Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

While last week's theme focused on David Wright's induction into the Mets Hall of Fame, the ceremony for the National Baseball Hall of Fame takes place this Saturday so this week's hat closes the loop on my  1994 Appleton Foxes retro  from this past January when it was announced that Ichiro Suzuki would be the first Japanese-born player to receive a plaque in Cooperstown.   This "What If?" or "Reimagined" retro of the Riverside Pilots is another banger from the New Era Buffalo flagship store and this colorblocking cleverly inverts the navy and teal placement on the cap the team wore during their brief tenure. Truth be told the crown features a brighter hue than the original teal but it's a fun cap nonetheless. The absence of the MILB batterman is a welcome touch here as the suspension of disbelief needed for this one has us imagining this cap to be from 1993.  As I mentioned in that Foxes post, Ichiro did not have to toil on any MILB teams on his w...

All-Star week is the most boring time of year for major league sports fans, as it’s the only stretch where there is not at least one game played in MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL. As addicted as I am to baseball, I actually don’t mind the break much because at this point of the season, I appreciate not having to set fantasy rosters for a few days! Now that I'm recharged I'm looking forward to my next planned game on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Angels take on the New York Mets for their biennial visit to Queens. The theme for this week’s post is the homestand this upcoming weekend, with Saturday being the number retirement and Mets Hall of Fame induction of former captain David Wright. Mentioning Wright in last week’s post was a foreshadowing of my plan to wear this vintage Wausau Mets hat in honor of “W” being his last initial but alas ticket prices on the secondary market are sky high for that game so I’ll likely be watching from home!  Now that we're firmly in the fine print zone...

I returned from my trip to Colorado just a few days ago feeling recharged after reconnecting with longtime friends and places that are deeply meaningful to me. As I mentioned in the first post of this "Homecoming Series" , Colorado was my college home in between my childhood years in Virginia and the ones when I lived in the Bay Area before I finally came to New York. The third post in this sequence is the last before the All-Star break and it connects three of the four places I have lived thus far as it is the cap worn by David Wright—who like myself, was born in DePaul Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia—when he represented the New York Mets in the 2007 All-Star game which was held in San Francisco. I am glad the Mets chose their black hat for that game because the minimal amount of blue and slight bit of orange pairs beautifully with the side patch.  I've stated many times the 2007 All-Star Game hat is my favorite one ever and if this cap was my size you can be sure I would ...

As mentioned in last week's post, the  "Homecoming Series"  would be at least two parts. And because  July 4 falls on a Friday this year, this week's entry takes us to my home state of Virginia to highlight the "Stars & Stripes" cap the Norfolk Tides wore during games played throughout the Independence Day weekend in 2019 . When the Tides launched their  refreshed logo set designed by Brandiose  following the 2015 season, I immediately picked up the home and road caps but for some reason held off on their alternate featuring a "T" in historic naval lettering. It's kind of a "if you know, you know" sort of thing as that design isn't the most widely recognized logo in minor league baseball but that's ok! The straightforward elegance of the military font is splendidly done up in the colors of Old Glory and the league patch adds even more pop to the overall look of the cap. I am a sucker for a white sweatband and a green und...

Today's Fresh Fitted Friday post is first of at least two in a "Homecoming Series" as I am currently traveling toward my alma mater, the University of Colorado Boulder. While I usually make efforts to attend baseball games during jaunts occuring during the season, my packed schedule leaves limited chances of making it to a Colorado Rockies game this time around. I've come to terms with this actuality since this is really more of a live music journey as I'll be seeing  Phish play three shows at Folsom Field. I suppose there is a sports element to this trip after all because that is where the Buffaloes play their home football games! I  am fairly certain this is my first visit inside the stadium  as I never went to a football game back in my college days and am unsure if I went to any other event at Folsom Field. I did however go to a few men's basketball games back then and while I really would have enjoyed attending some Buffaloes baseball games, their baseba...

We are halfway through the 2025 Major League Baseball season, and as it happens, today I attended what was most likely my last game at Yankee Stadium until after the All-Star break and am especially thankful the Mike Trout home run I witnessed did not spoil the sole win the New York Yankees could muster against the Los Angeles Angels during this four-game series. Catching an Angels game where Trout homers at the halfway point of the year is good enough pretext for me to share photos of this Midland Angels hat. While  the one I posted back in 2014 was size 7 1/4 , this week's hat is actually in a size that I can wear which is a welcome change! Mike Trout was definitely mashing bombs when I last wrote about this hat but the fact that he's still at it despite his nagging injuries is something I wholly welcome.  The size tags are the same as the other cap except this one is actually my size! Just too perfect that there's a red, white and blue batterman this close to the Fourt...