Made in USA 2019 World Series Caps

With the Washington Nationals reaching their first World Series in franchise history, I was curious to see if any made in USA World Series caps made it onto retail shelves.

I put it out there on my social media that I would pay anyone that could find me a made in USA Nationals cap with the World Series patch. On Twitter, someone reached out to me and was kind enough to look for some when they went to the Nationals team store. He replied and said there were two red caps in my size (7 1/4) so he got one for me. Thanks @Chip_corp!

When I received it, it was very interesting to say the least.





The New Era flag patch indicated that this cap was manufactured at least three years ago. Also, the sweatband was stuck in a permanently squashed-down position on one side (see 3rd photo, it looks worse in person). The red polyester fabric was also identical to the overseas-made caps. Despite its flaws, I am happy I got it and I'm glad I can say I have one.

I have so many questions. Exactly how many made in USA caps does New Era have lying around in their inventory? Not much apparently, but enough for some be put out into retail. I assume the caps the players are wearing are leftovers that had been made at the Derby, NY plant. I suppose we'll find out for sure eventually. Also, where was the World Series patch applied to this cap? Was the cap sent to China to have it applied, or did they do it at the Miami facility?

As for the navy visor cap the team has been wearing most often, a made in USA version with the World Series patch has yet to surface. Thanks New Era's low inventory of Nats caps, this season's World Series caps are in short supply. Some stores were not allowed to order Nats World Series caps because New Era just didn't have enough to go around. It appears they are exclusive to the Nats team store, "MLBshop" and possibly Dick's Sporting Goods in the DC area.

Upon realizing I don't own a navy crown Nats cap, I decided to go to the local mall (which has four stores that sell MLB on-field caps) and go purchase one before the made in USA versions are gone for good. Three of the four stores were all sold out of them. One store only had 7 1/8 made in USA (tight fit, unfortunately) and 7 1/2 made in China. I then tried a sports apparel store in a nearby shopping center. They had one navy crown cap left, a size 7 3/8. Luckily, it wasn't too loose. It was also a "flag-less" version, so it had probably been sitting there for three years or so. The price tag on the underside of the visor had faded. They still honored the barely-legible $34.99 price.



I found it fascinating that in the Silicon Valley of all places, Nats caps were in enough demand to disappear from store shelves. New Era really missed out on sales by not having enough inventory to make World Series caps widely available. They probably wouldn't have had this problem if they had kept the Derby, NY plant open.

When it comes to the Astros caps, collector Brandon Bartholomew told me of his search and what his findings were. Apparently, Astros caps with World Series patches are available at Lids stores in Texas. I haven't seen any in my area.

"...it looks like they just took whatever leftover stock they had left good or bad quality and stuck a patch on it. On the bigger sizes 8, 7 3/4 they still had hats will the full brim sticker, the fly your own flag tagging, and the patched New Era Hat logo.

On home hat Most were Bangladesh, China mixed in and surprisingly a lot of Hati hats. Minus the big sizes the only US hats I saw were 7 1/2 and they were the from the last US made batches with good poly and decent crowns.

The road hats were all foreign made minus some of the big sizes. All were pretty terrible. Still holding out I find a US made in 7 1/2. Funny thing is at Lids I saw some Chino made with hats with poly that had some fuzz but rock hard crowns.

The Alt hat is I guess somewhat rare. They didn’t wear them this season and only saw them at Lids. Team store did not sell this hat. Only US made hats I saw were 7 3/8 and they had the tagging like your hat. Of the 6-7 I saw 4 had the MLB logo sewn on horribly crooked and all had loose threads galore. I got mine and the threads in one place is loose and coming apart but the poly is excellent and the crown is soft. MLB logo on mine luckily is straight."





Photos courtesy of Brandon Bartholomew.

If you are out there looking for any made in USA World Series caps, good luck! You're gonna need it.

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  5. Great Read and VERY informative! I have a 2019 Astros home 59fifty cap on field I purchased August 3 (coincidentally the same night they pitched a combined no-hitter). I purchased at their AAA stadium and it was a USA made with imported materials. I always seem to have luck going to the stadium and getting the real deal (what the players wear) at the stadium in their team store. Like your article and your hats are cool!

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