Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I am not going to front: I had multiple Philadelphia-adjacent caps at the ready for this week and the next but the Phillies' elimination in the NLCS by the Arizona Diamondbacks has summarily drained my desire to post photos of those hats thus, this week I am channeling National Black Cat Day energy for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post. And since I don't have any caps with a black cat on the logo we are pivoting by showcasing the embroidery of a white bat on a black hat which I guess which is acceptable because we are staying within the spooky parameters of the Halloween season! I've mentioned this before but I would really like to see some sort of "Clink Room" sweatband  tag on these caps if for no other reason than experiencing the joy of pure symmetry!  See how nice the Clink Kong logo looks in his symmetrically embroidered glory here? I love this! My life is filled with few regrets which is why I have no misgivings about posting Mystery "N" S

The Atlanta Braves clinched the National League East Division earlier this week, however instead of dedicating this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  to the big news of being the first MLB team this year to gain a postseason berth, we honor the centennial of the birth of Hank Williams—another iconic Southern entity—which is this coming Sunday, September 17. I have recently featured two Hip Hop 50 related hats so now is a good time to temporarily shift gears with a country-tinged cap. As I have mentioned before, I grew up listening to lots of hard rock and rap in the 1980s although sadly never appreciated country music until I went to college in Colorado which is where I first learned about bluegrass and Americana in general. My first exposure to "The Hillbilly Shakespeare" is not a memory I can accurately retrace however I suspect a key catalyst to that moment was my chemistry lab partner, Nathan, who grew up in Nashville, TN. Each of us had diverse musical tastes that we enj

To celebrate World Bee Day last year I wrote about my Bad News Bees hat that I procured from The Clink Room and for today’s Fresh Fitted Friday post I am honoring the holiday with this "Hive Mind" cap which also came from The Clink Room.   If you’ve been reading the blog for a while now you know I’m a sucker for all things bee-related and the origin of that is my admiration of my wife’s affinity for bees. Her birthday happens to fall around the same time as World Bee Day which is perfect timing as I’m able to celebrate them alongside her every year. I added a "Bees" label to this post to make it easy to track previous posts but I promise this one is the most metal of all with honey dripping on the skull of this logo which was designed by Nashville-based artist Austin Gray aka  @entireworld.us   on Instagram.  This is the first hat from Austin that I’ve featured here and I've got another great one to share around Halloween.   There are more bee-themed posts pl

The closest I've come to a proper Cinco de Mayo post here was with my Asheville Yacumamas Copa de la Diversión hat back in 2021 and because it'll be five years until the next time the holiday falls on a Friday, now is the time to showcase this incredible "Conchita" cap  designed  by  Mexico City-based artist  Clinker Jacobo. Jacobo has released dozens of designs via The Clink Room and while this is my first and so far, only one of their logos that I've bought, I'll be sure to get more in the future as their releases are always uniquely eye-catching. The emerald green visor and rust crown lend some seriously vintage vibes here and these aged hues fit perfectly in a scene involving tacos, tequila and tunes from a playlist featuring a steady stream of norteño and ranchera classics from the 1970s. The electric green Kong embroidery here sets it off completely for me. I love it. I mentioned earlier that the next Fresh Fitted Friday post that will fall on Cinco de

The date was March 24, 2001 and  Randy Johnson was pitching late into his final start of Spring Training. Very few people know or care that the  Arizona  Diamondbacks defeated the San Francisco Giants 10-6 in a split squad matchup that afternoon. The game wasn't televised and the box score is virtually impossible to track down however March 24 will forever live in infamy due to the only notable event that afternoon which was when Johnson faced Giants outfielder Calvin Murray in the top of the seventh inning of a game that was already highly contentious, even if it was a "meaningless" spring training matchup. Johnson fired a heater that Murray never had a chance of hitting, especially because a dove in flight with the worst possible timing got in front of the ball as it made its way from the mound to home plate. Much has been written since the incident but what is also notable is Murray's nephew is Kyler Murray, who is currently the quarterback for the Arizona Cardinal

I was too busy last week to dedicate the time needed to post but tomorrow evening is International Observe the Moon Night and as someone who has been fascinated with outer space ever since watching Star Wars as a young child in the 1980s, I just had to pull out this "Moonshot" hat from The Clink Room which was designed by LeRoid David. Counting my  Bad News Bees hat from my post back in May  and this one I now have both of Clinker LeRoid's creations for The Clink Room!  The dark navy crown and Vegas gold brim are a stunning combination however I think might have preferred a grey undervisor to match the moon's true color. Let's be real though: if this design ever gets reproduced, I'll buy it no matter what the colors are!   The Clink Kong embroidery on caps from The Clink Room are a beautiful and unique touch. The design on this cap is bonkers and the backstory on this hat goes so deep I had no choice but to pick it up, even though there's a slight Dodgers

Welcome back, folks! My unplanned sabbatical lasted a month but I'm glad to be posting again although I I envision this week's entry will be rather brief. Things are still busy for me at the moment but I could not resist sharing this Bad News Bees cap that I picked up via  The Clink Room with you fine people today in celebration of World Bee Day! The inspiration behind this design is rooted in the infamous 1986 San Jose Bees of the California League  who were not affiliated with a big league team, which was very uncommon at the time. Their roster was mostly comprised of MLB castoffs and the team was widely known as the "Bad News Bees" due to the general quirkiness of its players.   The only improvement to the sweatband that I can think of would be to add a tag with The Clink Room's branding to make the layout symmetrical. The visor and undervisor being the same color isn't my favorite aspect of this cap but that's all forgiven because instead of having a