Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

As I mentioned in last week's 1957 Miami Marlins post, I will be making my first-ever trip this weekend to the ballpark where the current iteration of the Miami Marlins plays. To celebrate the occasion, the theme for this week's post will fast-forward us 60 years from 1957 to the 2017 All-Star Game, which was thus far the only time it was put on in Miami. Looking back in the blog's archive will show that I commemorated that 2017 All-Star Game by showcasing the hat worn by the San Francisco Giants ten years prior when it was held in their ballpark, which objectively speaking has had too many embarrassing corporate names to even recount a single one here now. This week's post closes that loop as I feature an on-field Giants cap from when the event was held at Miami's park, which at the time was innocuously called Marlins Park but unfortunately now itself has an awful name as it is currently known as LoanDepot Park. Sadly, gone are the days where you simply call out a ...

One of my favorite things to do when I find myself waiting for a train or bus is popping through my favorite hat sites to see if any new releases catch my eye. Historically, the most visited ones were Hat Club, eCapacity, MyFitteds, and Ebbets Field Flannels, although the latter has fallen out of rotation due to their recent change of vision and direction. Through Ebbets' Triple-Play" deal, I was able to score three caps for a fair price, and if I picked up an extra one, I would meet the minimum for free shipping, for which I am a sucker! If only they offered a "Grand Slam" option, I would have pounced on that too. The Triple-Play deal no longer exists, so buyers must wait for a sale if they would rather not pay $68 (gasp) for a cap. Out of habit tonight, I browsed to Ebbets' site, and while there were no new caps since the last time I checked, I did notice their Memorial Day offering 25% off sitewide. There were a few logos I never got around to purchasing befor...

The big news in baseball this week was Pete Rose's posthumous removal from Major League Baseball's permanent ineligibility list and while I was just a neophyte fan of the game in 1989 when this lifetime ban was instated on MLB's all-time hits leader, I remember how that ruling left a dark cloud over the game that would not soon be forgotten. Sadly thing things would only get worse a few years later when MLB players went on strike in late summer of 1994. This coincided with a time in my life when my "normal teenager interests" prevailed so my enthusiasm for baseball had waned considerably by the time the following year's strike-shortened season began on April 25, 1995. Time is perceived differently in your younger years. Pete Rose had become a distant memory while the four monster seasons Frank Thomas previously had were recent enough for me to half-heartedly welcome baseball back despite other factors beginning to take more precedent in my life. The Big Hurt w...

I'm not sure of even an approximate year when   5950 Day became such widely heralded holiday among hat collectors but that sort of detail doesn't really matter because May 9 (aka 5/9) falling on a Friday means that I have to bring out a top notch selection for this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  post. Not long after I began piecing together my thoughts for this write-up, I asked myself if I had ever honored 5950 Day on a  Fresh Fitted Friday  to which the answer is, yes and no. According to the archives, the last time May 9 was on a Friday, I wrote about a pretty sweet  1996 Midland Angels hat  however the significance of that date was something I totally glossed over!   So that was the yes, but also a no because I didn't specifically call out "5950 Day" however just last year I made a post hoc mention of 5950 Day on my  1950 Oakland Oaks retro  on May 10 so I suppose that's a no but also a yes? Anyway my head is s...

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...

Any country worth the dirt their trees are planted in should have a holiday to pay homage to their land's woody perennial plants and those of us in the United States observe National Arbor Day on  the last Friday of April which happens to be  today! The holiday dovetails nicely with Earth Day and I happened to celebrate both in 2023 with retro caps of the  1940 Oakland Oaks  and a  1948 Oakland Oaks   produced by Ebbets Field Flannels . The current state of Ebbets is dreadful but I am so thankful I purchased as many caps as I did because soon enough those caps will become vintage relics themselves!  Moving my focus to current things that are thriving, I am celebrating the trees this year with an Asheville Tourists retro designed by  @djmach716  of the New Era store in Buffalo, NY. M y friend  @yellowsub73   came through once again with a clutch assist for which I am so thankful as this version of the Tourists logo hardly ever gets t...

There hasn't been much noise in the baseball world outside of the massive deal signed by Vlad Guerrero and the Toronto Blue Jays with his first homerun of 2025 being delivered right after the ink was dry on the agreement. It is still too early to pass judgement on what the season holds but I can't help but wonder, does the slow start mean Vladdy's power beginning to fade already? I must admit I am envious of Toronto getting so much production out of their first baseman but despite having a much lower batting average, I am quite content with the output Wilmer Flores has produced for my San Francisco Giants. He went 0 for 4 in the game I saw between the Giants and Yankees last Sunday but what is most important is the  electric Giants series win. I've got my first New York Mets games of the year lined up this weekend as the St. Louis Cardinals make their first and only trip to CitiField and I am looking forward to some lively games. The Pittsburgh Pirates are visiting Quee...