Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

You've probably noticed that I've been on the snapback tip for the past few weeks and it's not just because of the nasty heatwave we've recently experienced here in New York City. You might remember that my selection of the Elmira Pioneers and Spokane Indians caps were symbolic and this week's is no different.  Tomorrow, August 20, is MCA Day at Littlefield in Brooklyn, NY and I'll be wearing this Asheville Tourists hat with the A logo as a sign of respect for the late Adam Yauch. If you happen to be in the NYC area and are looking for something to do that is fun, inspirational and FREE then you should definitely stop by Littlefield anytime from 12-6 PM on Saturday. This is the cap logo that the Tourists wore from 2005-2010 aka the cap's serious period between the solo reign of Ted E. Tourist  and the arrival of  Mr. Moon . There were 15 seasons of this cap logo but wool versions with grey underbrims are rare because of MLB and MILB's tra

It's been torrid in NYC over the past few days and when I have a fever, the only cure is "more Teal"… ballcaps!  While last week's episode of Tealism Appreciation focused on an East Coast squad, this week we jaunt across the country to show love to another team with an "E" on the cap logo and it's one that I had all but forgotten about : the Everett AquaSox.   My friend and I were at the Mets game on Tuesday and as we were bashing the  DiamondBacks'  ultra-dark road grays, he  brought up the Ninja BlackSox from the old NES game  Baseball Stars . The uniforms are similar but even more,  the "DiamondBacks" moniker is reminiscent of the other stupid names in that game which made me think of the AquaSox. Last week's  cap was of a  Class A-Short Season team and so is this one, as seen by the use of the  90 degree rotation of the iconic Mariners trident . Those who believe in nautical superstitions say the upside down trident is

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

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

It's said the longest day of the year is sometime between June 20-22 but for baseball fans, the longest week of the year is the week of the All-Star break. The mid-summer respite never comes as a surprise but four consecutive days without games disrupts my daily ritual of checking box scores and setting my fantasy roster. T hankfully, play recommences today. Since the All-Star Game didn't inspire me to write about a particular hat or team for this week's Fresh Fitted , I selected an unworn cap from the vault. Perhaps t he biggest reason for busting  out this Cedar Rapids Kernels cap is that one of my favorite non-baseball summertime activities is eating copious amounts of corn on the cob and I love that the logo combines both elements so well. If you can't tell what's going on here, let me fill you in. Inside that corn stalk is a smiling corn cob/baseball bat hybrid thing wearing a hat and he looks like he's taking a nap. Everything about him is perfect

The time is nigh for any final preparations for next week's MLB All-Star Game so for San Francisco Giants fans like me, that means lamenting the fact that Boston and Chicago fans gamed the voting system better than we did. Who knows? Maybe it's not so bad that more of our guys aren't making the trip to  San Diego while Dexter Fowler and Ben Zobrist will be. Fine, let them enjoy Addison Russell at shortstop rather than benefit from a defensive wizard like Brandon Crawford. Since Wil Myers is the host city's lone representative this year, I do however understand selecting him over Brandon Belt as a backup at first base. While it does annoy me that there will be so much team homogeny at the All-Star Game, I'm more annoyed with myself because for the first time in as long as I can remember, I forgot to submit even a single ballot this year. Simply put, I have no right to complain about the selections so I'm just hoping the National League wins this year. 

The 2016 MLB All-Star Game will be here in less than two weeks and I have an important question to ask: do you have a cap that is equally garish and banal enough to show support for your team? If you are a San Francisco Giants fan like I am, click here to pick one up in your team's flavor. I'm less than enthused about the stars on the eyelets but I appreciate that there are efforts being made to take new and interesting design choices on this year's on-field cap. In keeping with a trend that was started in 2014, this year's All-Star Game's on-field cap is a Diamond Era style hat where the colorways are not necessarily consistent with the one's a team uses normally. There are a few interesting palette choices overall and you can see a few examples of how this looks here . While they decided to keep the All-Star Game cap understated this year, you've no doubt seen the atrocity that is the 2016 Home-Run Derby cap . This design schema is in contrast to h