If you have been telling stories long enough, you (and/or those around you) will eventually come to accept that repeat performances are inevitable, and as I approach the 15-year milestone of writing this blog, today's Fresh Fitted Friday post marks the first time I have featured the exact same cap for a second time.
There are a few contrasting factors between both posts, with the notable being that today's photos were taken just a few years ago. Another difference is that this post is being published on a Friday, while the double feature post featuring a Brewers and Tigers hats from 1993 has a date stamp of Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011.
Evidently, I did not make any note of it being "Fresh Fitted Friday" until my 1992 Seattle Mariners post on August 16, 2013. It was fun revisiting that double feature post where I weighed in on the likelihood of a Brewers-Tigers World Series, especially considering neither team made it past the LCS that year.
What I enjoyed even more was that it was almost a year before I attended my first-ever ALCS game, which, as it happened, was between the Yankees and the Tigers at Yankee Stadium. Not only did the Yankees lose that first game of the series, but Derek Jeter also broke his left ankle in the 12th inning.
The Tigers went on to sweep the Yankees in that series, but thankfully, their luck ended there as my San Francisco Giants ended up sweeping the Tigers in the World Series. Things got off to a fantastic start for my team as they roughed up Justin Verlander to the tune of five earned runs in four innings.
I felt a bit sorry for Verlander as he's a Virginia native like myself, but my motto will always be "Giants First," and to be fair, he did eventually win two World Series with the Houston Astros. He also racked up over $422 million in career earnings, which I assume goes a long way toward soothing the pain of remembering how terribly he pitched in his first two trips to the World Series.
The celebration of America's 250th anniversary was the main focal point of this year's All-Star Game; however, a key storyline was that just less than a week earlier on July 8, 2026, Verlander announced he would retire at the end of the 2026 MLB season. There were many heartwarming interviews conducted with Verlander, and he will certainly be missed by many fans of the game.
I heard Verlander mention in one of those interviews that his family still holds an apartment in New York City, so if he decides to stay involved in baseball, there might be some opportunity with the Mets organization, who signed him to a 2-year deal worth $86.6 million in the 2022 offseason.
I think partnering up with the Mets would be a sign of good faith after picking their pockets so cleanly in 2023 before they shipped him back to Houston. Either way, my only hope is that Verlander has fun spending all that money in retirement!
 |
| The orange "Old English D" logo the Tigers wore from 1983-93 might not be iconic as the white variant made famous by Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I., but it is the one that comes to mind when I think back on my earliest memories of the team growing up. |
 |
| Seeing the green underbrim matched up with this sweatband tag combination also brings back fond memories of the first on-field ballcaps I ever owned. |
 |
| The classic flat MLB batterman completes the look, and the orange mixed in there looks great against the navy background of the cap and alongside the green underbrim and white sweatband peaking through. |
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.
As always, thanks for coming back to read about baseball hat geekery. 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
Comments