Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

As I mentioned last week, it was hard for me to take a break from the "Houston Astros Minor League Cap Extravaganza" but now that I've secured this Osceola Astros cap as the latest installment in the series, I also need to share a valuable piece of knowledge regarding Florida's geography that you might not know: there is not a city in Florida named Osceola. From 1985-2016, the Houston Astros made their Spring Training home at Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee, Florida. It's now home field to the Florida Fire Frogs of the Florida State League and from 1985-1994, it was home to the Osceola Astros (who later became the Kissimmee Cobras) as well as various Gulf Coast League affiliates over the years. The O-Astros used this cap logo without much variation from  their inaugural year in 1985 until their rebranding as the Kissimmee Cobras in 1995 . For this reason it's foolish to try to assign a year to it but if I had to guess, I'd say it's from th

My goal last week was to extend the " Houston Astros Minor League Cap Extravaganza"   but I sadly was not able to obtain a qualifying hat in time. I did find a gem recently but since it hasn't arrived yet, last week's  Carolina League Jackson Generals hat will have to segue into the cap worn by the now defunct Fayetteville Generals of the South Atlantic League. The Fayetteville Generals were in existence from 1986-1996 and this is the cap logo they rocked for the majority of that time. I'm not a Detroit Tigers fan by any means but I am a big fan of the stars and Old English lettering. The Generals switched to grey underbrims in 1994, so this hat is from somewhere between 1991 and 1993.  I doubt a fitted version of this cap exists but you better believe I'm hunting for it just in case! Still in disbelief that a hat that is at least 25 years old has made it's way into my possession with the tags still on it. What a world! I chose th

I promise next week's blog will be lots of fun. See y'all then!

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."

It's the first week of April and I'm already staying up until 1AM EST watching baseball. Of course this  feels completely normal  but it's been tough watching my San Francisco Giants fall to the Arizona Diamondbacks three times this week. I've spilled much ink here obsessing over my love/hate relationship with Arizona and today is no different. As I've mentioned before, my wife went to the University of Arizona and while we were disappointed they didn't make it past the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, I did  learn about a connection between the UA basketball program and the Houston Astros, whose former minor league affiliates have been the inspiration here over the last few weeks.  Did you know former MLB star Kenny Lofton attended UA on a basketball scholarship? This article is about how he went from committing theft on the court to the baseball diamond. (Photo courtesy of tradingcardb.com) This is Kenny's first baseball card. He was sel

Last week's Tucson Toros cap must have sparked something in me because I'm featuring a classic farm team that was once associated with the Houston Astros here  again this week . My intrigue with the Asheville Tourists began when I first became interested in minor league baseball in the early 1990's and the logo on the cap showcased today is from that time. If you've never seen this logo before, you'd never be able to guess it's an Asheville Tourists cap. I imagine most people will guess that it's a vintage Atlanta Braves hat, which in truth would not be a bad guess at all! The earliest example I can find of this typeface on a Tourists cap is from 1986 but the crown seems to be more of a royal blue. Also, I'm using this card from tradingcarddb.com mainly because the pitcher is showing bunt. This one is also from tradingcarddb.com and I'm showing it because it captures the 80's style racing stripes as well as the logo on a navy cro

The big news in the baseball world this past week was Team USA defeating Puerto Rico en route to its first ever World Baseball Classic championship. If you checked out last week's blog, you'd know that I wrote about a Team USA cap and while I'd love to take credit for this feat because I wrote about it, I must doff said cap to the players on that team.  I wanted to continue to try my luck and give a helpful boost to the University of Arizona during the NCAA tournament.  I decided the best way to do this is by writing about a Tucson Toros cap, as Tucson is home to the University of Arizona (which is also where my wife went to college) but sadly the Wildcats were eliminated from the tournament tonight. Despite the disheartening finish, my wife and her alma mater has lots to be proud of and on top of that, the Grand Canyon State has one more full week of Spring Training ahead of it!  Even though I made an active decision to take a break from wearing red hats for the next c