Tying the Knot with Caps

Meet Brittney and Patrick.

Hello there
My buddy was showing me some family pics and she was in one and I was like woah who's that smoking hottie, it was his wife's cousin. So I asked him to ask her if I could have her number and that my friend is how history was made.

We dated about a year before the marriage. We just had that connection you know, the kind that makes you forget the past and only see the present and look forward to the future

Her response..

He is really good friends with my cousin's husband. My cousin sent me a message asking if it would be okay for him to contact me. I said yes! At first I was skeptical about going out with him! The both of us stepped out of our comfort zones! He was the tatted up, flat bill wearing, gauged eared rebellious charmer. & He thought I was going to be stuck up! Lol Patrick and I are very different in all the right ways! We balance each other out very well! He had me hooked after the first date, and now look at us .. we are married!

Awestruck
This is the hat she bought me and had my nickname stitched in the back of it for our first time at the reds opening day game.

The Proposal
The proposal was not the best because we went ring shopping together and we both knew we were getting married. When we got our rings in I immediately ran to the bathroom where she was doing her make up dropped to one knee and spilt my guts out to her in the most romantically comedic way I could. Obviously she said yes.

Her Response..
The proposal was a mutual thing! We both knew what we wanted. We both knew we wanted to spend the rest of our days together!

Wedding Day
The wedding took place at the Leming house. It's a huge house with a big ballroom for the ceremony. Had a full kitchen so all the food was cooked there at the wedding.

The wedding day was the most magical day I've ever experienced. I remember I wasn't nervous at all while we were setting the place up, after we were done with the set up I left to get dressed and come back. On the ride back I began to get a bit nervous and I texted her and she called me and just hearing her voice immediately calmed every nerve in my body. I could have done anything in that moment you know like open heart surgery or even split an atom.

When I was standing at the alter and seen her walk out I was floored by her beauty, I was speechless to say the least and let me tell you that's a hard task to do. It was an all around amazing day, each of our friends and family meeting and everyone getting along and enjoying each other's company was amazing.

Her Response:
The wedding was a blast once we got everything set up! It was the busiest day of my life and it went by so quickly! We kept it low key .. our closest family and friends. It was actually fun, my sister and I did most of the decorations. We went for a romantic DIY rustic theme! We also planned the whole thing in a MONTH. Neither of us wanted a long engagement! & I knew as long as we had each other and our families the day would be perfect!  I remember walking down to him.. I was a nervous wreck! But thank god my dress knocked over all the candles we had going down the aisle and it made everyone laugh!

How did the caps come into the Wedding?
The way the caps came into play was simple. She knew from the first month I had a serious addiction because every Friday or Saturday I was buying a new hat and she was fine with that and still is to this day.
When she picked the colors for the men to wear at the wedding they were navy blue and red. So I jumped on the interwebs looking for a navy blue and red Cincinnati Reds hat. I found one but the navy blue didn't mesh with our clothes.

Then it hit me the Cincinnati Reds triple a minor league team had recently changed their colors to the same colors we were using in the wedding. So I looked up their hats showed her the one I liked and she loved it. We had so many compliments on how good the groomsmen outfits were. It was definitely the icing on the cake.

Check out Kells youtube channel....here

Buyer Beware!!!!

The "Buyer Beware" feature on my blog has gotten some attention...and made some sellers quite mad.

Here's an easy one.

This cap is currently for sale on ebay and  listed as a "Chicago Cubs baseball cap".

If  you are reading this blog, you know what team this really is.

:)

Caps and the first pitch

Opening day is upon us. 

Let's take a look at some of the caps that were worn over the years by our Presidents as they tossed out the ceremonial first pitch.

Notice how fashion has changed over the years.

Who was the first president to throw out the pitch?

President Taft threw out a ceremonial first pitch On April 14, 1910.

He did not wear a cap for the game in D.C. which pitted the hometown Washington Senators vs. the Philadelphia Athletics.

April 20, 1916 Woodrow Wilson as the Washington Senators make their home debut vs the New York Yankees.

F.D.R. loved to make appearances at Opening Day. 

Most pictures I could find show him wearing a hat.

April 1949, Harry Truman tosses out the pitch with his hat in hand as the Nationals play the Philadelphia Athletics.

In  April of 1957, Dwight D. Eisenhower had the honor for the Senators vs Orioles.

April 1961, JFK in Washington for the opener vs the White Sox.

April 13, 1964 shows LBJ throwing out the first pitch for the Senators vs Dodgers game.

April 8, 1983 President Jimmy Carter makes the toss in the Braves home opener vs the San Diego Padres.  He would not sport any cap....yet.

April 3, 1989, George H.W. Bush travels to Baltimore as the Orioles take on the Red Sox.

On April 8 2004, former President Jimmy Carter made the toss in the Padres opener vs the S.F Giants.  That's definitely not the Padres on-field cap.

On April 30, 1988  Ronald Reagan chose not to sport a cap at Wrigley Field for a game against the Pirates.

On April 2, 1996, Bill Clinton wore this cap for the Orioles vs Royals home opener.

That's President Obama in 2010 wearing a White Sox cap on the home opener for the Nationals.

2017:  Donald Trump declines to throw out a first pitch despite making this cap a hallmark of his campaign.  Opportunity lost!

Earth Day

On April 22, 2012, the Tampa Bay Rays wore a green cap for batting practice before their game vs the Minnesota Twins.

Why green? To celebrate Earth Day!

I have to admit, I was not as focused on Earth Day as I should have been.

Where and when did it start? 

According to Wikipedia, in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.

This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.

A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970.

In 2008, in a series vs the St. Louis Cardinals in June, the Washington Nationals wore this cap vs the St. Louis Cardinals.

I am not sure if this an Earth Day cap or not.

I have only seen it referenced as the Planet X cap.

I am fortunate enough to own one of these.  Here's the story:

While my wife and I were at a Nationals game on the Memorial Day weekend in 2014, I spotted a spectator wearing it.  I approached him and offered a rather large amount of money.

My wife was embarrassed. 

I wasn't .  :)

Bad luck Birds

There's something about a mascot on a MLB on-field cap that gets my attention. 

They are rare, and can look somewhat like a minor league logo, but I find myself wearing a lot of Orioles and Blue Jays caps.

For this post, I will put sole emphasis on the Orioles.

The "Lead-off "Bird was worn from 1954-62.

In 1954 the Orioles went 54-100.

Significant improvement occurred the next year (1955)...they finished 57 and 97.

The wildly popular "Cartoon bird" debuted in 1966 and great success ensued.

The Orioles would win the World Series in 1966 and 1970 with this cap.

In 1975, the white front cartoon panel cap debuts:

And a World Series victory comes in 1983.

On a very recent tour of Camden Yards, the guide explained that the Cartoon Bird was designed by a California Advertising company who also designed the logos for Hamm's beer and the characters Snap, Crackle, and Pop for Kellogs.

The beloved Cartoon Bird was worn until 1988.

Why 1988?  Well, after an 0-21 start, the Orioles finished with a  record of 54-107.

On this same tour, I learned that former Oriole Fred Lynn was very critical of the Cartoon Bird and.stated something like, "look at us in those foolish uniforms, who could take us seriously?

So....

Debuting in 1989, the Orioles return to the 1954 original....sort of.

     "Looking at the change positively, the Orioles have a chance to go somewhere for the first time looking ornithologically proper. They've gone about the switch thoughtfully, dispatching their chief bird man to the Baltimore Zoo to consult with bird experts.

     Their new bird is a little chubbier than the sleek original, and has a bit more orange in it than the first model. Black on black, after all, won't fly.

     But the new-old bird is actually more authentic than the original '54 bird, according to the Orioles' Bob Aylward, who did the zoo research, because "you can get a more accurate representation with present-day technology." (Gildea,, Washington, Post 1988.)

     The oriole on the 1989 cap did not really look like any Oriole I had seen before.  So, I did a quick google search.  Here is the common picture that appears:



I also learned that there are many types of  Orioles such as:  Bullock's Orioles, Orchard Orioles, Northern Orioles, and Baltimore Orioles.

     As for the record in the first year of the new cap?  Well, the Baltimore Orioles would make a dramatic improvement and finish in second place with a record of 87 and 75.

     I reached out to a certified ornithologist in my area and sent him a picture of this cap:

I  did not ask for permission to use his name so I will not disclose.  I asked him what type of Oriole this is and if it can be determined if it is a male or female Oriole?

"That is a male Baltimore Oriole which has also been called Northern Oriole.  Male orioles are more colorful than the females because the brighter colors are a feature of sexual selection common among birds.  Females tend to be duller colored so that their visits to their nests are less obvious, preventing nest predation."

This cap debuted in 1995 as the road cap but the players refused to wear it after three games.

The Orioles would go 71 and 73 in 1995.

In 1997, they would go 98 and 64 and win the division.

In 1998, the logo undergoes another change:

1998's record would be a disappointing 79-83 4th place finish.

In 1999, the bird gets yet another makeover:

It didn't make a difference in the standings....78-84.

And team record were just downright terrible from 1999-2011.


Finally, in 2012, the beloved and reworked cartoon bird is brought back.

Is it just me or does he appear to have found some weight?

And in his first year back on the cap?  93 and 69 for a second place finish and Wildcard victory.

Success has followed ever since.

Caps and the Color Wheel

I'll start with full disclosure.  I wasn't really paying attention in any of my elementary or middle school Art classes.

So I consulted with a certified art teacher (Mrs. L) for this post.

Mrs. L immediately changed the color wheel that I originally chose to show here.

"A real color wheel has yellow on top, the sun always goes on top"!

 I wanted to learn about color theory and psychology and how it may relate to baseball caps.  Here's what I came up with:

We have three Primary colors of Red, Blue, and Yellow. Primary means that all other colors are made from these three.

Current Phillies alternate cap is the best example I could think of that uses Primary colors.

Now I can respond to the usual, "You have to have balls to wear that shit!" with "Maybe, but my choice in Primary color combinations is impeccable." 



We also have Secondary colors, which are made from combining two primary colors.  These are Orange, Violet, and Green



The best example I could find was the Greensboro Grasshoppers.

If you have one and someone asks you, "What team is that?"  You can reply," its a representation of secondary colors."

To see the highest contrast of colors, you would put two Complimentary colors next to each other.

The Complimentary colors are: 

Red with Green

Blue with Orange

Yellow with Violet

                                        



I had to dip into the minor leagues to find this color combination, the Fort Wayne Tin Caps who play in the Midwest League.

Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres



New York Mets

Mets suck!

"Yes, but doesn't the orange contrast beautifully with the blue?"

As for Yellow and Violet?

I couldn't find any MiLB or MLB teams.

Neutral Colors

Brown, Black, Grey and White are neutral colors and they have little connotation.

 When asked your opinion , you choose not to answer, simply pull the visor of the White Sox cap  over your eyes and say "Enough said."

Colors have emotional connotations as well:

Spas are usually painted greens, blues, and purples because they are cooler colors.

The Rays cap always makes me think of cool colors and brings instant relaxation.

Dark blue is a masculine color that has been used by drug companies for male enhancement pills.

If I put this cap on for....oh, never mind.

Warmer colors have more energetic connotations.   Restaurants and stores like to use warmer colors to get you to eat and spend more. 

A prison would never paint their walls red.

Let's finish this post with a little humor.

I showed Mrs. L the Art teacher a few caps to ask for her opinion.

Mrs. L admits she does not watch and knows nothing about baseball.

Mrs L:  "Very nice, very patriotic, really American with the red, white, and blue theme."

Mrs. L:  "Great color combo, lots of energy."

Baseball Milquetoast

Baseball Milquetoast

I'm not exactly sure what this means...but I am sure that the Baseball Milquetoast Blog is a definite read for  cap collectors.

I have been reading this blog for a long time and decided to reach out to the author to see if he would be interested in a little interview.

Here is what I learned:

What do you consider to be your most prized caps? 

For me, this has to be broken down into two categories: the first category is "what cap is so old and/or rare that finding it is a near impossibility." The other part to that is, "why is that cap something that you want in the first place?"

The second category is "what cap maybe isn't so rare but it has a major significance to you?"

As for the first category, I'd have to say the most significant cap that I own is the Charleston Rainbows cap. I am pro-equality in all aspects and I love that the Charleston RiverDogs players wear the throwback Rainbows uniforms on Pride night.

The second category is a bit easier for me to explain. The cap for that is the New York Yankees 2007 All-Star Game cap. I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007 when the Giants hosted the All-Star Game and it was the first time I ever lived in a city that was hosting the Mid-Summer Classic.

At any rate, I really wanted to go to the game but I wasn't about to shell out that kind of money for tickets so I skipped it. My cap addiction wasn't as out of control in 2007 as it was in other years but even still, I never picked up the All-Star Game cap as I didn't think patch caps were that cool until I moved to New York City in 2010.

It was then that I began to appreciate the significance of the cap patch because the Yankees had a few gems 2009 when they won the World Series and the year before when they hosted the 2008 All Star Game.

Do you have a main rotation that you wear on a regular basis?

When you have an uncontrollable amount of caps, it's important to spread them out so that none feel neglected. For that reason, I try to keep the selections seasonal in that during October and November, I'll either wear a Giants World Series Cap or my Scottsdale Scorpions cap.

In late June and through the All-Star break, I wear the All-Star Game hats when I can, especially to Yankees games.

The most special of all seasonal caps is my New York Yankees 2008 "Virginia Tech Game" cap. Check the link for the backstory on that one; I love wearing it to Yankees games in April because of the significance of that cap carries.

Favorite manufacturer/seller?  (New Era, Wilson, Sports Specialties, or other?)

New Era was my first love but I do miss that the caps are no longer Made in U.S.A. Hopefully they can go back to that because that was a strong selling point for me.

I've got lots of caps from Ebbets Field Flannels and they're all Made in U.S.A. which I appreciate plus their craftsmanship is top-notch.

What is your opinion of New Era putting the flag on the side of the cap in 2017?

I think the consensus there is that it's a bunk move but I look at this is a clear defining moment in cap collecting. When New Era decided to go with black underbrims and 100% polyester caps in 2007, the cap collecting community was ablaze with hot takes.

People either angry at the change or they welcomed the fact that they could wear these new caps without worrying their underbrims and sweatbands would stink and that the crown would shrink.

I have to admit it was a lot of fun going in to hat shops and buying up all of the grey underbrim inventory because I was worried that these new polyester caps were going to be trash. A benefit of the 2007 change for vintage cap collectors is that now we know we're looking at a cap that is "vintage" if the sweatband tags and underbrim match the proper specifications.

I have all the MLB caps that I need but I am a sucker for the Turn Back the Clock caps so I really hope the New Era flag doesn't make it onto those releases. If they do, then we've always got Ebbets!

Did you notice that the trend in MILB caps is to get away from parent club affiliation and very cartoonish to the point of silly?

I'm from a minor league town so I personally have no problem with that aspect of MILB caps. I really love the re-branding work that Brandiose has done over the past few years and I hope that they continue to grow creatively and inspire their peers to do the same.

Now if EVERY team has a cartoon duck or cannoli as its logo then we have a problem. Otherwise, game on!

Any caps that you are on the lookout for but not able to find?

I realize I just said I'm cool with some of the more "out-there" MILB logos but I definitely do appreciate how some of the farm clubs used to incorporate their parent team's logo in order to create something that was uniquely their own. One example that comes to mind are some of the Midland Angels hats that I've written about in the past.

While I have been able to secure the Midland Angels cap a few times, there is one cap that has escaped me for the longest time: the Jacksonville Expos. Here's a photo of Randy Johnson (that's the large version, just like Randy himself, in case you want it) when he was on that team:



I did find a guy who had one but he wasn't willing to part with it. I know I'll come across it one of these days but man I sure was disappointed when we couldn't strike a deal on it. Oh well!

What was your favorite post from my blog?

Well, the one that brought me to your blog I'd say is the one that speaks to me most: the Montreal Expos 1994 "World Series" hat. I love that hat and that it represents "what could have been" so I was really glad that you wrote about it!

What is your profession?

My profession? I'm a professional cap collector; what do you think?!? Actually, that's what my wife jokingly accuses me of but all kidding aside, during the day I'm a SharePoint administrator and developer.

That question actually kinda brings us back to reality nicely. I really did believe for a second there that I was a professional cap collector!

There is  a link on my page for Baseball Milquetoast for a reason.  Very informative and an entertaining read.  Check it out at http://www.baseballmilquetoast.com/