Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

Another week of free agency frenzy has gone by which on Wednesday had me hopefully optimistic due to the 13-year deal brokered between the San Francisco Giants and Carlos Correa, yet the very next day I found myself once again perturbed by the New York Yankees as they signed Carlos Rodón to a six year deal. I think the Giants took a huge risk with Correa that could ultimately pay off if they get six to eight good seasons of output from him who in all likelihood could retire from the game before reaching the end of this contract. As for  Rodón, I have my concerns of him being injury-prone so all I can say is that I wish him good health and success throughout his time in New York. By the way, the diplomacy shown in the last sentence of the previous paragraph even caught me by surprise as I read it out loud but since today is National Underdog Day, I'll take that as my motivation to not drive the bitter bus right now. Also, Giants fans have a lot for which we should be grateful. Even

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday finds me once again barely able to contain my composure as my San Francisco Giants have lost their two-horse race with the New York Yankees in the Aaron Judge Sweepstakes. Since last week's post, Jacob DeGrom departed from the New York Mets to join the Texas Rangers while Justin Verlander signed with the Mets to help fill that void. This now leaves Carlos  Rodón as the lone pitching ace without a place to call home in 2023 and at this point, I'm rather disinterested in where he ends up as long as it's not the Los Angeles Dodgers. Luckily, this recent article from MLB Trade Rumors  linking  Rodón with the Texas Rangers has me feeling confident that my rivals in LA are not likely to sign him to a deal.  My voodoo powers were ineffective last week but that didn't stop me from selecting the cap worn by the Rangers' High-A affiliates in Hickory, NC for this week's post! Ever since 2019, the Hickory Crawdads have been known as the

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday finds me barely able to contain my composure as my  San Francisco Giants are in a two-horse race with the New York Yankees in the Aaron Judge Sweepstakes. For anyone who needs a reminder, the Giants haven't made a splash this big in the free agent realm since signing Barry Bonds to a 7 year deal on December 8, 1992. When Bonds signed that deal I became even more steadfast in preferring the Giants over the Oakland Athletics whose popularity across the Bay extended all the way to the east coast where I was just a lad firmly obsessed with baseball and learning everything I could about the game. The player who had my full attention though was Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox. I was lucky to be living in the Bay Area when Thomas had stints on the A's especially during his brief "return to greatness" season in 2006. In retrospect, I was probably more focused on catching Bonds' at-bats as he marched toward breaking the career hom

I have been a baseball fan for about 90% of my life and it wasn't until Cleveland's baseball team became the Guardians ahead of the 2022 season that I experienced a Major League team changing their name — with the lone exception being when the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals upon their move to U.S. capital in 2005. While the Nationals rebranding had more to do with their arrival in a new locale, their NFL counterparts became the Washington Commanders this season as they finally dropped the offensive slur that they used as their name from 1937–2020, at which point they were temporarily known as the Washington Football Team. At this current time the only professional sports organization that is actually respectful in its usage of a name referring to Native Americans is the Spokane Indians and that is due the ongoing relationship between the team and  Spokane Tribe of Indians that  has was  forged in 2006 when both parties collaborated on the team's rebranding e

After tending to other responsibilities the past few weeks, I'm happy to come back to this blog with the League Championship Series in full-swing. I'm sad the Mets were eliminated as I was hoping for my first Subway Series as a New Yorker but at least the Yankees are in there competing, especially against a team as divisive as the Houston Astros. I had some fun "underdog" hats lined-up in the event of a Seattle-Cleveland series but unlike the NLDS upsets that occurred last week to determine who would compete in the NLCS, the two AL teams with the best records are facing off to determine the winner of their pennant. I'll save my NL underdog hat for next week but I'm going according to plan this time around as today's date is October 21 which means it's Back to the Future Day  and thus the perfect opportunity to highlight the "All-Star Futures" hat worn during the premier showcase event played in conjunction with the 2019 All-Star Game that was

I was too busy last week to dedicate the time needed to post but tomorrow evening is International Observe the Moon Night and as someone who has been fascinated with outer space ever since watching Star Wars as a young child in the 1980s, I just had to pull out this "Moonshot" hat from The Clink Room which was designed by LeRoid David. Counting my  Bad News Bees hat from my post back in May  and this one I now have both of Clinker LeRoid's creations for The Clink Room!  The dark navy crown and Vegas gold brim are a stunning combination however I think might have preferred a grey undervisor to match the moon's true color. Let's be real though: if this design ever gets reproduced, I'll buy it no matter what the colors are!   The Clink Kong embroidery on caps from The Clink Room are a beautiful and unique touch. The design on this cap is bonkers and the backstory on this hat goes so deep I had no choice but to pick it up, even though there's a slight Dodgers

 See y'all back here next week!!!

This week's Los Murciélagos de Louisville cap is a nod to Mexican Independence Day which commemorates the  " The Cry of Dolores" that was as a  call to arms by Roman-Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in  the early morning on  this day in 1810 thus sparking the   Mexican War of Independence that would not end until  Spain withdrew its forces on August 24, 1821. Mexico's victory was followed by the  signing of the Act of Independence of Central America in Guatemala City on September 15, 1821. This proclamation effectively created  the Federal Republic of Central America which was comprised of Mexico's neighbors directly to the south: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. By 1841 however, the newly created union had dissolved when each of those former Spanish territories created their own independent republics, all of which still consider "September 15" as their Day of Independence to this day. Because of the historical signif

After last week's double-dose of Denver Bears hats, I must ask if you are prepared for yet another bear-themed cap this week because today is National Teddy Bear Day as well as National Care Bears Share Your Care Day and I had no choice but to break out this 1998 Fresno Grizzlies snapback for the occasion. It's also California Admission Day and if you've ever glanced upon California's state flag, you are most likely envisioning the grizzly bear featured on it at this very moment. I am almost ashamed to admit this as a former resident of California yet I never once took interest in researching why the state is known as the  "Bear Flag Republic" until today. I'll spare you the history discourse on the Mexican-American war and Mexico's War of Independence for the time being but I should note the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846  only lasted a total of 25 days and the events that transpired were a key component in California being officially annexed by the United

I was planning on taking off this week on account of the holiday weekend but then I remembered that I'm coming off a nice-sized break so I decided to up the ante and do a long-winded  double-cap post which is something I am fairly certain was last done with vintage and retro Jacksonville Expos caps  I wrote about in 2017. Otherwise, the closest I've come to such a thing in recent years was with consecutive posts of very similar hats worn by the  Albany-Colonie Yankees which was also in 2017 as well as the vintage and retro 1988-92 Buffalo Bisons caps  in 2021. This week's double-cap post features the logo the Denver Bears wore from 1982-84 which has been my most sought after design ever since I got serious about hat collecting many years ago. As I've stated in previous posts, I went to college in Colorado which probably explains why most things related to the Centennial State are of interest to me. As is the case with many hat hoarders, it all began with an interest i

The past two posts since returning from my mini-break have been proper Fresh Fitted Friday entries however this week I'm switching it up with an Erie Sea Wolves snapback in honor of National Dog Day which is today, August 26. Erie sported this Carolina Blue look on their caps from their inaugural season in 1996 through 1998 however the next photo will support my argument that this cap is most likely from their first season. The lack of New Era flag branding on this cap supports my conclusion that it's probably from 1996 since the flag logo came about the following year. And judging by the condition of the sweatband on this cap, I don't think anyone has washed it since 1996 either. I obtained this cap in a big haul a few years ago in order to scoop up an  Appleton Foxes cap  and while that was a worthwhile purchase, I haven't even worn that cap nor this one because the sweatband situation is so dire. I mentioned earlier that today is National Dog Day and while a Sea Wolf

Two consecutive posts since returning from my most recent break and now I'm firmly back in my wheelhouse which is showing love to esoteric MILB logos! This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is a 1982 Wichita Aeros retro that I got from Hat Club back in the early part of 2021 while they were on a tear of releasing retro MILB caps. Wichita only wore this logo for one season in 1982 and despite the original cap being of the "Fresh Mesh" variety and that the thickness of Hat Club's "W" is way too thick here, what grated on me was their decision to use  red stitching on the white panels of the cap . All good though, all I needed was a a seam ripper to be back in business! I have an order in the works with my plug for a vintage snapback version of this cap which also has a green undervisor however for some reason I've always preferred grey undervisors when it comes to Montreal Expos affiliates. Either way I'm happy to have this logo in an "eve

Just as I anticipated, I'm back within a month of my last post and just the thought of regularly writing again is very comforting as this summer has been busier than usual for me. I'm now mentally preparing myself for autumn and all the fun activities that I associate with the season with the top item of that list being Halloween! The tradition of remembering the departed is celebrated around the world throughout different times of the year and can known by a variety of names. For  example, in China and many parts of Southeast Asia, the Ghost Festival, also known as the Zhongyuan Festival, takes place on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, which is today on the western calendar. One aspect of Ghost Festival is that spirits that are ignored are thought to create mischief and those wily activities are the inspiration for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection whose gold lightning bolts on are designed to pay tribute to the “Ghost Army” which was a tactica