The Fitted Game

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A lot has changed for the Astros since they were last in the World Series. They have an entirely new roster, new coaches, a new (old) look, and even a new league. Even the hats they wear in the World Series now are different. Back in 2005 I picked up the hat on the bottom, and the series was over so quickly they never even got the opportunity to wear it (they wore their black primary cap for all four games). It's made out of wool, has a felt style patch on the left side, and is in the old National League colorway. I always found this cap kinda hard to wear because it represented one of the most boring World Series I've ever seen, and I barely remember it because it was over so fast. This year is a totally different story. The hats their wearing for the 2017 World Series are made out of polyester, the patch is the new Chromaflex style which is much more durable and looks way cleaner, and just like last year, is now on the right side of the cap (which I'm warming up to). Along with a shiny new cap, the Astros also picked up their first ever World Series win last night vs the Dodgers in one of the most thrilling World Series games I've ever seen. This World Series looks a LOT more promising than the last one for the Astros, and is sure to go down as one of the most memorable in a long time.

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Just a quick post tonight, as I've been pretty sick the last few days and haven't had the energy to even update my blog. This is just a part of my hat collection. I'll post more about some of those specific caps in the near future!

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While I’m mostly about the New Era 59Fifty, I do tend to make exceptions every now and then. One exception I’ll make every time is for an Ebbetts Field Flannels throwback. These caps are constructed to be more like the style of caps they wore back in the early to mid 1900s. This is a 1930s era San Francisco Seals cap that I picked up at their flagship store in Seattle, Washington back in 2014. This cap holds a special significance to me because my grandfather was a bat boy for the Seals when he was a kid, and that’s one of the stories that got me into baseball. My mom’s paternal side of the family were all born and raised in San Francisco, and my mother is a 5th generation San Franciscan on that side of the family. Her father (my grandfather who was the bat boy) took my mom to the parade when the Giants first came to the city in 1958 and they always shared a love of the Giants. She’s been a lifelong Giants fan, and I don't think she’d ever cook me another meal if I didn’t follow suit (sorry dad).

One of my favorite things in the world is calling my mom and talking about the game the day before. She's got a passion for the Giants that I don't think anyone will ever be able to match.

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Just a quick one today, cause it's been a BUSY one. The NBA regular season is just about back, and I cannot wait till the Warriors are back in full swing. I never thought I would see the historically garbage Dubs turn into the juggernaut they've become, and they've cost me a TON in hats lately. I certainly can't complain about that though! This one is from the Finals last year. I wore it most of the week after the championship win during my vacation to Lake Tahoe (my home town, but I don't get back nearly as often as I'd like). That was a great, relaxing week. It's Chinese made poly, but still fits pretty well even considering it's not the much preferred US made poly. I'll be posting quite a few Dubs hats as the season goes along. Here's to the weekend!

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Playoff baseball is an interesting time. It’s a time when you’re usually either cheering on your team on the way to a championship, or more likely than that, complaining about how the umpires screwed your team out of a win. I can’t lie, I’ve had a few moments where I’ve been furious at an umpire in the playoffs because a call went against my team. In reality though, teams usually need to play well enough not to allow the potential of bad calls going against them to ruin games. Just look at Don Denkinger’s terrible call in game 6 of the 1985 World Series (If you don’t know the details, just look up the 1985 World Series). It was an AWFUL call that set the Royals up for the win, and probably did take the wind out of the Cardinals sails. But, they still had game 7 to recover, and they basically got crushed. That being said, today I’ve got the umpires caps for you. The middle cap is the one they currently use (US made poly authentic). The two on the outside are the old league-specific caps they wore up until the year 2000 when the umpires union merged (Chinese made wool replicas from Mickeys Place).

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WELP, that sure was disappointing for the Cleveland Indians. And here I was, totally convinced, that we were gonna get an Indians Cubs repeat in the World Series. That would’ve made a repeat championship series for the THIRD time this year (NCAAFB: Alabama vs Clemson, NBA: Cleveland Cavs vs Golden State Warriors). I was pretty sure that the Indians would put the Yankees away early in this series, but this game really gave me flashbacks to the “Moneyball” era Oakland Athletics. They would ALWAYS have a great regular season, start strong in the ALDS, and then absolutely collapse in the final few games. I heard a stat the other day that in this century the A’s are 1-12 in playoff series clinching games, including 0-5 in game 5 at home. How does that even happen? The 2002 A’s broke the single season record for 20 straight wins in the regular season, finished the year with 103 wins, and were unceremoniously bounced by the Twins in the first round in 5 games. This Indians team broke that record by winning 22 straight, ended the season with 102 wins, and collapsed in 5 games to the Yankees. The second straight year they’ve lost an elimination game at home in the playoffs. Ouch. This is also Cleveland's 7th consecutive loss in a series clinching game. That leaves them tied for the worst stretch in playoff clinching games in baseball history. They're now tied for that mark of futility with, yup, you guessed it. The Oakland Athletics. It just goes to show, no matter how good you are in the regular season, playoff baseball is often times a fickle, fickle bitch. In honor of that, I’m posting Hat Club’s 2013 replica of the “Moneyball” era A’s cap. US made poly, of course.

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Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s New Era released a new style of cap to the major leagues that was to be used strictly for batting practice. They were pretty cool because they were made out of the same holy mesh material as the batting practice jerseys, and they had some really awesome, unique designs. They had some issues though, as they were really fragile (I tore the sweat band on this cap not long after getting it unfortunately) and they weren't very comfortable. New Era replaced them relatively quickly with more breathable flex fit 30thirtys and these soon became pretty hard to find as a result. These are a bit of a gem and I know quite a few cap collectors who go quite the length and spend a good amount of cash to locate some of the rarer versions of this model. Word on the street is that New Era is looking to replace the current Diamond Era style of BP caps that came out in 2012 with something completely new. I wonder if they'll become as coveted as these are. Somehow, I doubt it.

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It’s playoff baseball and during this decade that’s either meant I’m gearing up for another epic even year Giants World Series run, or I’m kicking back during the odd years and casually watching because the Giants have been golfing for a few weeks now (or, a few months in this case). Most years when the Giants are out of it my rooting interest basically lies with “anyone but the stinking Dodgers”. But this year it feels a bit different. Maybe it’s because the Giants weren’t even remotely competitive this year so who cares if the Dodgers win? Maybe it’s because I’m dating a die hard Dodgers fan and would be happy with seeing her happy. Or maybe it’s because I’ve actually sat back and watched a lot of the Dodgers this season and can admit that, you know what? This Dodgers team is actually kinda fun. They’re one of the best all around teams I’ve ever seen, and sometimes teams like that probably should win. And even as a major Dodger hater, I can definitely agree that their fans are “long suffering” (they last won the World Series the year I was born). I remember how it felt when the Giants finally won their first title. It was incredible, joyous, and even a bit relieving. I kinda feel like my fandom changed for the better, and it was easier to just sit back and appreciate the game for what it is rather than feel anguished whenever they were in a title run. Maybe Dodgers fans need that, too. Unlike previous years, watching the Dodgers win it all probably wouldn’t kill me, and good for them if they do! But I sure won’t be openly rooting for them. I’ll just sit back quietly in my Giants early 2000s batting practice Hat Club custom ‘g’ cap (US made polyester, too), and let the fans of my sworn enemy enjoy their moment.

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So, anyone who's purchased a cap from Lids knows that they try to push their embroidery on you like their lives depend on it. And if you think about it, it makes sense. Once the machines are paid for, all they have is the cost of thread and needles. They can turn around and charge $10-$20 per transaction and make a TON of money. It's by far their biggest money maker so they try to absolutely force it on people if they can. I for one don't really like having things embroidered on caps. I'm ok with things like country specific flags (like above), and I REALLY like their player signatures (I'll post more of those later), but having your name or some slogan embroidered on a cap has always seemed really cheesy to me. I also have a problem because they almost ALWAYS mess it up in some way by stitching it crooked, too high, in the wrong place, etc. But I will say this much. For all the problems I have with Lids as a company (more on that in a future post), these machines are pretty cool to watch do their thing.

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And here it is. The cap that got it all started with me (well, this is at least a version of that cap. Not the exact cap itself). I remember when my obsession started with fitteds, and it all stemmed from this very basic Cincinnati Reds cap. My first year of Little League I played Tee Ball on the Reds, and they gave us those really cheap and basic “SnapBack” (adjustable, or just, hats, at the time for me) caps. One of my team mates lost his cap and, Living in Lake Tahoe, the only place to get a replacement was at the mall in Reno. His mom was pretty annoyed with him because she had to spend $25(!) on a “Pro Fit” because it’s all they could find. He showed me the back of the cap and instead of having the strap, it had the MLB batterman logo. It was SO cool! He was wearing the same cap that the actual Cincinnati Reds were wearing! It was like being a step away from the actual majors. I was pretty much instantly hooked, and my obsession with hats has only grown to unreasonable proportions. It took me YEARS to find this particular cap, though. The Reds changed their look to include the black drop shadow on their logo and pretty much stopped producing this look altogether. I finally found a good version of this cap on eBay earlier this year, and ended up buying two, just to be safe.

My favorite part of this cap is the glued on batterman logo that (I think) was only used for a single season. They switched to embroidering it directly to the caps in later years.

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Hat Club's 2015 version of the Montreal Expos primary cap. The Expos were always a weird one to me. I was never particularly in love with the name or the logo, and they were basically always shit during my lifetime. I also don't really find it to be too huge of a loss because the Nationals are head and shoulders a more valuable franchise if you ask me. But I can definitely understand the heart break that comes with losing a team. I'm glad to have picked this one up, because it's definitely a nice look into the recent history of baseball. The cap is also US made polyester which is always awesome, but ironic because the Expos moved to D.C. two seasons before the switch from wool to polyester was made for on field caps.

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I’ll start it simple. Here are my latest pickups. Hat Club Exclusives. Cubs “Walking Cubbie Bear”, and Arizona State Frank Kush “Sun” logo. I’ve been looking for BOTH of these in US Made polyester for YEARS. The Cubs should really be using that cap as an alt to wear with the blue alt jerseys they wear. I’m not so sure why there are so many people who dislike the walking Cub logo, as that’s my absolute favorite Cubs logo. I’ve also grown REALLY fond of that throwback ASU logo. It looks a bit like a flower, but that’s cool! That adds to the charm. Glad to find this, because Arizona State caps are NOTORIOUSLY hard to find in the US made poly. They’re usually either wool, Chinese made, or both. I’ll get into why I have an issue with where my caps are made and what they’re made out of in another post. Trust me, this is of HUGE importance to hat freaks, and we take this shit pretty seriously. 

Well, that’s the first post! Hopefully I can stick on making this a daily thing! 

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The Fitted Game

Ok, I figure this may be a good place to start this, so whatever, here goes. Anyone that knows me knows I’m DEEP into the fitted game, and have what probably amounts to an unhealthy amount of hats (Specifically New Era 59Fifty caps). I might as well start writing about it because it’s my passion, and I’ve always kinda wanted to share that. Maybe putting some use to this insane amount of hats I own by blogging about it will make it less weird to me (I’m strangely ashamed of it, in a way, because collecting 59Fiftys has always been weirdly addicting. And STRONGLY addicting to me, at that. Whatever. I guess it’s better than drugs!). Over the next few weeks I’m gonna try to blog about all things hats. History, trends, fun things I’ve noticed, and, or course, my personal collection. So, WELCOME TO THE FITTED GAME.