Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I was speaking with someone recently who made reference to some album having come out 30 years ago and after a few automatic nods in obligatory agreement, it dawned on me that we were talking about something that happened in 1991, folks! I'm not sure if this type of confusion becomes a more frequent occurrence the older we get but, this one really threw me for a loop. I happened to be watching baseball during this conversation so it's no surprise I started to think about how this year's top teams fared thirty years ago.  The Atlanta Braves were the big story in 1991 when they became the first National League team to appear in a World Series after having finished the previous season in last place. Even though they ended up falling to the the Minnesota Twins in Game 7 of that most memorable series, that season brought the team its first of 14 consecutive division titles. The Braves had an even better record the following year, returning to the Fall Classic once again however ...

It was hard for me not to have a proper Southern League hat for last week's Fresh Fitted Friday, so I'm fully energized this week to be able to share this 1999 Knoxville Smokies hat with you this time around. I have to admit when this logo came out in 1993, I didn't think anything was special about it besides the fact that bonafide prospects like Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green wore the cap that season. My best guess is that this cap is from 1999 as that is the year that the New Era flag began appearing on the side of MILB caps as well as the fact that the white taping and sweatband tags are identical to this 1 999 Capital City Bombers cap . Here's a flipped-up view where if you zoom in you'll see the modernized, yet tonal, New Era branding on the adjustable snap itself. Even though this is a snapback, I feel fortunate to have snagged this cap as it's not one that seems to come around as often as one would think. Another reason my guess is that th...

Continuing with the theme of former Toronto Blue Jays affiliates in the South Atlantic League, I'm obliged to discuss Toronto's presence in South Carolina which began in 1981 with the Florence Blue Jays, who in 1987 became the Myrtle Beach Blue Jays. The team rebranded as the Myrtle Beach Hurricanes in 1991 and after the 1992 season, moved to Hagerstown, MD to become the newest incarnation of the Hagerstown Suns where their affiliation with Toronto continued.  Because the team only existed for two seasons, finding an original hat is an exercise in futility so w hen I learned Hat Club was releasing a retro, I had to pick it up. I had some reservations about pulling the trigger on this cap because the logo is noticeably larger than the OG. Based on how fast the hat sold out, I believe this was a conscious decision by Hat Club as perhaps they felt they'd sell more hats with an aggrandized logo.  For reference, here are  some photos of the more dainty logo o...

I hope y'all don't mind that I took last week off but I was worn out from Turkey Day and that's too bad because I had a Part II edition of the previous week's  Fresh Fitted Friday by featuring the current Buffalo Bisons cap. What sparked the two-part series is news of New Era Cap closing their manufacturing plant in Derby, New York. Over the past few years New Era has shifted a good chunk of its production overseas making it increasingly difficult to find US-made caps. I would imagine that in a few years those hats are going to come at a premium on the secondary market similar to the 100% wool/grey-bottom craze that began after New Era switched to the 100% polyester/black-underbrim build in 2007. So what's the correct course of action here for a cap addict? Do I lie down and die because there's nothing I can do? Do I take a seam-ripper to the New Era logo on my hats? Do I stop buying New Era hats completely and just stick to Ideal Cap Co. and Ebbets Field...

Last week's Birmingham Barons post might have gotten me really hype on Double-A caps so I sense more of those coming over the next few weeks. Because today is my birthday, I decided to give myself a little shout-out by featuring a cap with my initials (NH) and what's even cooler about this New Hampshire Fisher Cats hat is that it's one my wife gifted to me. This is the primary (I'm so sorry; I couldn't help myself) cap worn by the Fisher Cats and while its logo is not as flashy as some of the other minor league caps out there, I like that the line through the H is the fisher's tail. Also, this is an article about the fisher. The standard current-day New Era taping and tags are found on this cap. Unlikely that this set of tags will change anytime soon, but hey you never know! I like that democracy was utilized in choosing the team's name but I'm hoping that for one game they do a "What If?" night and go by the New Hampshire For...