Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I had a memorable family excursion to Atlanta last weekend, and the Kinship Road-trip tour continues this weekend in Richmond, Virginia. In case you're wondering, I still have not been to a Yankees game this season, which might be a record for me. All is well though, as last night was my first time at CarMax Park, which is the new home of the Richmond Flying Squirrels. I loved every step I took in that ballpark, and I am looking forward to returning if the Squirrels are in town on my next visit. I figured “ no cap” would be more fitting to wear to a new ballpark than one of the fantastic fauxback hats issued by the team. Apologies for mentioning the Yankees again this week; however, I am a New Yorker, and  Richmond was once their Triple-A home ! The team's mascot, Nutzy, is in the midst of a majestic and hurried sprint here, and the only thing that would make me love this cap even more is if the crown were black and the visor were red, but even still, this cap is incredible. I...

There is no national holiday or major event happening this weekend for me to reference for this week's theme, but luckily I only have to look at the boarding pass in my phone's Delta app for my upcoming flight to Atlanta tomorrow morning to get me hyped up to eat some incredible BBQ and peaches that are now in season. Sadly, the Atlanta Braves are on the road, and so are their Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett, but that's not stopping me from posting a peach-hued variant of the Stripers home cap for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post! This is the third Stripers hat I've written about and while I like the ball-on-hook here, I have to strain to see the ball so I think I might prefer the alternate logo I wrote about in 2021 . I love the pop on the undervisor here more than that alternate cap, though. It's just so peachy! The light and breezy look is completed with the peach-laden MILB batterman and New Era embroidery on the side. The timing of this trip to the Peac...

Just a week ago, I wouldn't consider walking out the door without a hoodie to keep me warm, but then the following Sunday, temperatures reached the mid-80s and rose up to the low 90s, which stayed steady through this past Wednesday. I should mention, the purpose of this weather recap is really only to provide an excuse as to why I haven't been to a Yankees game yet this season! Considering the past few posts went from Yankees to Mets, you would think the Subway Series theme would be wrapped up, but today is National Maritime Day, and the most nautical cap I own just happens to be one worn by the Columbus Clippers, who were the Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees from 1979 through 2006. The last time I wrote about this cap logo was almost exactly 11 years ago although this week's hat is the one the Clippers wore in 2001 to commemorate their 25th season in Columbus.  If the Clippers celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2001, this year would be their 50th season; however, as ...

This week's entry is a bit shorter than normal due to hosting and travel commitments on both ends of this week's post. The good news is that in the past week alone, I have experienced joy spending quality time at my first ballgame of the season with visiting friends. And I have embarked on my own voyage, which has now brought me to Paris, France. Today happens to be International Bat Appreciation Day, and while it is true this is not exactly the spookiest time of the year, I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow in the Catacombs in Paris. which you can learn a bit more about by visiting this link . Of course, it only makes sense for me to wear my Louisville Bats cap as it's the perfect partner for such an adventure on this holiday! Without knowing that this is a Louisville Bats cap, it might be hard to know at first glance that this logo depicts a flying bat, so this one is more for the obsessed collectors out there. I hope to someday get a Bats cap that evokes more of...

The World Baseball Classic wrapped up this past Wednesday night without the Team USA victory that I had hoped for but on the bright side, their final game which Venezuela won by a score of 3-2 was watched by 11 million viewers in the States. That's a staggeringly large number for an "exhibition game" and I expect viewership will continue to grow in the coming years. I have never considered baseball to comply with the do-or-die format of tournament play but I admit it was a refreshing change for each game to have meaning as opposed to the drawn out nature of a months long season followed by a succession of best-of playoff series. Still though, if Team USA hopes to win it all ever again some changes need to happen. For starters, we need more starters but credit is due to Paul Skenes and Logan Webb who were both lights-out in their final starts against the Dominican Republic and Canada, respectively. Without the full commitment of another elite starting pitcher like Tarik S...

It was a real treat to attend the RD Vs. PR Showdown  at Citi Field last weekend and the reality is starting to sink in that I won't see another game until April at the earliest. Thankfully I've got Mexican and Dominican league games to keep me distracted. I  can't claim much else in terms of hobbies but food is a big love of mine so I'm very much looking forward to some holiday meals. One food item holiday that is not synonymous with Thanksgiving is seafood but if you've ever been invited to a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner on Christmas Eve, you are likely extra grateful for World Fisheries Day which is celebrated annually on November 21. For those unaware, the purpose of the holiday is to raise awareness of sustainable fishing practices so that we can ensure future generations will be able to properly enjoy the vast deliciousness of the sea! Since the holiday falls on a Friday this year, I've decided to showcase a Gwinnett Stripers hat for this week's Fr...

It has been less than two weeks since the 2025 World Series wrapped up but thanks to the plentiful slate of highlights and full game broadcasts from the winter baseball leagues as well as  the Arizona Fall League, any withdrawal symptoms I would otherwise experience at this point in the year have been subsided. Even better is despite this weekend's temperatures only looking to get up to the high 40s, the heat will be brought courtesy of the "RD Vs. PR Showdown" as All-Stars from Liga  Dominicana de Béisbol (Dominican Republic) and Liga Beisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (Puerto Rico) square off in a historic match-up at CitiField tomorrow in Queens. The Dominican roster features former Met (and Yankee) Robinson Cano in his last professional game but I'm most excited for Puerto Rico's squad because I'll get to see  Vimael Machín who was on the Norfolk Tides the last time I saw him play. He signed autographs for my niece after that game so I'll be rooting ...

Unless your favorite team is in the mix for a postseason run, the last week of baseball's regular season is an objectively boring time. Sadly, the San Francisco Giants were eliminated from the Wild Card race Tuesday night, so without that pressure, I'll try to simply be happy for the winning teams, especially if their success comes at the expense of the Los Angeles Dodgers! My pettiness will only subside once the Dodgers are knocked out of contention; however, their odds to repeat as World Series champions are incredibly favorable, with only the Philadelphia Phillies having a slight advantage over them at this point in time. Thus, to subside my feelings of hopelessness, I have shifted my focus to the minor league baseball playoff landscape! In fact, as I sat down to write this post, I streamed the deciding game of the 2025 International League Championship Series between the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins) and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees), in which Jackson...

As mentioned in last week's post, the  "Homecoming Series"  would be at least two parts. And because  July 4 falls on a Friday this year, this week's entry takes us to my home state of Virginia to highlight the "Stars & Stripes" cap the Norfolk Tides wore during games played throughout the Independence Day weekend in 2019 . When the Tides launched their  refreshed logo set designed by Brandiose  following the 2015 season, I immediately picked up the home and road caps but for some reason held off on their alternate featuring a "T" in historic naval lettering. It's kind of a "if you know, you know" sort of thing as that design isn't the most widely recognized logo in minor league baseball but that's ok! The straightforward elegance of the military font is splendidly done up in the colors of Old Glory and the league patch adds even more pop to the overall look of the cap. I am a sucker for a white sweatband and a green und...

One of my favorite things to do when I find myself waiting for a train or bus is popping through my favorite hat sites to see if any new releases catch my eye. Historically, the most visited ones were Hat Club, eCapacity, MyFitteds, and Ebbets Field Flannels, although the latter has fallen out of rotation due to their recent change of vision and direction. Through Ebbets' Triple-Play" deal, I was able to score three caps for a fair price, and if I picked up an extra one, I would meet the minimum for free shipping, for which I am a sucker! If only they offered a "Grand Slam" option, I would have pounced on that too. The Triple-Play deal no longer exists, so buyers must wait for a sale if they would rather not pay $68 (gasp) for a cap. Out of habit tonight, I browsed to Ebbets' site, and while there were no new caps since the last time I checked, I did notice their Memorial Day offering 25% off sitewide. There were a few logos I never got around to purchasing befor...

It seems like just a year or two ago that I wrote about one of the all-time favorites in my collection which is the 1991 Nashville Sounds cap  although in reality that was just over ten years ago. Even more baffling is I've written about four other Sounds caps since then with today's Fresh Fitted Friday selection being the "Music City" variant from the 2015 rebrand. Three of those four caps were from that rebrand with this "Music City" alternate being what will likely be my final entry from that  epic set by Brandiose . I never imagined back in 2015 that a "Made in U.S.A." tag would someday become a thing of the past on New Era caps but I'm still holding onto the hope that the manufacturing of these timeless hats comes back stateside. The hit of red on the MILB batterman over a mostly black cap is fitting for a team from Nashville, which in my mind is a town synonymous with Johnny Cash, aka The Man in Black, who has an entire museum dedicate...

I mentioned in last week’s post that the San Bernardino Spirit cap would be the last in the “Soto Sweepstakes” series. The news of Modesto losing their team in the 2026 California League Shuffle convinced me to buy a cap from a team that played there. I am not sold on either of the current Modesto Nuts hats so I am looking further back in time at a Modesto A's retro although I would like to stay away from the later era  if possible as the elephant exudes more Oakland energy than I am comfortable with on a cap logo. All this considered, my best option seems to be the "M" script worn from 1977 through 1992. As a San Francisco Giants fan, I am a bit uneasy about wearing an A's-related logo, especially one formerly worn by Oakland superstars such as Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and most notably, Rickey Henderson who passed away on December 21, 2024. Even though I loathed the A's, I admired Henderson as a young baseball fan so I will make the exception here. If I had to ...