Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

In celebration of the 2013 World Series being underway, I thought it would be fun to showcase a couple of caps from a Pacific Coast League franchise where St. Louis outfielder Carlos Beltran played: the Spokane Indians. The PCL is a league that was officially founded in 1903, just two years after MLB's American League. I find comfort in the fact that baseball has been played in the Pacific Northwest ever since the United States' Western Expansion reached the  Oregon Territory .  So let's get to talking about this cap. First up you'll notice that the logo features the letters "S" and "I" interlocking on a royal blue crown.  As many of you know from reading this site, I love the style of serifs used here and I really enjoy that the "S" is so similar to the"S" in the Shreveport Captains cap logo. It's no secret that I heavily favor these old school caps made of 100% wool with the green-underbrims. I especi

Just know that the tag has been attached to this cap for over 22 years. That tag could buy you a beer, provided of course that you are of legal drinking age. Also, the tag would need money to purchase the beer and everyone knows tags don't have money. Variations of this logo have been around since the early days of the Memphis Chicks, but this particular version was only used in 1992.  The squarish green underbrim is typical of New Era minor league caps from this period. I am not certain what fabric makes up the inside of the front panel but it seems like this will be a nice breathable cap for the summer months! I've spent the past few weeks celebrating some different New York Yankees fitted caps so I thought it would be a fun change to take a look at a minor league snapback this time around.  As far as minor league hats are concerned, the 1986 Memphis Chicks on-field cap is holy grail for me. This is mostly because Bo Jackson made his debut for the Kansas

I'm back on the train and I have to admit that it feels pretty darn good to post two weeks in a row after such a long absence. One benefit of the hiatus is that I've got a steady pipeline of hats to write about. This one is from a team whose cap logo  I've admired  for a while now and that team would be none other than the Nashville Sounds: Since 1901, Nashville has enjoyed virtually continuous professional baseball, the only interruption being a 14 year dearth that occurred between the Nashville Volunteers' final season in 1963 and the Nashville Sounds' inaugural season in 1978. Interestingly enough, the earliest images I could find of anyone wearing a Nashville Sounds cap or uniform was from a 1981 team set issued by Arby's. Yes, that Arby's. Here's a card from that set showing Don Mattingly in this iconic get-up.  It looks like that same photo shoot also provided the shot used for a 1982 Nashville Sounds promotional sc

Update : While I originally stated that this cap was probably from 1992, I really should have also mentioned that 59Fifty tags didn't appear until 1994. I've seen New Era use older, leftover tags on caps, if this is really from 1992 then this is interesting because they applied a 59Fifty tag from 1994 on a cap with a green underbrim and no MILB batterman. Either I've been wrong about the 59Fifty tag first appearing in 1994 or they ran out of the 1992 tags at some point in the manufacturing process and had to use the ones from 1994 ahead of time, which is so weird. Update (4/20/2019) : This blog has been a learning experience for me over the years but sometimes new information comes to light so I've got to fall on my sword about something here. The previous update to this post mistakenly states that the 59Fifty tag first appeared in 1994 but I've seen caps from 1992 and 1993 that have it so there's that.  More importantly, I should mention that the only Rive

Update : While I originally stated that this cap was from the later years of the Sun Rays history, I really should have also mentioned that 59Fifty tags didn't appear until 1994. This is important because while I've seen New Era use older, leftover tags on caps, this is the first clear example I've seen where they applied a 59Fifty tag from 1994 on a cap that was defunct by 1993. E ither I've been wrong about the 59Fifty tag first appearing in 1994 or that they ran out of the 1992 tags at some point in the manufacturing process and had to use the ones from 1994 instead, which is so weird. Update (4/20/2019) :  This blog has been a learning experience for me over the years but sometimes new information comes to light so I've got to fall on my sword about something here. The previous update to this post mistakenly states that the 59Fifty tag first appeared in 1994 but I've seen caps from 1992 and 1993 that have it so there's that. Because the SunRays only wo

I don't go to many Mets games and that is mostly because they've been a disappointing franchise to follow, but I'm also not a fan of the old Ebbets Field influence in the park's design. Despite all of the club's poor business decisions and overt tributes to the Brooklyn Dodgers' legacy, going to a Mets game is a big part of getting my "Flushing-on" in Queens. For me that means relaxing at a ballgame while drinking some craft beers and putting down a few shake shack burgers. It also means heading down to the Chinatown on Main Street in Flushing after the game to enjoy some duck buns, soup dumplings, bubble tea and other tasty edible Asian treats! I love Flushing for many food-related reasons but it doesn't do much to step up my fitted hat game like Brooklyn and the Bronx can. The fact that I don't want any Mets hats in my cap rotation probably has something to do with the fact that the cap I feel most comfortable wearing to CitiField is a