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What Is and What Will Never Be

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 Long time no post! I've had way too much going on. Anyway, today I'd like to talk about caps in recent history that were announced and even made, but never actually made it onto the field. MLB First, we have a Chicago Cubs St. Patrick's Day cap from the 2010s (the "Fly Your Own Flag" label was used from 2012 to early 2016). I followed the Cubs closely during this period and as far as I knew, the Cubs wore Velcro-back 3930s for St. Patrick's Day during that era. I own one such game worn example. Several of these surfaced on eBay through discount clothing sellers and did not appear to be available anywhere else. They were made in China. Next, we have another St. Patrick's Day cap. This is the replacement 2020 San Diego Padres St. Patrick's Day. As I'm sure many of you remember, the 2020 San Diego Padres Spring training/batting practice caps were yanked from the shelves and online retailers after it was pointed out that the way the inner logo was cro...
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New Era's MLB Team Issued Caps: Inconsistency is The Only Consistency

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After buying multiple team issued MLB on-field caps over the last few seasons, I have determined that there are multiple types of caps that New Era is producing at their Florida facility and sending out to the MLB teams. Below is the list of types that I've encountered from New Era's assembly plant in the Miami, Florida area that opened in 2019. Size measurement band guide: Size measurement bands can be found between the crown and the back of the sweatband. A perforated band with brown ink is what New Era uses for all overseas-made caps. US-made caps with this band have had their crowns, embroidery/decoration, and visor cut and sewn overseas. MLB allows New Era to sew together the crown, visor, and sweatband at their Florida plant and call it "Made in USA." A solid white band with blue ink is for caps that have at least some degree of cutting and sewing domestically. New Era has used this size measurement band since 2006. The Usual This type cap is made exactly like t...
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All That is Old is New Again: "Trucker" Mesh Caps Return for Spring Training, Lost 2020 Padres St. Patrick's Day Cap Surfaces

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 Despite the MLB lockout, the new MLB Spring Training caps are finding their way to stores. Much to everyone's surprise, the new caps are "trucker" style mesh caps, the likes of which have not been seen on a professional baseball field for decades. Commonly worn in snapback form from the 70s through the early 90s during spring training, mesh was the last thing I expected to see with all of the fancy high-tech moisture-wicking fabric we have available today. New Era has used "basketball shorts" mesh in the past before experimenting with fancy materials for the past decade such as "Diamond Era", "Prolight", honeycomb-patterned "Hex Tech" and finally "Dash", a material similar to the kind used on jerseys which was used for the past two seasons and will likely continue to see use in the minor leagues. I can't say I wasn't completely surprised though, as the cancelled 2020 All-Star Game caps were to be made with mesh an...
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Differences Between Derby, NY-made and Miami, FL-made New Era Caps - Old vs. New "Made In USA"

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New Era shut down their long-time US factory in Derby, NY in June of 2019. Since MLB requires the actual caps that the players wear on the field to be at least "assembled" in the US, New Era now hires contractors in the Miami, FL area (Hialeah) to assemble MLB team issued caps. These caps are not made for retail, but it's possible to acquire MLB team issued caps directly from teams via "Authentics" programs, MLB Auctions, and fan fest sales. It also appears that occasionally, some actually do make it out to retail. In this post we will examine the differences between New Era caps made at the now-closed Derby, NY plant vs. the caps "assembled" in Hialeah, FL. Team-issued 2020 San Diego Padres caps will be used for most of the comparison photos (yes, the Derby plant was able to make some before it closed). They quite possibly may have been the very last caps ever made there.    A 2020 San Diego Padres cap made in Derby, NY. Many were disappointed to lear...
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