Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

It has been less than two weeks since the 2025 World Series wrapped up but thanks to the plentiful slate of highlights and full game broadcasts from the winter baseball leagues as well as  the Arizona Fall League, any withdrawal symptoms I would otherwise experience at this point in the year have been subsided. Even better is despite this weekend's temperatures only looking to get up to the high 40s, the heat will be brought courtesy of the "RD Vs. PR Showdown" as All-Stars from Liga  Dominicana de Béisbol (Dominican Republic) and Liga Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico) square off in a historic match-up at CitiField tomorrow in Queens. The Dominican roster features former Met (and Yankee) Robinson Cano in his last professional game but I'm most excited for Puerto Rico's squad because I'll get to see  Vimael Machín who was on the Norfolk Tides the last time I saw him play. He signed autographs for my niece after that game so I'll be rooting ...

While the Blue Jays were leading the score throughout most of Game 7, I was collecting my thoughts for this week’s Dodgers-themed post to have a consolatory tone as opposed to a congratulatory one but alas, baseball is weird.  Baseball is also entertaining, as well as thought-provoking, and the unexpected ending  of the 2025 World Series sent me in such a frenzy that I found myself ruminating for days over so many of the seemingly insignificant plays during Game 7 that ultimately led to the Blue Jays losing the series in the 11th inning. It has been almost a week and I’m still stunned. I turned off the TV immediately following the game’s final out. Maybe in my heart it was because I was angry at myself for believing there could really have been any other winner besides the Dodgers. Maybe  I’m still not over witnessing the their on-field celebration after defeating the Yankees in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. I even attempted to abstain from social media this past week ...

I recently dug through the blog’s archives to see if I had ever published a #FreshFittedFriday post on October 31st and it turns out the most Hallloweenish and gruesome Murder Birds cap featured today has the distinction of being the first member of that club! This "X-ray" reworking of the original "Murder Birds" design is the first of that variant style that I picked up from The Clink Room.  To my knowledge the design used on those two caps is the only one Clinker Dustin has released via the site so I count myself as lucky to have at least one of them!   The murdered out effect on the inside of the cap makes this an overall stealth option in my opinion! I especially appreciate the effort taken to apply the X-Ray effect to Clink Kong here. According to the cap’s product page on The Clink Room site , Dustin was inspired by a news story he came across where a crow flew away with a knife from a crime scene! I’m hoping the Blue Jays can use the metaphorical knife here ...

I am not sure if I have ever forgotten to schedule a blog post before but either way last week's gaffe actually works better as being published this week as the Mariners affiliate that I had planned as a congratulatory post for toppling the Blue Jays in the ALCS would make no sense now! I figured at least one team would be  eliminated from the League Championship Series by now but that  theory crumbled to dust once when T oronto's lumber tore up the Mariners' pitching  in  Games 3 and 4  of the ALCS in Seattle. I was gunning for Seattle at the outset of the postseason but watching  Toronto  wear their powder blue uniforms while tearing  up the M's pitching  in  Games 3 and 4  of the ALCS in Seattle  inspired me to bust out my "Songbirds" cap for last week's Fresh Fitted Friday as an ode to that unmistakably cool look the Jays rocked from their inception in 1977 through 1988. A key learned from  the Songbirds product page ...

I'm writing this post after watching  the Dodgers beat the Phillies in their NLDS Series but I'm trying to avoid being in foul mood because I am truly thankful for all the otherwise exciting baseball moments that October brings. I do have to admit Philadelphia was the team to beat this postseason so excuse me if spooky season has me unreasonably scared for what comes next! Speaking of frightful thoughts, Halloween is just around the corner and I was reminded of fond holiday memories like visiting haunted houses when i learned about today being National Haunted House Day which is an unofficial holiday folks have been celebrating on the second Friday in October for over a decade now. There's even a banner you can grab from this site to put on your blog or website to show support for the holiday! At any rate, now that the Yankees have also been eliminated from the postseason I really don't have any teams to pull for so I figured this week's Fresh Fitted Friday select...

After a busy few weeks of travel in September and holidays leading up to now, I had considered not posting this week however I am not quite sure what else to do besides write about a hat since the playoff schedule features no games today the Wild Card Series have only just wrapped up yesterday. With the Division Series matchups being firmly set for each league on the first Friday in October, I selected this retro of the 1951 Ottawa Giants cap for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday into the realm of both Spooky Season and wishful thinking for next season as I hope my San Francisco Giants can make a return to the postseason! I wrote about the V2 edition of this cap in May 2024 but the serifs on this variant which I purchased prior to that one is superior in all ways as it screams "Giants" in the best way! Ebbets is no longer the mighty purveyor of interesting minor league logos that it once was but I'm thankful to have this "Made In U.S.A." gem in my collection k...