Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I realize that not all of my readers are football fans but I really do think most of y'all are at least a little pumped up for the Super Series, er, World Bowl, um, I mean Super Bowl this weekend. I'm obviously more of a baseball fan but I do enjoy watching "The Big Game" with friends plus you can't deny the awesomeness of the food at Super Bowl parties. The dilemma for this year's Super Bowl matchup is almost as bad as what I faced during the 2018 World Series: having to make a decision on whether to root for Boston or Los Angeles is nauseating for a resident of New York City who is a fan of San Francisco teams. I'm not a die-hard 49ers fan but they share a division with the Los Angeles Rams and besides, I can't fathom ever rooting for any team from LA. Thus the New England Patriots are my team this time around even though they are division rivals to the Buffalo Bills, which is the team that I have half-heartedly followed ever since moving to New

After last week's spotlight on the Durham Bulls , I realized that I haven't featured nearly enough Carolina League teams so I decided to ramp up a little series on some classic hats from that league starting next week. For this week however, I have to shift the focus onto a more pressing matter: my birthday which is tomorrow, January 26. That date happens to be Australia Day so this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is a reproduction of the cap worn by the Australian national baseball team for an exhibition game against the US team  on December 1, 1956  as part of the 1956 Summer Olympics. Wait. December? Don't forget when it's winter here, it's summer over there, mates! Behold the Green and Gold! I like the gold felt "A" here against the dark green crown and bill but I really hope people don't mistake me for an Oakland Athletics fan. The great thing about Ebbets Field Flannels is their caps are always top-notch so there'

Disclaimer: So I said last week that the International League celebration would be coming to an end then and while you think I'm breaking my word for today's Fresh Fitted Friday  selection, I'm actually well within the rules because this Durham Bulls cap dates back to when  they were members of the Single-A Carolina League. The first year the Bulls wore this logo on their cap was in 1988 but I have a feeling that the paper tags that came attached to New Era caps didn't begin to appear until sometime in the early 1990's. If anyone has any proof otherwise, I'm all ears however a nother reason I presume this one to be from then is because of the tags on the sweatband. My apologies for the crummy quality of these photos but would you believe that they're from 2011? If you're ever been in awe about how old some of these caps are, just remember that some of the photos of these old caps are almost 10 years old themselves! Now, I must

I've had a lot of fun over the past two months writing about classic International League teams and the different caps that teams have worn over the years but I think this week's Lehigh Valley IronPigs "Fighting Bacon" cap will be the 8th and final cap of this run. Just like many of the cap logo designs that Brandiose produces, this Bacon is a surly character who's ready to rumble as his anger is sizzling hot. Like the  "Bacon and Eggs"/"Eggs and Bacon" cap  that I wrote about on December 28, 2018, the origin of this cap's logo comes from another Food Fight type of series. This time the IronPigs took on the identity of Bacon while the Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League were the Tacos.  While the IronPigs once again turned to the brain geniuses of Brandiose for their design, Fresno used an in-house design team of artists named Dorian Castro and Andy Inman. I like the Bacon logo more but if I also really dig Fresno&

As much as I want to start this new year off with a fresh start for Fresh Fitted Friday, I just can't help wanting to do a continuation of last week's theme so I decided this week's hat needs to be the Lehigh Valley IronPigs home cap. Brandiose designed this cap which the IronPigs have worn for most of their home games since their  inaugural season in 2008 . I love the 3D embroidery on the crown and that the fierce looking pig has become a touchstone in terms of design elements for Brandiose.  Because the logo and sweatband tags haven't varied much in the time since this cap first came out, it's almost impossible to decipher which year this cap was purchased although it was Made In U.S.A so it's likely not that recent. I appreciate you coming to the site to read about this now-iconic cap logo and I hope you return next week as I have another fun cap from the IronPigs cap artillery that I'm looking forward to sharing with you.  Ev

Well folks, it's the last Fresh Fitted Friday of 2018 so I want to thank everyone for checking in with the blog throughout the year and whether you're on a weekly/monthly/bi-yearly or whatever reading schedule, keep doing it because it feels good knowing that people out there are interested in picking up what I'm laying down. As much as I'd love to end the year with a big bang for Fresh Fitted Friday— that's exactly what I'm going to! While this week's hat isn't vintage or rare, this Leigh Valley IronPigs X Toledo Mud Hens "Bacon and Eggs" collaboration cap is one of my favorite MILB logos because to me it screams teamwork. After all, is there a greater example of synergy than the simple dish of bacon and eggs?  The "Bacon and Eggs" series has been a yearly staple since 2015 however only the IronPigs refer to it as such while the Mud Hens call it the "Eggs and Bacon" series. The former sounds better to me becaus

The International League festivities continue this week with a cap from a team whose city has a history of hosting professional baseball that goes as far back as the origin of the league itself which was founded in 1884 while a year earlier, the Toledo Blue Stockings was an inaugural member of the Northwestern League which was all teams from the midwest.  They later became the Toledo Mud Hens in 1902 when they joined the American Association, which was an independent league that later jumped up to Double-A in 1912. The team then got another promotion when  the American Association became a Triple-A league in 1946 and stayed at that level when they joined the International League in 1965. To me this cap is synonymous with my appreciation of the International League as it was the cap the Mud Hens wore when I started going to games almost 30 years ago. The fact that the team still wears this cap is a testament to its longevity. The satin taping is typical of caps from