Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

This Harrisburg Senators "Road Cap" was selected for this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday post  as tribute to Kamala Harris who served a term as a United States Senator from California from 2016 until assuming her current role of U.S. Vice President in 2021. Earlier this week, V.P. Harris lost her campaign for the office of U.S. President which makes the subject of this week's post the fourth in a row to have the "Didn't Work Out This Time" theme. Ahead of writing this week, I intended to claim that I do not make a habit of churning politically concentrated posts but looking back through the archives confirms this is the third time the attention shifted to  Presidential  matters. While this blog started in 2011, the election in 2012 was not covered as my only post that year was in April. AT any rate, this coming Monday is also Veterans Day so the patriotic focus feels today even more apt. Beyond the flag-loving aspect of this cap, I am enthralled by the comb...

Last week’s Música de Memphis cap was a great accessory to have on my trip to Mexico and I’m so happy to be back in the States in time for March 4 which is an unofficial holiday called March Forth due to its name being a homophone of the date. In reading up on the holiday I learned that the full version of its name is March Forth and Do Something Day but I think “March Forth” gets the message across just fine.  My research also brought to my attention that since 2017, March 4 has been used as the day to celebrate Marching Music Day . Because the “march” music genre traces its roots back to its military origins, this seems like an excellent opportunity to bring out my Jackson Generals retro from Hat Club. The five stars on the cap logo worn by the Jackson Generals of the Texas League is a reference to the highest military rank in the United States. Interestingly enough two stars was the highest rank received by Andrew Jackson, who is the inspiration for both the team’s moniker as ...

This week's National Day theme is of the three-day variety as we are about to embark upon Presidents' Day Weekend! To celebrate this much appreciated respite from the routine grind, I cherry-picked a Fredericksburg Nationals "George" alternate cap to celebrate the first President of the United States. I obtained this hat up from Hat Club in early 2021 and to me, this design is a fantastic way to tie American folklore into a baseball cap logo. I cannot tell a lie: I prefer caps that are made in the U.S.A. If there's ever a good time for a red, white and blue batterman, it's Presidents' Day One of the first things schoolchildren in the US are taught about George Washington is the Cherry Tree Myth and I only now  just learned from this article  that the whole story was fabricated so they could sell more books about the President. When students are learning about irony in later grades, this exact scenario should be highlighted as a key example. Well, back to ...

This is the cap that the All Americans team wore during their 1934 Tour of Japan which I'll provide more details about further below. In the meantime, take a moment to appreciate the subtle elegance of this two-toned interlocking logo.   I've had this hat for at least five years and maybe more but you wouldn't know it by looking at the way this beauty has held up all these years. Ebbets is the best when it comes to quality. Big fan of the green satin under visor which in my opinion looks better an better the more you wear the cap As we are about to enter July Fourth Weekend, I am compelled to take inventory of what it means to me to be an American . This past year has been full of national events and experiences that have given me much to consider especially as it pertains to race relations. There's a lot of work ahead for us as a nation but at this point I feel confident that good will overcome evil and hatred. The pandemic has taught me many things but a big lesson I...

Two weeks into the 2017 MLB season and it's looking less likely that my prediction of the Houston Astros winning the AL Pennant will work out. As the Astros' hot start has fizzeled, what's worse is the Giants are cellar dwellers of the NL West while the Diamondbacks are at the top. There's a lot more games to play this year but stumbling out of the gate is no fun. What's fun is that for the fourth time in four weeks, I'm writing about a mesh-crown hat from a former Houston Astros minor league team! Nailing down the exact years for these caps hasn't been easy but the window on this one isn't large.  From 1975 through 1990, the Jackson Generals were known as the Mets so the earliest this one can be from is 1991.  Behold the rare five-star ranking of this fresh mesh hat.   It's always fun to find a crisp green bottom cap, even when it isn't of the fitted variety The mesh striations are visible and the "Made in U.S.A." ...

Ask yourself this question and answer honestly: is the World Baseball Classic exciting to you? I have a hard time with this one because while I want to be a fan of the tournament, the scheduling conflict with Spring Training is a bummer. The other downside is the US not sending its brightest stars to compete against the top talent from other countries. It seems the message sent is "Baseball: The Business" is more important to MLB than "Baseball: The National Pastime" but maybe that's not true. When the Olympic Committee decided in 2008 that baseball would no longer be an Olympic sport, the WBC was created with the hope that the sport would continue to grow worldwide, and it definitely has.  In 2016 it was announced that baseball would make its return in the 2020 Summer Olympics and I'm not sure what this means for the WBC. The fervor for the WBC might not be palpable in the US but the point was to expand the game beyond our borders meaning maybe we...