In accordance with adhering to the current theme of “defunct California League teams”, there’s really not a more logical successor to last week’s San Bernardino Spirit cap than the one the Salinas Spurs wore for just one season in 1992.
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| Starting things off with an image of Dick Little wearing the famed Spurs hat in 1992 |
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| I was searching high and low for California League teams that featured a star in the logo but I settled on one that just featured an “S” with spurs attached. |
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| I picked this one up from eCapcity back in 2018. Unlike with my San Bernardino Spirit buying experience, I selected the right size this time. |
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| The green underbrim, no batterman and a tonal New Era flag that you barely notice all join forces to make this one of the better retro releases of the last few years |
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| This isn’t one that I own, but just for reference here is an image of a vintage Spurs cap from 1992 |
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| Update (8/19/2020): I had to add this image post hoc because it's important to show this combination of a green undervisor with sweatband tags that you'll typically find on caps from the mid-1990's. This means a correction is in the works for this Columbus Clippers post from 2013 |
In last week’s Spirit post, I discussed how their relationship with the Mariners lasted from 1988 through 1992 but what I did not mention was that this affiliation was bookended by years around that era in which they had no ties to a big league club: 1987, and then again in 1993-94.
How this all this relates back to this week’s hat is that the Spurs were the M’s Class-A affiliate from 1984 through 1987 and for most of the years that the Spirit was a farm club for Seattle, Salinas competed against them as a co-op team in the California League.
Everything came full circle in 1993 when the Riverside Pilots became the new Mariners affiliate and the Salinas Spurs moved to San Bernardino to become the newest incarnation of the Spirit. As I mentioned before, the Spirit remained unaffiliated through the 1994 season.
I’ve probably linked to Lookout Landing more than any other site at this point but I’ve got to do it once again because their write-up on the history of the Salinas Spurs is definitely worth a read. Enjoy!
This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is not going on the Trading Block however please don't hesitate to reach out if you want any other cap from that list and you are willing to part with any of the hats on my Wish List.
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