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!
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| Ever since 2019, the Hickory Crawdads have been known as the Llamas de Hickory during games they've played as part of MILB's Copa de la Diversión series. |
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| The multi-colored eyelets really do it for me here. It's the small things. |
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| The tealism on the MILB batterman is another great aspect of this cap! |
I have picked up a fair amount of Copa hats since the campaign began in 2018 and what I've found is my favorites tend to be ones where I love the design as much as the standard logo. This is definitely the case for other teams such as the Asheville Yacumamas (Asheville Tourists) and Carolina Pescados (Carolina Mudcats) who also happen to play in North Carolina.
When I first saw this beautifully vibrant hat and knew I had to have it. Plus llamas are just so darn neat! While llamas might be having a trendy "it moment" I like that they found a way to work the animal into the Hickory metro area's claim to being the "Furniture Capital of the World" as it's widely-known that llamas like to snack on wood!
The llama on the logo appears to be eating a furniture leg which is very whimsical although I think the design would also be effective if it was chewing a baseball bat instead. Another component I appreciate is that the llama is wearing a chullo, which is an Andean hat typically made of wool from a sheep or llama. The hat-on-a-hat element is an elite meta-reference for me.
Most of the regular readers of this blog know that I also like to tie-in some sort of timely holiday with my posts and this week is no exception as National Llama Day happens every year on December 9 which just so happens to be today's date!
I've searched a fair amount still have no idea why December 9 was chosen to celebrate National Llama Day but I do know it's the perfect time to acquaint yourself a bit more with these adorable creatures. If you'd prefer not to visit one in person I recommend checking out this link to read more about the history of llamas from the comfort of wherever you are!
This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is not going on the Trading Block, 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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