Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I started a little mini-tradition last year on the  Friday before Memorial Day Weekend with my "National Don't Fry Day" post which I think is worth continuing this year so I'm happily breaking out  this 1967 El Paso Sun Kings cap I purchased back in August 2011 from Ebbets Field Flannels back when the Triple Play price for three caps was $79. The El Paso Sun Kings were a California Angels affiliate from 1965-70 and then again in 1973 so I listed that iteration of the parent club's name in the labels section of this post as well as in previously published posts wherever it was appropriate to do so. This hat, along with retros of the 1955 San Francisco Seals and 1958 Phoenix Giants, was in my very first Ebbets order and I'm happy to say that all these years later, it's in a great enough condition that I have no qualms with it being a Fresh Fitted Friday selection today!  The little yarmulke looking halo here is very unique and possibly confusing at first g

To celebrate World Bee Day last year I wrote about my Bad News Bees hat that I procured from The Clink Room and for today’s Fresh Fitted Friday post I am honoring the holiday with this "Hive Mind" cap which also came from The Clink Room.   If you’ve been reading the blog for a while now you know I’m a sucker for all things bee-related and the origin of that is my admiration of my wife’s affinity for bees. Her birthday happens to fall around the same time as World Bee Day which is perfect timing as I’m able to celebrate them alongside her every year. I added a "Bees" label to this post to make it easy to track previous posts but I promise this one is the most metal of all with honey dripping on the skull of this logo which was designed by Nashville-based artist Austin Gray aka  @entireworld.us   on Instagram.  This is the first hat from Austin that I’ve featured here and I've got another great one to share around Halloween.   There are more bee-themed posts pl

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday post marks the sixth time that I've written about a cap worn by a minor league team from Nashville,TN. That might seem rather trivial however I assure you it's not as all the other posts were of Nashville Sounds caps while this week's topic is the  Southern League's  Nashville Xpress, who only existed from 1993 through 1994. The first initial in my name is "N" so of course that and the music themed nature of the Sounds logos over the years leads me to appreciate their designs greatly. But in addition to being a big fan of music, I also love traveling by rail which is why I decided to feature this Nashville Xpress cap today in celebration of tomorrow being National Train Day. The inspiration behind the team name Xpress comes from the existence of train tracks just outside Herschel Greer Stadium which was the ballpark the team shared with their more established counterparts, the Sounds.  The New Era brand tag here looks like

The closest I've come to a proper Cinco de Mayo post here was with my Asheville Yacumamas Copa de la Diversión hat back in 2021 and because it'll be five years until the next time the holiday falls on a Friday, now is the time to showcase this incredible "Conchita" cap  designed  by  Mexico City-based artist  Clinker Jacobo. Jacobo has released dozens of designs via The Clink Room and while this is my first and so far, only one of their logos that I've bought, I'll be sure to get more in the future as their releases are always uniquely eye-catching. The emerald green visor and rust crown lend some seriously vintage vibes here and these aged hues fit perfectly in a scene involving tacos, tequila and tunes from a playlist featuring a steady stream of norteño and ranchera classics from the 1970s. The electric green Kong embroidery here sets it off completely for me. I love it. I mentioned earlier that the next Fresh Fitted Friday post that will fall on Cinco de

Right after wrapping up my Earth Day post last week I realized I had actually earmarked that 1948  Oakland Oaks  cap for my Arbor Day post this week. It actually turned out for the best because the logo on this 1940 Oaks hat is even more arboreal than last week's so I'm very thankful to be ending Earth Month on a strong note! When I first got this a few years ago, I thought the green felt on the logo might be the outline of the city of Oakland. Then I thought maybe it was a sort of reference to the Bears at Cal in Berkeley. And then today I realized the obvious: the green thing is a leaf because…trees! By the way, I also just learned that the word ellipsis (as in the punctuation I used in the last sentence) originates from the Ancient Greek word  élleipsis  which means ' leave out'? Most of my Ebbets caps are navy or black but I have to say the buckram really pops on the grey wool broadcloth.  The green on the logo of the crown's front, piping and undervisor are wh

I picked this Oakland Oaks retro to celebrate Earth Day—which is tomorrow, April 22—because of the tree theme in the team's name and the cute little stem on the logo however there is added significance for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection as it was confirmed just yesterday that the Oakland Athletics have reached a deal to purchase land in Las Vegas where they hope to have a new ballpark constructed by 2027. In 1948, Oakland had no MLB team nor affiliation however the Pacific Coast League champions of that year have at least some connection with New York considering they were managed by Casey Stengel who would manage the Yankees the following season. Also, their shortstop was Billy Martin who before becoming a Yankees legend was a Bay Area native who was born and raised in Berkeley, CA. I long for the days when Ebbets would release minor league bangers such as this one. Their collaboration with '47 to produce classic MLB logos seemed to be a big hit with collector

The inspiration for selecting a late-era Helena Brewers cap for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post is that National Beer Day is celebrated annually on April 7. This year's holiday toasts to the 90th anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the law allowing people to brew and sell beer, thus effectively ending the Prohibition Era which began in 1920. The backbone of every beer is malt which is comprised of barley and is strongly represented here just as it has been historically on the logos of Helena's parent club in Milwaukee throughout the years. The blue and gold MILB batterman are beautiful against the navy crown here. Made in Bangladesh cap but FYI, you'll need a permit to drink beer with an ABV of higher than 0.5% in Bangladesh. Sadly, Helena lost its team when MILB contracted after the 2019 season and now the closest option for baseball fans in that town to catch games is about two hours away in  Missoula. That's still a far better option than having to