Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

What's good today? How about a fitted so vintage that it dares to consider itself fresh ? Well, this week's edition of Fresh Fitted Friday goes out to a man who is known to have brought some serious heat in his day: Rollie Fingers! Before going any further, I would guess that most people in the fitted hat game, when hearing the name "Rollie Fingers" think of this guy: I wouldn't fault you for immediately thinking of Inspectah Deck as he's known to have used this alias on multiple occasions. For me, the most fun part of listening to Inspectah Deck -and Wu-Tang Clan in general- is that they drop some of the best pop-culture references in all of hip-hop. Just do a web search for any of the topics they rap about and you've got some interesting research ahead of you! On Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) , Method Man describes Inspectah Deck as having the uncanny ability to judge the character of others: " Inspectah Deck, he's like that dude that

Alright, so for this edition of Fresh Fitted Friday I thought I'd do another throwback however this time, I want to pay some respect to a ballplayer who hasn't had a lot of time on the field this season: #2, Derek Jeter. I've seen the man do some tremendous things at Yankee Stadium, but I'll always really remember him as a scrappy prospect with the Columbus Clippers. Here's a great baseball card where he's wearing a cap very similar to the one featured here today: As some of you might know, I grew up in Norfolk, VA and going to Tidewater Tides games at Met Park was an intregal part of many summers in my youth. I remember getting to the ballpark early in the afternoon when the players arrived to scam some autographs and then I'd wait for the guys to leave after the game to get even more autographs. Some of them made some snarky comments here and there, but the beauty of time is that now I can only remember the good memories. I got lots of 'gr

I'm sorry about the hiatus but, don't worry; I haven't stopped my rabid consumption of fresh (and sometimes not-so-fresh) hats from my favorite purveyors. It's true that it has been a while since I've hit up this blog. Hopefully you haven't forgotten about me -or perhaps worse- the fitted hat game! This is why I wanted to mark my return by sharing one of my favorite hats of all time: a 1992 Seattle Mariners cap! To me, this cap evokes so much nostalgia because it reminds me of one of my favorite baseball cards from that era: Ken Griffey, Jr.'s 1989 Upper Deck rookie card! Look at that smile! Look at that bling around his neck! Look at that super-comfy turtleneck! But, I digress. We all knew back then that he was going to be a spectacular ballplayer; however, I don't think anyone could have foreseen the magnitude of Ken Griffey Jr.'s legacy. He was one of the best players to ever wear a major league uniform, or any sports uniform for that matt

Pre- 1992 Montreal Expos cap , a set on Flickr. These are caps from a not-so-easily forgotten moment in time. I love wearing this cap because no true baseball fan could have any ill will toward the Expos and their legacy. The city of Montreal got done dirty by MLB when they lost their team, but at least they'll always have their hockey. This cap gets a +1 for being crafted from some synthetic materials. It's sort of a Proto-Cool Base material and it's the only true retro cap that is not made out of wool, so I guess that counts for something!

While rainfall in Arlington has postponed tonight's Game 2 ALCS matchup of the Tigers and Rangers, the skies are clear here in New York City. If the Yankees had beat the Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS, the Rangers would have been in town for this game of the series. As it turns out, New York will not taste this particular flavor of the postseason and I'm still a little bitter over Texas beating them in this very round of the playoffs last year. It was annoying to see so many Rangers caps around town after they clinched the American League championship especially because they were facing the Giants, who were my hometown team for all those years I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was hoping to see the Giants play the Yankees in the World Series, but I'm happy that my beloved Giants won it all nonetheless. When I saw this Rangers cap was up for sale as a "Buy It Now" option on eBay for next to nothing, I couldn't resist the classic logo design. It's unfor

Now that the postseason is at the League Championship Series (LCS) point I'm starting to feel a bit nostalgic for baseball seasons of the past. What greatly excites me is that the Diamondbacks didn't make it past the first round. Any division rival that gives my Giants a hard time will definitely not receive any support from me during the playoffs. By the time the season officially ended I had already begun cheering for the Brewers, if only because the Cardinals lead all National League teams with 10 World Series championships. While the Giants can boast of 6 World Championships, the Brewers have won none. Before the Brewers switched to the National League in 1997, they had earned one sole trip to the World Series, in 1982, where they lost to the Cardinals. I'm fairly certain the Brew Crew will make it to the World Series this year and I hope they face off against one of their former American League East rivals, the Detroit Tigers. I think it would be a fun match-up, and on

The timeline here shows some of the subtle changes to the inside tags of New Era caps from the mid to late-1990's. Starting with 1996, this particular tag scheme is what I remember most about the caps that I owned from the period. From the tried-and-true "Authentic Diamond Collection" tag to the iconic and simplistic "size tag," everything about these caps screams "official." The caps from that year feature the last appearance of the psychedelic script-style New Era middle tag. The New Era tag in the center with the black and white "5950" logo is the first thing you see when inspecting the cap and the one thing you'll certainly notice is the plain black satin taping on the inside of the cap. Of all the iterations of the taping, this one is my favorite in it's seeming lack of design. This would also be the last year that the familiar "size tag" would appear in simple red, white and blue which is a shame because that tag woul