Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Hagerstown Suns

Pre-2013 Hagerstown Suns

Unlike the cap shortage that I faced in my Carolina League series a while back, I don't seem to be running out of ammo when it comes to my South Atlantic League reserves. This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is a hat that's been stashed away for a few years now but the cap logo design itself goes all the back to 1993. I've mentioned this many times before but it's worth repeating that  I loved collecting players' autographs as a kid . To maximize my collection, I had to stock up on cards from as many different minor league teams as possible and I focused on MLB teams who had a Triple-A affiliate in the International League who would face my hometown Norfolk Tides.  The Tides often played the Rochester Red Wings (who were t he Baltimore Orioles' Triple-A affiliate)  and I had lots of cards from that team as well as other current and former Orioles farm teams such as the Frederick Keys and Bowie Baysox, who replaced the Hagerstown Suns as

1989-1992 Hagerstown Suns

Welcome to the second installment of Maryland-fest, hon! Last week's Hagerstown Suns hat shone brightly but week's iteration of the cap is super-rare as it is the one  worn when the team served as Baltimore's Double-A farm in the Eastern League from 1989 to 1992. Cursive script fonts have never been the go-to choice for cap logos but this is my favorite Hagerstown Suns logo because it was so short-lived and it reminds me of my days as a youngster collecting autographs. The classic MILB hat combination: a single New Era sweatband tag and a green underbrim. Perfection.  Some might say snapbacks don't have a place on Fresh Fitted Friday but remember not many Double-A teams wore fitted caps back in the day.  According to Baseball Reference, about half of the 1988 Single-A Suns played on the Double-A team for at least part of the 1989 season so while it might not have seemed like a big promotion at the time, I imagine the fans in Hagerstown all felt like

Early 2000's Hagerstown Suns hat

Over the next few weeks I've got a special theme cooking to feature all Maryland-inspired caps. Now that there is no baseball for me to watch at night, I'm revisiting old seasons of  The Wire  so I'm fully immersed in Balmer, hon and that's truth. First, let's heat things up with this Hagerstown Suns cap from the early 2000's: Look at this happy little guy! Actually if logos aged like people, he'd almost be old enough to rent a car without incurring a Young Driver Surcharge . That's right: the Suns have used this exact logo since 1993. There's also a good chance I'll be spending this Thanksgiving with friends in Maryland so these next few weeks are going to be a warm up for that. As the weather starts to get chilly in most places, nothing heats you up better than the Suns, amirite?  Try the veal.   Actually, I chose to start the Maryland-fest off with this Suns cap because of my appreciation of the MLB teams that have had farms in Hage