Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I am not sure if I have mentioned this enough before but a big reason why I have this blog is to perform a sort of weekly check-in with myself and baseball. Writing and baseball have been grounding forces in my life so it only makes sense for me to use these posts as a way to connect all of my random thoughts with the game and the hats I wear everyday. My first hat-related posts here were mostly part of a spurt in output during August 2011, followed by a short hiatus until my  1992 Seattle Mariners cap post from August 2013 . From that point until now I've strived to be consistent in my write-ups with the goal of attracting and retaining a good amount of eyeballs as well as for that trend to continue! It's no coincidence that 2013 has great significance for me as that was the year I met my now-wife, who is ever-supportive of my writing. She lets me know when my collecting gets out of hand but also entertains frequent quips such as "ain't it neat I brought up the 1992 M

I've been making my best efforts to post every week throughout this current baseball season but last week was simply too hectic for me to get it together to do the Nashville-themed post which I hoped to do as a tribute to June Carter Cash who if still alive would be celebrating her 94th birthday that day. My goal for this week's write-up of this Nashville Stars cap is that it makes up for that lapse! Music City Baseball, LLC (“MCB”) is the name of the collective that aims to bring Major League Baseball to Nashville. The group has selected "Stars" as the eventual team's name in honor of the barnstorming team based in Nashville from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. MCB partnered with Ebbets Field Flannels (or, "EFF", for those with a penchant for acronyms) in creating caps to drum up excitement for Nashville's chase of their white whale, which for many years now has been to host an MLB team. There's not a lot of information out there on the

For the second week in a row I'm featuring a Favorites cap from my collection and before you start thinking "every cap is my favorite" I want to mention  the reason for posting this cap the Norfolk Tides wore from 1993-2015 today is because International Surfing Day is held annually on the third Saturday in June which happens to be tomorrow, June 17th. Until the team rebranded in 2016, the "wavy T" logo was the main cap logo worn by the Tides since 1993 which was their inaugural season at Harbor Park. The combination of a new uniform and ballpark undoubtedly ushered in a new  wave  of appreciation for the team. Luckily the "Made in China" tag is hiding underneath the sweatband here! The sky blue on the brim, button and batterman are a nice touch here but if we are being honest, they give off too much of a UNC vibe for my taste. Earlier I mentioned how the "new look" Tides of 1993 reinvigorated the team and I imagine after wearing this cap fo

The great thing about being a cap collector is that laying eyes on fresh new logos is as exciting as the classics that got you into the hobby which will always resonate with you. That's why after all these years, the logo the  Cedar Rapids Kernels wore on their caps from 1993 - 2006 is as exciting to me now as always. The Cedar Rapids Reds became the Kernels when the Minnesota Twins became their parent club in 1993 and even though the logo doesn't have the cartoonistic Poochie Effect  that other teams began to employ in the mid-1990s, this cornball has a lot going for it. I've written DeLong caps in previous posts however only the ones I've identified as being from 1993 and beyond have featured the loose MILB tag so finding out the exact year it first appeared might need to be my next project. DeLong's calling card is the square brim which provides a slightly different result once these caps are broken in.  I put the "Favorites" label on this post as well

When someone says "New York Yankees" the first color most people think about is navy blue and after that maybe white. And it almost goes without saying red is the last one that comes to mind unless you just happen to be reminiscing about  the time Spike Lee rang up New Era asking for a red New York Yankees hat  ahead of the 1996 World Series. I moved to New York in 2010 and in the time between 1996 and then, the Yankees cap has been produced in every color imaginable but no matter what color is featured on the crown, the undervisor—or "under brim" as we referred to it back then—has usually been green, grey or black. I fondly remember trekking across the boroughs in my hunt for vintage "grey bottoms" made of 100% wool because I felt the polyester fabric that New Era introduced in 2007 was somehow inferior. As someone who has always strived for progress yet at the same time was afraid of the unknown, I found comfort in the retro releases that featured the cl

I started a little mini-tradition last year on the  Friday before Memorial Day Weekend with my "National Don't Fry Day" post which I think is worth continuing this year so I'm happily breaking out  this 1967 El Paso Sun Kings cap I purchased back in August 2011 from Ebbets Field Flannels back when the Triple Play price for three caps was $79. The El Paso Sun Kings were a California Angels affiliate from 1965-70 and then again in 1973 so I listed that iteration of the parent club's name in the labels section of this post as well as in previously published posts wherever it was appropriate to do so. This hat, along with retros of the 1955 San Francisco Seals and 1958 Phoenix Giants, was in my very first Ebbets order and I'm happy to say that all these years later, it's in a great enough condition that I have no qualms with it being a Fresh Fitted Friday selection today!  The little yarmulke looking halo here is very unique and possibly confusing at first g

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