Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

This week's  Fresh Fitted Friday post marks the second snapback I've written about this year and while that has been the average amount recently, looking back at years like 2015 and 2017 give a good glimpse into the kind of attention I have given to snaps previously. In retrospect, I could have also waited until tomorrow to share photos of this hat for a  Snapback Saturday post! Being retrospective is actually a driving force in selecting this particular snapback this week and folks who dig  deep into the archives also know that I have mentioned on multiple occasions that Phish is my favorite band and has been the inspiration for quite a few posts. A bit of reverence for the past is the reason Phish turned back the clock to 1992 with the song selection during the first night of its  current Madison Square Garden residency for their 92nd show at the legendary venue. C orrelating the songs chosen for their setlists with songs that were commonly played that year is a ...

It has been over six years since I've featured a Portland Rockies cap here so I think not only has enough time passed, but because today is National Red Rose Day, I just have to feature a Portland Rockies hat to show love to the Rose City for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post. The embroidery here feels a bit rougher than what I see on my fitted variant of this cap but I am actually fine with it as a snapback is allowed to be a little rugged if it feels the need to be! The sweatband tags here do not feature a New Era flag like the caps from 1997 trough 2000 so I am confident in asserting this one is from either the Portland Rockies inaugural season in 1995 or the following year in 1996. The MILB batterman was present in 1995 which also brings me comfort in my estimation of this cap's age. I have been thinking a lot about Portland because it continues to be a contender for a MLB expansion team. I haven't broached the topic since my Nashville Sounds post this past Augu...

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...

All-Star week is the most boring time of year for major league sports fans, as it’s the only stretch where there is not at least one game played in MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL. As addicted as I am to baseball, I actually don’t mind the break much because at this point of the season, I appreciate not having to set fantasy rosters for a few days! Now that I'm recharged I'm looking forward to my next planned game on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Angels take on the New York Mets for their biennial visit to Queens. The theme for this week’s post is the homestand this upcoming weekend, with Saturday being the number retirement and Mets Hall of Fame induction of former captain David Wright. Mentioning Wright in last week’s post was a foreshadowing of my plan to wear this vintage Wausau Mets hat in honor of “W” being his last initial but alas ticket prices on the secondary market are sky high for that game so I’ll likely be watching from home!  Now that we're firmly in the fine print zone...

When I sat down to write last week's Joplin Miners post, I had yet not considered how the cap logo's "J" could have been a suitable pre-farewell tribute to Juan Soto and his time ending with the New York Yankees but depending on how you look at things, it could also have been regarded as a plea for him to stay in the Bronx! Either way, the Soto Sweepstakes ended when news broke this past Sunday night that the star outfielder agreed to some comically large compensation amount  by signing with the New York Mets. And t his time I will take credit for the tie-in with Soto and the "J" on the logo of this "Fresh Mesh" snapback the Jackson Mets wore from 1979 through 1987. The last Fresh Mesh cap I wrote about was this 1988 Greensboro Hornets post  back in April 2021 but both logos are very close in terms of my love for them. I'm really surprised how clean the sweatband is on this hat which could very well be 40 years old at this point. I am pretty s...

After last week's double-dose of Denver Bears hats, I must ask if you are prepared for yet another bear-themed cap this week because today is National Teddy Bear Day as well as National Care Bears Share Your Care Day and I had no choice but to break out this 1998 Fresno Grizzlies snapback for the occasion. It's also California Admission Day and if you've ever glanced upon California's state flag, you are most likely envisioning the grizzly bear featured on it at this very moment. I am almost ashamed to admit this as a former resident of California yet I never once took interest in researching why the state is known as the  "Bear Flag Republic" until today. I'll spare you the history discourse on the Mexican-American war and Mexico's War of Independence for the time being but I should note the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846  only lasted a total of 25 days and the events that transpired were a key component in California being officially annexed by the United...

The past two posts since returning from my mini-break have been proper Fresh Fitted Friday entries however this week I'm switching it up with an Erie SeaWolves snapback in honor of National Dog Day which is today, August 26. Erie sported this Carolina Blue look on their caps from their inaugural season in 1996 through 1998 however the next photo will support my argument that this cap is most likely from their first season. The lack of New Era flag branding on this cap supports my conclusion that it's probably from 1996 since the flag logo came about the following year. And judging by the condition of the sweatband on this cap, I don't think anyone has washed it since 1996 either. I obtained this cap in a big haul a few years ago in order to scoop up an  Appleton Foxes cap  and while that was a worthwhile purchase, I haven't even worn that cap nor this one because the sweatband situation is so dire. I mentioned earlier that today is National Dog Day and while a Sea Wolf ...

It's been a month since my last post but in all likelihood it's going to be a more weeks before I'm ready to return to posting more regularly. Nothing to worry about though as there are lots of good things happening on my end and I have a feeling I'll be fully energized once I get a bit more charge in me! Let's just consider this week as a sort of check-in at the halfway point of the hiatus which, as the All-Star break is almost upon us strikes me as a bit ironic considering the players who have been grinding up to this point of the season are ready for a well-deserved break so here I am to relieve them! I normally like to feature All-Star Game caps for posts around this time of year but since tomorrow is National Snake Day, I feel compelled to showcase my Chandler Diamondbacks cap which was most likely worn during the Arizona Fall League's inaugural season in 1992. I'm not the biggest fan of snakes but I definitely don't get squirmy when I see one on TV...

I've got another snapback for this edition of  Fresh "Fitted" Friday but while last week's Charleston Charlies design is synonymous with a team's departure from town, this time I've got the iconic logo the team wore when baseball returned in 1987 all the way until they rebranded to become the Charleston Alley Cats in 1995. I always thought this logo referenced the smog produced by the coal mines in West Virginia but it turns out that puffy cloud is a representation of the steamboats that chugged along Charleston's Kanawha River starting back in the early 19th century.   I was hoping to find a fitted version of this cap but this snapback will just have to do for now as I've been on the hunt for this logo for years! This sweatband is so white it could pass for a clerical collar so yeah, I'd say this this hat is in pretty good shape considering it's about 30 years old. During my boat ride down Wheelers memory lane, this 1987 ProCards James Hendri...

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is unique in that it's actually of the Fresh Foam variety!  This is the second ever foam pillbox cap that I've written about with the first being a  Tidewater Tides snapback  with nearly identical construction as this week's Charleston Charlies hat. The Charlies were a Cleveland affiliate from 1981 through 1983 and this logo takes the block "C" logo their parent team wore from 1979-86 and adds white piping around the crown. That is a touchstone of cap styles in 1983 which was the only year this cap was worn as well as their last season in Charleston, WV. Because this hat was only worn for one season I doubt if a fitted version was even made at the time. Also, I'm not usually a fan of the visor being the same color on both sides but this cap is very rare and sometimes you've got to take what you can get, folks!  The Tides cap I mentioned earlier has a Twins (Enterprise Products) tag on the sweatband while this...

I took last week off but I'm going to kindly ask you count this week's 1988 Roman Pro Cap Co. Greensboro Hornets post as a March entry because it definitely falls in line with the trend of all the ones from that month featuring some green. It also counts as a Wingure cap…barely. Even though it doesn't show a winged creature doing baseball stuff, I've decided the team name being "Hornets" is enough to consider this a "Wingure" cap.  So much green!!!! There's definitely some "fresh mesh" stuff happening here which makes this a perfect option for the warmer months ahead.  I briefly discussed my desire for a retro release of this cap logo in my Greensboro Grasshoppers post from 2018 and while I'm bummed that never came to fruition for me, I'm absolutely thrilled to have a vintage version. It wouldn't hurt to have a retro release also though, as I'd love to keep this snapback on ice so that it continues to stay fresh for yea...

I've got plenty of caps left to write about featuring the letter "B" in the logo however I'm looking to wind down this current theme so that I can move onto other subject matters that I've been meaning to cover. Until then though, I must fall back on one of my favorite parlor tricks which is featuring yet another obsolete team identity from the mid-1990's! This week's Binghamton Mets snapback is one I estimate to be from 1995-96. Binghamton sported this exact logo design from 1995 all up until 2017 which was the year they rebranded as the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, which is the team's name currently. I have no idea how the bee in the logo is connected to the city however the reason for the team's new name stems from Binghamton being known as "The Carousel Capital of the World". The lack of New Era flag branding on the sweatband tags hints this is a pre-1997 cap. Because this logo only first appeared in 1995, I'd say this cap is from th...