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1999-2001 Birmingham Barons Cap - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

I'd love to continue celebrating the Southern League, but it seems that after writing about five of the ten current teams, I've run out of caps to write about! Because of this, I've decided to share some images of a more recent—but still vintage—Birmingham Barons cap than the 1993-94 Barons cap that I wrote about almost two years ago. The Barons have sported an Old English "B" as their cap logo in every image I can find going back to 1981, which is when the Montgomery Rebels franchise was moved to Birmingham to become the Barons. The tags here are the classic 1999-2001 configuration featuring "The Nations Highest Quality Fitted Cap" text along the satin taping and of course, back during those years that statement was true. Nowadays, New Era caps aren't so much the best thing ever but I digress. Nothing but respect for the silver and black batterman here. Sometimes I wonder if the Barons logo is as ubiquitous as I believe it to be. Of

Montgomery Biscuits - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

Now that I've apparently run out of Texas League hats, it's time to move on to another theme. Because I always seem to have fun with Double-A teams, I think it makes sense to write about some Southern League caps that I've had waiting in the wings and I'm kicking things off with the Montgomery Biscuits home hat. This is the official "home" cap worn by the Biscuits. Incidentally, I was recently browsing the current cap selection on their site and it seems to be out of stock in most sizes. Does a refresh loom? Sadly, this week's cap is a "Made In China" variant which means I'm not expecting it to have a long life. One of the many things I appreciate about the Biscuits is their team's official colors are listed as "Butter and Blue" so of course I'm loving this colorway on the Butterman logo! Surprisingly enough, I've only recently come around on the Biscuits logo. I suppose that's because it seemed lik

2017 Frisco RoughRiders Alt 2 Cap - Fresh Fitted Friday

Continuing the Texas League celebration this week with a  Frisco RoughRiders  alternate hat which features the US's 26th President, Teddy Roosevelt, swinging a big ole bat.  I wrote about the RoughRiders' primary home cap almost three years ago and mentioned then that one day I'd like to do a post about their Teddy (aka Alt #2) cap and today is that day! An interesting connection between the RoughRiders and last week's Round Rock Express post is that the two teams only played against each other in the Texas League during Frisco's inaugural season in 2003 as Round Rock switched over to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 2004. While the primary cap featured a New Era tag reading "Fly Your Own Flag" text, this cap which was acquired in 2017, does not which leads me to believe that 2016 was the last year the slogan was implemented on tags. I don't have very many maroon caps in my collection so the maroon and baby/Carolina Blue MILB batte

2005-07 Round Rock Express - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

You know it's the end of the baseball season when I'm trying to cram as many games in as possible. Last week's Staten Island Yankees game was loads of fun so this week I ventured to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to watch the big league club take on the Texas Rangers. That matchup reminded me that I hadn't featured a Texas-related hat in far too long and in fact, it's been over two years since the 1991-92 Jackson Generals  post so this week's 2005-07 Round Rock Express cap has a connection to not only that cap but the Rangers as well.  The Express wore this cap throughout the entirety of their first stint as an Astros affiliate which was from 2000-2010 The MILB tag and "Originators of the True Fitted" text on the satin taping as well as the "blue box special" New Era and size tags are something we've seen on caps from 2005-2007 such as the Portland SeaDogs and the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx . As we saw in the SeaDogs and D

2018 Staten Island Pizza Rats NYC Cap - Fresh Fitted Friday

Welcome to the last post of the 2019  New York-Penn League  celebration! I began the series with the primary cap worn by the Staten Island Yankees when they suit up as the "Pizza Rats" so I'm bookending it with the "NYC" cap.  Both of the "Pizza Rats" logos are fantastic but the "NYC" is quintessentially New York as the design is a callback to the bygone subway tokens of the past. The "Y" as a slice of pizza with a bite taken out of the crust—presumably by a rat—is an incredible touch. I was hoping to catch a  "Pizza Rats" theme night this year but sadly, that did not happen. Rats!  The one game I saw this season was this past Wednesday night as the team  played under its usual moniker and this week's cap is the one I wore to the game. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have procured a "Made in U.S.A" cap last season. My  Baby Bombers experience  this week reinforced my prefere

1999-2001 New Jersey Cardinals - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

The landing gear is about to come down on the New York-Penn league festivities and I'm making sure the last few Fresh Fitted Friday selections are super special, starting with this week's New Jersey Cardinals cap that I believe to be from 1999 to 2001. The New Jersey Cardinals played in the NYPL from 1994 (in which they won the League Title) through 2005 and wore this cap logo for parts of the 1997 season and then all the way through their final season. I've identified the sweatband tags as being similar to ones I've seen on the following caps from 1999-2001: Augusta GreenJackets, Harrisburg Senators and Trenton Thunder. Second week in a row with a cap featuring a bred MILB batterman! Also of note is all of the aforementioned caps also feature "The Nation's Highest Quality Fitted Cap" verbiage on the satin taping inside the crown. The 12 seasons the Cardinals played in Augusta, NJ isn't long when compared to stalwart cities of the l

2008 Tri-City ValleyCats

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is another New York-Penn League classic: a Tri-City ValleyCats cap which I surmise is from 2008 based on the sweatband tags that will be discussed below. The ValleyCats have remained faithful to this exact cap logo ever since the the team's inaugural season in 2002. Very interesting to see the "Blue Box" style New Era and size tags considering those tags stopped being used when the MILB teams switched to the polyester caps. The MILB tags are the older style as well. Bred batterman tag here looks nice here and just so you know, the satin taping inside the crown features the "originators of the true fitted cap". If I had to choose one word to describe this team, it would be "consistency" as the ValleyCats have worn this same cap logo and maintained their affiliation to the Houston Astros ever since 2002 which was when the team began playing in Troy, NY.  I'm putting this one on the