York Giants caps which have elicited a few "Mets Suck!" taunts from Yankees fans who clearly do not know their baseball history. Lucky for me I don't wear hats for other people's...

You might have expected the first week of spring training games to bring news  of a particular player or team about to have a breakout season but the biggest story in the  baseball world since my last post is the New York Yankees are now allowing players to sport  "well-groomed beards" which is a major shift away from their stringent facial hair policy of nearly 50 years. While I am personally not fond of the effort needed to maintain a beard or long hair, I can appreciate how some players enjoy expressing their unique sense of style through their grooming methods so from that aspect, the  rule  was needlessly restrictive. This is especially true for  players who  perform at a high level and also  treat their teammates and coaches with respect. At the same time, I appreciate  then-owner George Steinbrenner initiating this practice  because certain players were not putting their "best foot forward" at work. Pushback is to be expected but ...

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday post marks the eleventh time I have shared a cap from The Clink Room, which is fitting as this Sandpipers hat was chosen for the "eleven pipers piping" lyrics in the English Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as tomorrow is the eleventh day of Christmas. You might be saying to yourself, "sounds great, but today is the tenth day of Christmas." To which I have no good reply other than the last time January 4 fell on a Friday was in 2019, and I did not have this hat then. The next time the days align will be 2030, and my current Christmas spirit is too strong to allow me to wait until then to share this hat with you folks! Sandpipers are a common bird where I grew up in Virginia Beach so this hat speaks to me on that level first and foremost. I also have an affinity for for many aspects of Scottish culture so the only thing that could make this hat better is if it incorporated baseball somehow! The red underviso...

I had to take last week off because the reentry hangover after the Labor Day holiday weekend and a planned trip to Cape Cod the following weekend ate away at any hope of writing. Nevertheless, I am now back recharged and looking forward to a New York Yankees series win over the Boston Red Sox who are visiting Yankee Stadium for the last time this season. I was in attendance for Juan Soto's walkoff hit in Game 1 which bodes well. But instead of writing about a cap related to either of those teams, I am highlighting this Catalina Flying Fish cap that I picked up at theclinkroom.com   in a recent "Fresh Colorway" drop of this now classic logo that made its debut in a preorder in 2020. I unfortunately slept on that release and have regretted it ever since until now!  Something about the uncomplicated nature of this design has resonated with me and I am sure the same is true for countless other fans of The Clink Room as it has been remixed a few times since that first rel...

I shared lots of words in last week's impromptu tribute to Willie Mays and the topic for this post is another one that needs discussion as today is the anniversary of the Stonewall riots which began on June 28, 1969. The police brutality inflicted upon the  gay and lesbian community brought national attention on the desperate need to ensure civil rights in the protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In addition to being an important political moment, one of the  cultural effects was those who were marginalized began to openly "come out" regarding their gender identity. I was born a decade after these events began to unfold and feel fortunate to have gotten to know so many lovely gay and lesbian folks growing up which shaped my inclusive nature early on. I was also inspired by queer icons in entertainment such as Elton John and Freddie Mercury however it was John Waters' 1972 film 'Pink Flamingos' that made the greatest impact on me. ...

I am not going to front: I had multiple Philadelphia-adjacent caps at the ready for this week and the next but the Phillies' elimination in the NLCS by the Arizona Diamondbacks has summarily drained my desire to post photos of those hats thus, this week I am channeling National Black Cat Day energy for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post. And since I don't have any caps with a black cat on the logo we are pivoting by showcasing the embroidery of a white bat on a black hat which I guess which is acceptable because we are staying within the spooky parameters of the Halloween season! I've mentioned this before but I would really like to see some sort of "Clink Room" sweatband  tag on these caps if for no other reason than experiencing the joy of pure symmetry!  See how nice the Clink Kong logo looks in his symmetrically embroidered glory here? I love this! My life is filled with few regrets which is why I have no misgivings about posting Mystery "N" S...

The Atlanta Braves clinched the National League East Division earlier this week, however instead of dedicating this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  to the big news of being the first MLB team this year to gain a postseason berth, we honor the centennial of the birth of Hank Williams—another iconic Southern entity—which is this coming Sunday, September 17. I have recently featured two Hip Hop 50 related hats so now is a good time to temporarily shift gears with a country-tinged cap. As I have mentioned before, I grew up listening to lots of hard rock and rap in the 1980s although sadly never appreciated country music until I went to college in Colorado which is where I first learned about bluegrass and Americana in general. My first exposure to "The Hillbilly Shakespeare" is not a memory I can accurately retrace however I suspect a key catalyst to that moment was my chemistry lab partner, Nathan, who grew up in Nashville, TN. Each of us had diverse musical tastes that we enj...

It seems as though every social media out there is posting ads and articles celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. While some of these posts seem to be overly-commercialized, as a hip-hop enthusiast I always appreciate when any sort of positive light is put on the culture that I have been fond of for the vast majority of my life. So in the spirit of not feeling left out in honoring 50 years of hip-hop,  this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is "B-Ball Stance" which was designed by Clinker SierraGonz for The Clink Room . Outside of liking of few of  @sierragonz_  posts on IG, I haven't interacted with them much but I'm a big fan of their work, especially the designs with Native American themes. As far as USA themes go, I can't think of one more unequivocally American than hip-hop. After all we are talking about a culture that was born here in the States and has spread its reach all around the world. In the early days of hip-hop, making your mark styl...

To celebrate World Bee Day last year I wrote about my Bad News Bees hat that I procured from The Clink Room and for today’s Fresh Fitted Friday post I am honoring the holiday with this "Hive Mind" cap which also came from The Clink Room.   If you’ve been reading the blog for a while now you know I’m a sucker for all things bee-related and the origin of that is my admiration of my wife’s affinity for bees. Her birthday happens to fall around the same time as World Bee Day which is perfect timing as I’m able to celebrate them alongside her every year. I added a "Bees" label to this post to make it easy to track previous posts but I promise this one is the most metal of all with honey dripping on the skull of this logo which was designed by Nashville-based artist Austin Gray aka  @entireworld.us   on Instagram.  This is the first hat from Austin that I’ve featured here and I've got another great one to share around Halloween.   There are more bee-themed pos...

The closest I've come to a proper Cinco de Mayo post here was with my Asheville Yacumamas Copa de la Diversión hat back in 2021 and because it'll be five years until the next time the holiday falls on a Friday, now is the time to showcase this incredible "Conchita" cap  designed  by  Mexico City-based artist  Clinker Jacobo. Jacobo has released dozens of designs via The Clink Room and while this is my first and so far, only one of their logos that I've bought, I'll be sure to get more in the future as their releases are always uniquely eye-catching. The emerald green visor and rust crown lend some seriously vintage vibes here and these aged hues fit perfectly in a scene involving tacos, tequila and tunes from a playlist featuring a steady stream of norteño and ranchera classics from the 1970s. The electric green Kong embroidery here sets it off completely for me. I love it. I mentioned earlier that the next Fresh Fitted Friday post that will fall on Cinco de ...

The date was March 24, 2001 and  Randy Johnson was pitching late into his final start of Spring Training. Very few people know or care that the  Arizona  Diamondbacks defeated the San Francisco Giants 10-6 in a split squad matchup that afternoon. The game wasn't televised and the box score is virtually impossible to track down however March 24 will forever live in infamy due to the only notable event that afternoon which was when Johnson faced Giants outfielder Calvin Murray in the top of the seventh inning of a game that was already highly contentious, even if it was a "meaningless" spring training matchup. Johnson fired a heater that Murray never had a chance of hitting, especially because a dove in flight with the worst possible timing got in front of the ball as it made its way from the mound to home plate. Much has been written since the incident but what is also notable is Murray's nephew is Kyler Murray, who is currently the quarterback for the Arizo...