Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I know it looks like a hat worn by the filming crew from a  Golden Girls Christmas Special , but this cap is actually orange and green, not red and green! While I'm not a big fan of the Miami Dolphins (nor do I care for dolphins in real life which is a story for another time) but I really do like the orange and green colorway. It exudes leisure! I know this blog is supposed to be about celebrating my fresh fitteds , but these caps are hard to come by. The cheapest fitted version that I could find was $50 on eBay but I resisted and spent less on a snapback.  Keeping things simple with that single New Era tag; sadly, the MLB and MILB logos need not apply here. I don't have too many caps with this white mesh material on the inside of the front panel,  so let's see how it goes! The first week of March is upon us and there is not a more optimistic time of year for baseball fans. The first spring training games began this week in Arizona and Florida an

Seeing as how so many farm teams piggyback on their parent club's moniker and come up short in the originality department, I'm glad I picked up this cap because this logo truly embodies the independent spirit that I appreciate so much in minor league baseball. It's always appreciated when the team logos can let go of the stuffiness and this Hillsboro Hops cap knows how to have "fun" while maintaining an air serious enough to let you know that they are gonna whup you on the baseball diamond. The main thing that I love about this logo is that it celebrates the Pacific Northwest's greatest export (craft beer) by featuring a smirking hop cone -who is also wearing the team's away cap, which is totally meta- against a backdrop of the mountains and trees thus honoring the region's natural beauty. In addition, the Hop's surly grimace captures the overall level of the baseball fandom exuded by Portland's dilettantes over the y

Writing about the Springfield Cardinals Diamond Era cap last week was a nice change of pace as I don't often cover caps from teams affiliated with organizations that are rivals to the San Francisco Giants. I decided to continue with that trend this week as the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico also has a significant minor league baseball history and most of it was spent as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is the Giants' most vilified enemy. Here's a better look at this zany logo that I enjoy so much, as well as some obligatory photos of the inside tags that haven't changed much over the past few years: While most minor league teams switch leagues, towns and parent club affiliations regularly, Albuquerque endured a continuous player development relationship with the Dodgers from 1962 until the Dukes were sold and moved to Portland, Oregon in 2001. They became known as the Portland Beavers and began a ten season long affiliation with the S

This week’s Fresh Fitted is a 2014 Springfield Cardinals Diamond Era cap. This cap was sent to me as a bonus (accidentally?) on one of my recent binge orders and I’m happy they sent it because it’s the first Diamond Era cap in my collection. I really enjoy wearing the older “batting practice” caps when partaking in activities (aka exercising, blech!) that require breathable headwear so I think this one should be no different. The only problem is that there are lots of Cardinals fans out there and it would be awkward if someone said to me “Go Cards!”and I replied with “Go Giants!” or I could just yell back, "This is an Angry Birds hat, man!" but maybe saying nothing would be worse! I’m also not too big on red-colored caps but I do feel some security in knowing that on-coming traffic will have an easier time seeing me as opposed to if I was wearing my black San Francisco Giants batting practice cap. One thing that’s bugging me though is that I’m not sure

To most baseball fans, today's date is significant insofar as how many days are left until their favorite team's pitchers and catchers report to spring training. For others, this day also marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of the greatest hitter (as per  Baseball Reference 's most recent EloRater ranking) in baseball history: George Herman "Babe" Ruth. So, in honor of today's date and in keeping with the Chicago White Sox theme,here is a fun photo of "The Babe" and "Shoeless Joe" Jackson: A few things come to mind when looking upon this photo. The first is that ballplayers had some gee-golly-neat nicknames back in those days. It also seems like Jackson (pictured on right) is wearing two shoes and after looking up his nickname's origin, it turns out there was only one occasion when he went up to bat without wearing shoes.  At times, baseball fans can be real jerks and they are jerks with very literal minds and spotless

08/27/2023 Update : I'm rather embarrassed that it has taken me this long to update this post with disclaimer that I don't actually own this cap. I've only written about a handful of hats that I don't actually own but at times I feel doing so is necessary as it helps collectors come up with accurage years in which caps were produced. To keep things more organized, I've added a "Disclaimer" logo to this post as well as others in which it would also be applicable. This Fresh Fitted Friday post is for a cap Every once in a while a beauty comes around that is easy to appreciate even though you don't know exactly what it is. Such is the case with this vintage cap that I (have led myself to) believe is a Reading Phillies cap from the 1980s. A little background: other than the Lakeland Tigers of the Florida State League, no other minor league team has consistently held a player development program with the same major league team as long as the Readi