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2002 World Series - San Francisco Giants (Alt logo from 2003-06)

I neglected my posting duties last week by not sharing a Fresh Fitted for the first Fresh Fitted Friday of 2022 but that just means this week's cap has to work extra hard to assume that role! For the very special honor of starting the year off right I have selected a 2002 World Series cap which when combined with this particular San Francisco Giants logo, is a bit of a mind-bender.

I viewed footage from all seven games of the 2002 World Series and can confirm that this alternate logo was not worn during any of them, which makes sense because it did not appear until the 2003 season. Nevertheless, I have a soft spot in my heart for this one as this design was very popular when i moved to the Bay Area in 2005.

 January 7 is National Bobblehead Day so this cap is teaming up with a Tim Lincecum bobblehead that I procured at a special event at AT&T Park in 2011. Fun fact: the orange-brimmed cap Lincecum is wearing was only worn during Game 4 of the 2010 World Series, which in case you forgot was the one where Madison Bumgarner pitched 8 shutout innings to bring the Giants within one game of clinching the series.

The satin taping here is consistent with almost every hat I've come across from 2002-04 and the sweatband tags here are essentially the "Night Mode" version of the ones that began appearing in 2000. All in all, this murdered-out look was completely unheard of at the time this cap was produced.

The most striking and unique aspect of the Angels caps worn on-field in the 2002 World Series is the debut of black sweatbands and undervisors. Even though the Giants never wore this particular cap in any of those games, I'm counting it as part of that pilot study.


I mentioned the orange-brimmed hat in the caption for the bobblehead photo above however neglected to state that 2010 was the colorway's first year back after being out of commission since 1982. I'm not saying its reappearance was the reason for the Giants success that year but i'm not not saying it, either!

What the orange-brimmer and this week's 2003-06 alternate cap have in common is that the periods in which they were first employed were not the best of times for the Giants. My hope though is calling back to these divergent motifs years later while the team performs well could potentially re-write the narrative and history that they conjure up for fans.

The early part of a new year is a powerful moment for me as it is an opportunity to start fresh and with a renewed sense of purpose as I strive toward the goals I set. It's worth noting that the most impactful teachers in my life have been the lessons learned from the mistakes that I've made and I often use this time to reflect upon those experiences.

Every sports fan likely starts the year with a "what if this is our season" mentality and I've gleaned that success is the result of many smaller adjustments throughout a campaign. I included the "What If?" label for this post because I believe reviving the 2003-06 alternate logo would be exactly that sort of modification for the Giants in their quest for another championship.


There is no doubt in my mind that the Los Angeles Angels will put on a slew of events this season commemorating the 20th anniversary of their 2002 World Series championship and hopefully seeing our team in the wrong end of those celebrations ignites a fire in San Francisco Giants fans to cheer our club to win it all in 2022.

If this cap is calling out your name and you are willing to part with a top tier hat from my Wish List that's a 7 3/8 or 7 1/2, you are in luck as this one must go on the Trading Block. Luckily, I have a San Francisco Giants cap with the 2003-06 logo (without the World Series patch) in my collection that fits me fine!


In addition, 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.


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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