Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

It happens every year around this time. As baseball's regular season comes to a close, I can't help but feel sadness when the San Francisco Giants don't make it to the postseason. It's happened a lot over the years so you'd think I'd be used to it by now but it never gets easier. Even after two World Series wins in three years, I'm finding that this year stings especially hard because not only did the Giants finish poorly but the Los Angeles Dodgers are West Division champions. It's hard to write that, and it's even harder to read. In times like these I have to cheer myself (and hopefully some other distraught Giants fans out there) up with a vintage cap from a former Giants minor league affiliate. I was lucky enough to scoop-up this Shreveport Captains cap on eBay for a great deal a little while back.  I am still on the lookout for backups but every time i see a new listing for one  it's some ass-clown trying to get anywhere from $50 to $100 ...

It was lots of fun when last week's Fresh Fitted (er, snapback) made its debut at a ballgame but the first ever appearance for this week's cap will my friends' wedding! Well not at the wedding of course because that would be a violation of my household covenant but rest assured, it will be worn before and after the wedding ceremony.  When it came time to pick this week's cap  my preliminary desire was to a feature one with a letter combination of  "S" and "C"  in the logo as those are t he first initials of the bride and groom.  It turns out that my only cap that matches that qualification is a Shreveport Captains hat which I've already featured.  My fruitless search led to frustration. It seemed that I would have to stretch to find a cap relating to my friends when all of a sudden, I recalled that the groom went to SUNY Geneseo. That town doesn't have a professional team but Elmira is 90 miles away and it does: the Elmira Pioneer...

In celebration of the 2013 World Series being underway, I thought it would be fun to showcase a couple of caps from a Pacific Coast League franchise where St. Louis outfielder Carlos Beltran played: the Spokane Indians. The PCL is a league that was officially founded in 1903, just two years after MLB's American League. I find comfort in the fact that baseball has been played in the Pacific Northwest ever since the United States' Western Expansion reached the  Oregon Territory .  So let's get to talking about this cap. First up you'll notice that the logo features the letters "S" and "I" interlocking on a royal blue crown.  As many of you know from reading this site, I love the style of serifs used here and I really enjoy that the "S" is so similar to the"S" in the Shreveport Captains cap logo. It's no secret that I heavily favor these old school caps made of 100% wool with the green-underbrims. I especi...

This week's selection from The Great eBay Haul features not only another defunct Connecticut minor league team but it also follows the theme of caps that are too dang small for my noggin. I still had to at least try on this size 7 1/8 New Haven Ravens cap for nostalgia sake as one of my first MILB caps as a youngster was a Ravens hat. It might have actually been the same size as this one! Before they ever played a game,  I probably bought (aka my mom bought) that Ravens cap  assuming they were a Marlins affiliate (rather than Rockies) because of the black and teal colorway. I  don't know if I've told you this before but my Bar Mitzvah colors were teal and purple because like most people in the early 1990's, I had an acute case of Tealism. This cap's crown has a New Era flag so the earliest it can be from is 1999 and because the Ravens made some minor adjustments to their cap logo in 2001, this one is either from 1999 or 2000. The satin taping and ...

As stated in last week's post  and many times before, it's always special when a Fresh Fitted makes its debut at a ballgame. Those of you who have seen the love given to minor league caps will know that wearing this Spokane Indians cap to a minor league game tonight is going to be extra special. As much as I'd love to debut this vintage gem at a Spokane Indians game, that's not an option. So instead of catching a Pacific League Baseball game on the west coast, tonight I'll be taking a ferry from Manhattan to my first Staten Island Yankees game.   I know this is another team's cap but I figure the S.I. on the logo is close enough to fit in with the locals even though the cap is red, white and blue. Of course, the best part about this logo is the serifs on the letters which are reminiscent of a Shreveport Captains cap that remains one of my favorites. I've only written about one other DeLong hat, but this is the my first snapback from this...

Has it really been almost four months since my last post? Of course that’s a rhetorical question but I still want to explain why I lapsed for so long. The quick answer is I’ve been preoccupied with other activities over the past few months however at some point during that time I should have posted a quick blurb about the hiatus but I kept getting distracted. I also lost interest in all things baseball as I saw my San Francisco Giants play terribly once again this year and now that the regular season has come to a close, I’ve decided to hate-watch the NLCS. For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Dodgers are clear favorites to win the pennant but I’m going to be rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers in the series. This petty tactic is the reason why this week’s Fresh Fitted Friday selection is a Carolina Mudcats cap as they are the Class A affiliate of the Brewers in the Carolina League. How fortuitous that I just happened to have the tags still on this cap that's ov...

Dear reader, I feel that now is the time to dedicate a post with photos and descriptions of the caps in my continually evolving "Wish List". I haven't exactly been bombarded with trade offers lately so maybe having them all featured here might change that.  Hat Club has been killing it with their recent releases of retro MILB logos from the 1980's and 1990's so  the first few caps on this list are ones that they'd do well to release (or re-release in the case of the 1993-95 Utica Blue Sox, 1995-2000 Kissimmee Cobras and the 1994 Appleton Foxes). Tier 1, as the name would imply, includes caps that are at the top of my list and I'd be willing to part with any cap in my Trading Block for one of these beauties: 1982-83 Denver Bears (I have a retro of this but would LOVE to have a vintage as well!) 1989-92 Peninsula Pilots 1988-90 Jackson Mets 1983 Portland Beavers (I've never even seen a vintage version of this cap which is why I had to include a image o...