5/11/2023 Update: So between this post from 2018 and now I've learned a lot more about the nuances of the caps in my collection and a very important example of this was brought to my attention by a @xclickaroox who I feel is a must-follow on Instagram.
Despite how little I care about Florida's MLB teams, some of of my favorite cap logos (e.g. Kissimmee, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Jacksonville, etc.) come from teams in that state. But, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins, I like to think about all of the youthful optimism that the minor league teams represent.
I looked Raabe up and found that he's currently head baseball coach at Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minnesota. He never had much success in the big leagues but he put up some decent numbers in Triple-A at the end of his career. I meant to ask him why he decided to hang up his cleats then but I kept forgetting. Anyway, you can check out those stats here.
I hope everyone enjoys these posts as much as I enjoy writing about them but I'd like to make a plea for the cap collecting community to stop dissing these rare snapbacks from the late 20th century. Keep in mind these lower-level teams were not financially equipped to outfit players with fitted caps especially when their clubhouses had revolving doors!
At any rate, this good sir and I recently completed a trade of some fun MILB caps and during our talks he alerted me to the fact that the the hat from this post from 3/23/2018 is actually a 1990 Miami Miracle cap. The key distinguishing factor here is that the undervisors on Fort Myers Miracle caps were grey while Miami's were green as is the case with the cap in this post.
The other discrepancy is that the Fort Myers cap feature a TM on the logo while the Miami caps do not. At any rate, I love finding out new things about my caps so if anyone ever finds issues with what I've written, please reach out.
One last note for posterity's sake: I won't update the verbiage below because it would take a bit more effort than I'm able to give for now so hopefully this addendum suffices!
Last weekend was St. Patrick's Day and I'm unsure if neglecting to feature a green cap was a goof or a pro move on my part but this week's sea-green gem is as rare as a four-leaf clover in the world of minor league hat collecting: a 1992 Fort Myers Miracle snapback.
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| The Miracle only wore this hat for their inaugural season in 1992 and while their more recent cap logos have more widespread recognition, the simplicity of this week's cap appeals to the biggest MILB hat nerds. |
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| I went with an aerial view so you could see that this cap was produced by AJD, who was more well known in the 1990's for their Zubaz creations than their MILB caps. |
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| Interesting to see how the Paris Green underbrim here differs from other caps at that time. See, I told you there would be GREEEEEN!!!! |
Despite how little I care about Florida's MLB teams, some of of my favorite cap logos (e.g. Kissimmee, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Jacksonville, etc.) come from teams in that state. But, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins, I like to think about all of the youthful optimism that the minor league teams represent.
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| The Minnesota Twins selected Brian Raabe in the 1990 MLB June Amateur Draft. They won the World Series the following year and in 1992 he played for the Miracle which was a co-op team with Minnesota for one season before it became a full affiliate in 1993. |
I looked Raabe up and found that he's currently head baseball coach at Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minnesota. He never had much success in the big leagues but he put up some decent numbers in Triple-A at the end of his career. I meant to ask him why he decided to hang up his cleats then but I kept forgetting. Anyway, you can check out those stats here.
I hope everyone enjoys these posts as much as I enjoy writing about them but I'd like to make a plea for the cap collecting community to stop dissing these rare snapbacks from the late 20th century. Keep in mind these lower-level teams were not financially equipped to outfit players with fitted caps especially when their clubhouses had revolving doors!
In case anyone out there wants to retro this cap, the dimensions of this logo are 5cm x 5.5cm (W x H). I'm not sure if the left part of the logo is meant to be crooked like it is on mine so use your best judgement there! T
his cap isn't for sale or trade however don't hesitate to reach out if there's something you like on the Trading Block and you are willing to part with any of the hats on my Wish List.
his cap isn't for sale or trade however don't hesitate to reach out if there's something you like on the Trading Block and you are willing to part with any of the hats on my Wish List.
As always, thanks for coming back to read about baseball hat geekery. I've got comments disabled here so if you'd like to discuss a trade or simply just chat about hats, please feel free to connect via the following social sites:
Instagram: @baseballmilquetoast
Twitter: @FittedFriday
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