Wilson Baseball Caps

     Wilson Sporting Goods continues to sell sporting equipment for baseball, basketball, football, golf, badminton, soccer, racquetball, and tennis.

     They do not supply baseball caps to MLB clubs......anymore.

     However, during the 1950's and 60's they were "the" supplier to MLB teams.

     To me, Wilson baseball caps are my favorite of all time for two reasons:

1.   Wilson caps made in the 1960's  are stamped with a code that will tell you when it was made

2.   The visor will never crack because it has a rubber insert. 

     Other  manufacturers usually have a cardboard insert that will crack over time.

    
     How do you crack the code?

Here is a reference guide for those who want to figure out the date of manufacture:

     The first letter of the sequence is always the last number in the year of manufacture

A=8
B=9
C=0
D=1
E=2
F=3
G=4
H=5
J=6
K=7

    That is not a typo, for some reason the letter "I" was skipped.


The second letter of the sequence tells you the month the cap was manufactured:

Z=January
Y=February
X=March
W=April
V=May
U=June
T=July
S=August
R=September
Q=October
P=November
O=December


The third letter of the sequence is always a "C" which represents......cap.



     Here are some of my Wilson Caps:

  

    On the inside of this Washington Senators cap, a "JWC" is stamped on the white cloth band which indicates it was manufactured 1966 in the month of April.

    I call this cap my "expansion Senators cap", as the original Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961 (to become the Minnesota Twins). 

   The "expansion Senators" began  in D.C. in 1961 and remained until 1971 when they would move to  become the Texas Rangers in 1972.

     On the inside of this Milwaukee Braves cap, "FTC" is stamped on a white cloth band.  This indicates that the cap was manufactured in 1963 in the month of  July.

    The Milwaukee Braves were a major league team from 1953-1965, in 1966 the franchise moved to Atlanta and became the Atlanta Braves.

     This Atlanta Braves cap has a "JRC" stamped on the inside, indicating that it was manufactured in 1966 in the month of September.

Here is a list of teams that used Wilson as their official supplier according to ProSportscollectors.com:

Chicago Cubs  1918 (Wilson's 1st team contract)  40's, 50's, 60's, until 1972

Chicago White Sox  1950's, 60's, until 1972

Cincinnati   1940's, 50's and 60's

Cleveland   1940's, 50's, 60's, until 1972

Milwaukee Braves  1950's and 60's

Atlanta    1974-76

Baltimore  1958, 60's, until 1974

Boston Braves  1947-52

Brooklyn Dodgers  1951

Detroit   1942-59

K.C. Athletics    1955-65

K.C. Royals   1969-74

Milwaukee Braves  1953-65

Minnesota Twins   1961-62  and 63-72

N.Y.  Giants   1947-48

Phillies    1948-69,  1970-87

Padres   1969-70

Seattle Pilots  1969

Texas Rangers   1972-73

Wash  Senators   1938-47,  1948-51

Expansion Senators   1963-71