We have moved!!! New address!!!

Hello All....

This page has been moved to https://tip-of-the-cap.com/

It's been two years since the blog began and its been lots of fun.  I have met lots of cap collectors and learned more than I thought I would.

I enjoy the blog so much that I decided to upgrade to a more polished site.  I will be selling some caps from my personal collection as well as having some customs and older hard to find caps made by some well known companies that I think collectors will like to buy,

Paandy

April Fool's Day

April 1, 2018

I'd like to go on record and make a prediction.

In the very near future, every MLB team will start to wear special caps to mark April Fool's Day.

Think I'm joking?

New Era has a pattern of doing this.

Well, the pattern is that a few teams start wearing a specialized cap to mark a holiday and then New Era markets the occasion with every team.

The Cincinnati Reds already did this in the early 80's.for a Spring Training game.

The Reds played a prank on their fans....wearing these caps with a reversed color scheme.

I acquired this cap from a former MLB player-agent who saw this  blog and was looking to sell caps he acquired from his  former clients.

I consider this Reds cap one of the rarest in my collection and have never seen others.

While I am  expecting the April 1st Day caps for all MLB teams in the very near future, 

here is reference/guide if you have some "unique" looking authentic MLB caps and want to know what year they were worn:

The first year for the Spring training patch was 2016.

Even though I am not a fan of the White Sox I did purchase the cap pictured above because of "the incident".

In 2016 during Spring Training, Adam LaRoche walked away from a 13 million dollar contract after he was told to limit his 14 year old son's visits to the clubhouse.

If you would like a reference or guide of the Spring Training caps, here are the Phillies Grapefruit league caps from 2016-18.  Notice that in 2016, the patch was on the left side.  The patch has been on the right side of the cap ever since 2016.

However, New Era was selling, not necessarily requiring, MLB teams to wear specialized caps for Spring Training well before 2016.

Specialized Spring Training caps did not debut in 2016, many teams were wearing them well before 2016.

I found this Expos New Era cap from 2001.

In 2001, the Expos held Spring Training in Jupiter Florida/

Mass production of St. Patty's Day caps appears to begin in 2014 even though several teams were wearing them much earlier.

In 2016 every team had a cap to mark the occasion.

The "patch" would not appear until 2017.

In 2004, every MLB team wore an Opening Day Patch on the side of their cap..

This was not continued after the 2004 season.

2013 saw the debut of the Memorial Day caps,

In typical New Era fashion, caps were slightly modified in the following years. In 2014 (back right) they gave all teams a red or navy brim and in 2015 (front center) a red or navy cap with a camouflage brim.

2016 brought significant change that I liked.

Toronto's version was slightly different than the other teams.

2017 was my favorite Memorial Day cap so far.

The five stars on the right side of the cap represent the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.

In 2016 New Era trotted out the league wide Mother's Day (above) and Father's Day Series (Below).

2017 brought a simple change to this series:

2008 was the first year that all MLB teams wore special caps on July 4th which have become known as the Stars and Stripes caps.  All caps were navy blue in 2008, all red in 2009 and a white cap in 2010.

The 2008 Chief Wahoo is my favorite and usually sells between 75-125$

April Fool's Day caps?  Don't laugh...they will be here soon..

Ebbets Field Flannels

I send pictures of my authentic  caps to Ebbets Field Flannels now and then to suggest that these caps should be reproduced for public consumption.

And a few months later.....

Well, my suggestions sometimes appear  in latest edition of the Ebbets Field  catalog.

How close is  the original is the reproduction?

On the left, is an original Katz Drug Store cap from 1961 made by Wilson.  On the right is the Ebbets Field reproduction. 

I have to give Ebbets the grade of  "B+".  They lost points on the size of  the logo.

Next up on the left, is the Seattle Angels cap (worn by Chuck Tanner in 1968 and made by Wilson) who were a minor league affiliate of the California Angels. 

The Ebbets Field reproduction is on the right.  Is it a coincidence that Ebbets mentions that the Angels were managed by Chuck Tanner in 1968 in the catalog description for this cap?

Grade" B +".  I had to subtract points because of the serifs on the end of the letters.  See the difference?

On the left is a 1957 UCLA Bruins cap made by Wilson and worn by Alan Exton when he played at UCLA.  I purchased this cap on eBay and corresponded with Mr. Exton's daughter about the cap.

On the right is the Ebbets model that appeared about two months after the  cap on the left appeared   on eBay.

To be fair, Ebbets Field Flannel is describing their  cap in the catalogue as a 1939 UCLA cap.

Grade: I can't give a grade because I have never seen a 1939 Bruins cap.

On as side note, I am frequently asked about the Ebbets Field reproduction cap when I wear it. 

I have sent pictures of the original Alan Exton game worn cap to the UCLA Bruins Hall of Fame Club and am going to donate it to them.

On the left is a 1965 San Diego Padre (PCL) cap worn by Gerry Arrigo and made by McAuliffe.

On the right is the Ebbets Field Flannels 1956  reproduction according to their catalogue description.

Grade "B^.. This is an easy logo to reproduce and in my opinion, Ebbets could have done better and been more accurate with the correct sizing on the logo.

On the left is my original Wiinipeg Whips (made by New Era) road cap from 1970.

On the left is the Ebbets Field home cap from the same year.

Grade:  I'm going to give Ebbets and "B+" here based upon the size and accuracy even though I can only compare to the road model  to the reproduction cap.

On the left is a game worn Tidewater Tides cap from the 80's made by New Era.

On the right is the Ebbets reproduction.  

Grade:  "B".  Look closely at the logo, this is an easy one to reproduce and should be more accurate. You cannot see it in the photo, but the button on the Ebbets  Field reproductions is the correct color of orange.

More Pics from the Baseball Hall of Fame

Here are more of the caps I was able to view and photograph on my most recent visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

These caps are currently not on display and I was only able to view and photograph them after making inquiry through the Giamatti Research Center.

1933-35 NY Giants worn by Frank Frisch

It is hard to see, but the cap was manufactured by Spalding.

1942-45 Yankees cap worn by George Steinbeck

Easy to see the Spalding tag.

 Detroit Tigers worn by George Kell.

It has the McAuliffe tags that were used from 1958-68.

1916 New York Yankees worn by Frank Banker

There is a trademark and stamp on the inside of this cap but I cannot confirm who it is.

1935-39 Red Sox worn by Moe Berg

Very easy to see that this cap was made by Spalding

St. Patrick's Day Caps

I rarely buy any of the  MLB special event caps, but I do look forward to seeing what New Era has created for MLB to wear on traditional holidays.

It's widely believed that the Cincinnati Reds were the first MLB team to sport green themed uniforms and caps on St. Patrick's day caps in 1978 in a spring training game against the New York Yankees.

From what I have been able to learn, the players were not to keen on wearing them, but would defeat the Yankees by a score of 9-2.

The brim and shape of this cap immediately signal to me  that it may be a snapback cap and not fitted.

However I was able to confirm that these caps worn on 3/17/1978 were indeed fitted caps and made by New Era:

1978 Pete Rose Game Worn St. Patricks Day Cincinnati Reds Cap, Pants. It's been a tradition for years for the Cincinnati ballclub to trade in their red for green on St. Patty's Day, having a little bit of fun with the casual nature of spring training baseball. Here we find two uniform pieces from the locker of the greatest star of the Big Green Machine. The green cap is tagged "New Era 7 1/4" 

Turns out that the Reds were not the first team to feature all green caps on St. Patty's day on March 17, 1978.  Anthony Colicchhio (xclickx) found this article:

"The Phillies first wore green 117 years ago on March 17, 1899 during their spring training activities in Charlotte, N.C. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on March 17 that "the Phillies burst upon the startled natives this morning in their new sweaters trimmed with green." It must have been quite a sight to see Big Ed Delahanty "trimmed with green." 

For many years, I believed that the Phillies wore this cap on 3/17/81.

I was wrong.

Turns out, the Phillies did not ever wear this cap in 1981.

In an article I found on Philadelphia.com, the author states that the 1981 Phillies St. Patrick's day hats and uniforms are a fabrications and were invented so Mitchell & Ness could sell uniforms of  Tug McGraw #45 and Rose #14.

The article goes on to state that the Phillies began wearing 3/17 green uniforms in 1986.

The next team to "go-green" was the Boston Red Sox in 1990.

The Red Sox would wear green caps on 3/17/1990 and then wear green uniforms on 3/17/04.

I want to mention a few other 3/17 caps that have caught my attention:

New York Mets worn in 2014

Orioles 2012

2013

If you want a database to keep track of  MLB St. Patty's day caps, check this out:

St. Patty's Day MLB Caps

Special thanks to XclickX...you know who he is and I can't spell his last name anyway.

And to the hat community for contributing photos!