Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I was speaking with someone recently who made reference to some album having come out 30 years ago and after a few automatic nods in obligatory agreement, it dawned on me that we were talking about something that happened in 1991, folks! I'm not sure if this type of confusion becomes a more frequent occurrence the older we get but, this one really threw me for a loop. I happened to be watching baseball during this conversation so it's no surprise I started to think about how this year's top teams fared thirty years ago.  The Atlanta Braves were the big story in 1991 when they became the first National League team to appear in a World Series after having finished the previous season in last place. Even though they ended up falling to the the Minnesota Twins in Game 7 of that most memorable series, that season brought the team its first of 14 consecutive division titles. The Braves had an even better record the following year, returning to the Fall Classic once again however

I've been on a red, white and blue colorway kick here lately and this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is no exception. In addition to displaying national pride, this Memphis Redbirds road cap's logo features an "M" styled like a shape note as a nod to the city's rich musical tradition of blues and rock & roll which frankly, is a cultural contribution that comforts the entire country. As a fan of baseball and music, I was thrilled when Memphis revealed this new logo ahead of the 2017 season because it felt like my worlds were colliding in the best possible way. I loved the logo even more when I learned that the incorporation of musical notes in the logo was actually a return of sorts to the design elements used by the Memphis Blues from 1968-76. Standard sweatband tags that we've been seeing on caps the past few years here. Moving right along! Classic red, white and blue batterman will always look great on a navy ballcap such as this one. As is

 See you next week, folks!

For those of you wondering if the baseball portion of the 2020 Olympics are still happening, I'm here to tell you that the Gold Medal Game between the United States and Japan takes place tomorrow, Saturday August 7, 2021 at 6:00AM EST. I debated about which cap to post this week and while I do have a very cool 1940 Tokyo Kyojin retro from Ebbets Field Flannels, I feel the best way to cheer on my home country is to write about an American team. Luckily I have an 1951 Albuquerque Dukes cap that's also from Ebbets which not only sports a red, white and blue colorway but it's got a beautiful red felt "A" logo stitched onto the crown to remind you that America is "in the house" as it were. The Made in U.S.A. and Ebbets brand sitting proudly alongside each other is a sight that never gets old.  The undervisor looks darker here than it is in fact but after a few wears it will actually get to be that color. No matter the outcome of tomorrow's Gold Medal Game

At first glance you might think this is some variant of a Cubs hat but the Cuban flag on the wearer's right side is a good indication that something else is going on. And that something else is that this is the cap worn by Cuban team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Notice that World Baseball Classic sweatband tag where an MLB or MiLB tag would normally be? Yeah, see I wasn't lying to you earlier!  The embroidered design that the WBC has used since its inception in 2006 kind of has a Google vibe but I really dig it despite that.  I made a big to-do last week about the Olympics starting up but what I didn't say was that this one is extra special for baseball fans as the sport has not been a part of the competitions since the 2008 games and while there are only 6 teams participating, that's better than no baseball at all. Funny, I remember telling myself something similar during last year's shortened season. As much as I want baseball to be a thing in the Olympics

Apologies folks but I don't have a cap to write about this week but nevertheless, I hope everyone is having a great summer and is as excited as I am for the 2020 Olympics. The Opening Ceremony is always fun to watch and coverage of the festivities in Tokyo start this morning so if you're reading this bright and early head over to your favorite news outlet to tune in! Back to hats, in honor of the commencement of the Summer Games and today being the 45th anniversary of Sadaharu Oh hitting his 700th career home run, I  decided to do a Flashback Friday of a  Yomiuri Giants post I did back in 2013 . As a fan of the San Francisco Giants, I have no choice but to love our unofficial counterparts in Tokyo which means celebrating Oh is a must. Oh played all 22 seasons of his career for the Kyojin (巨人, the Japanese word for "giant(s)") and holds the  world record for home runs with  858. His 2,170 RBI and 1.079 OPS remain Japanese records to this day and  is in the top three o

I have been so hyper-focused on trying to achieve so many firsts  with recent posts in celebration of this blog's tenth anniversary that I think I've lost touch with what drew me into cap collecting in the very beginning which is fitted MILB caps from the mid-1990's. It's been fun showing off some of my vintage MILB snapbacks and the newer gems which are mostly from Copa de la Diversion but for me minor league caps peaked in the 90's and this week's Kissimmee Cobras cap is a shining example of that. Its also the perfect cap to feature on World Snake Day which as it happens is today, July 16! I admittedly was not the biggest fan of this cap when it debuted in 1995 but maybe that's because it felt a little too reminiscent of The Karate Kid for me. Over the years though, I've realized the snake wrapping its tail around the baseball is a total power move that other limbless animal logos can only try to emulate   The sweatband tags here are of the 1994-96 v