Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I'm finally taking a break from the "National Day" theme for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection because for the first time in a long while I've got some baseball-related current events that correspond with hats in my collection that I need to tell you good folks about! The Chicago White Sox clinched the American League East on Thursday night ea rlier this week which is exciting as this is their first postseason appearance since they faced the Tampa Bay Rays in the League Division Series in 2008. The White Sox were my AL team growing up and I'm all in on cheering for them as they are set to face the Houston Astros in the LDS. My affection for the White Sox without a doubt began –see what I'm doing here?– when Frank Thomas started putting up big numbers in 1991 which in turn led me to collecting as many baseball cards as possible of my new favorite player. The cards featuring Thomas in his Auburn University uniform were cool but the ones that are tru

Today is September 17 which means it's also "National Fox Day" and I'm not sure that I have any way to celebrate that holiday outside of sharing this Appleton Foxes cap that I estimate to be from 1992. So I guess this means I'm back on my MILB grind, folks! Fans of 1990's MILB caps are no doubt familiar with this one as it was made famous when Alex Rodriguez wore the  teal version of the Appleton Foxes logo during his first assignment as a professional ballplayer in 1994.  I got this cap as part of a haul so please excuse that gnarly sweatband. I'll need to find a way to clean that thing if I ever want to wear this one. The lack of batterman embroidery indicates this cap has some age on it but the MILB tag on it tells me it has to be from 1992. The oldest cap I've come across with any MILB tag is my 1988-92 Colorado Springs Sky Sox cap which is more likely than not to be from 1992 as well.   I have two other caps from 1992 in addition to the aforemen

Apologies for taking last week off as a last minute trip came up but hopefully you'll appreciate that I'm back fully-charged this week. I also have a very special cap to share with you good folks as I take time to reflect upon the 20th anniversary commemoration of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Selecting a New York Yankees or New York Mets cap might seem like the obvious choice  to honor New York City for this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  post however I feel a City team needs to be represented. Although the Yankees and the Mets each played a few seasons at the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants are the true inhabitants of that glorious Manhattan stadium.   I'm not exactly certain what year the Roman Pro Cap Co. produced this retro version of the cap the New York Giants wore a century ago but if you'd like to take a general stroll down C ap Memory Lane , I recommending  clicking this link for a timeline of the New York Giants cap h

I was speaking with someone recently who made reference to some album having come out 30 years ago and after a few automatic nods in obligatory agreement, it dawned on me that we were talking about something that happened in 1991, folks! I'm not sure if this type of confusion becomes a more frequent occurrence the older we get but, this one really threw me for a loop. I happened to be watching baseball during this conversation so it's no surprise I started to think about how this year's top teams fared thirty years ago.  The Atlanta Braves were the big story in 1991 when they became the first National League team to appear in a World Series after having finished the previous season in last place. Even though they ended up falling to the the Minnesota Twins in Game 7 of that most memorable series, that season brought the team its first of 14 consecutive division titles. The Braves had an even better record the following year, returning to the Fall Classic once again however

I've been on a red, white and blue colorway kick here lately and this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is no exception. In addition to displaying national pride, this Memphis Redbirds road cap's logo features an "M" styled like a shape note as a nod to the city's rich musical tradition of blues and rock & roll which frankly, is a cultural contribution that comforts the entire country. As a fan of baseball and music, I was thrilled when Memphis revealed this new logo ahead of the 2017 season because it felt like my worlds were colliding in the best possible way. I loved the logo even more when I learned that the incorporation of musical notes in the logo was actually a return of sorts to the design elements used by the Memphis Blues from 1968-76. Standard sweatband tags that we've been seeing on caps the past few years here. Moving right along! Classic red, white and blue batterman will always look great on a navy ballcap such as this one. As is

 See you next week, folks!

For those of you wondering if the baseball portion of the 2020 Olympics are still happening, I'm here to tell you that the Gold Medal Game between the United States and Japan takes place tomorrow, Saturday August 7, 2021 at 6:00AM EST. I debated about which cap to post this week and while I do have a very cool 1940 Tokyo Kyojin retro from Ebbets Field Flannels, I feel the best way to cheer on my home country is to write about an American team. Luckily I have an 1951 Albuquerque Dukes cap that's also from Ebbets which not only sports a red, white and blue colorway but it's got a beautiful red felt "A" logo stitched onto the crown to remind you that America is "in the house" as it were. The Made in U.S.A. and Ebbets brand sitting proudly alongside each other is a sight that never gets old.  The undervisor looks darker here than it is in fact but after a few wears it will actually get to be that color. No matter the outcome of tomorrow's Gold Medal Game