The Ballcap Blog

I was born in the mid 1980s, but while growing up in the 1990s I lived in an era of "80s backlash". Anything from the 80s was considered extremely "uncool". I hated everything about the 80s; the images, the music, the fashion, ect. but for some reason I loved and still love 80s baseball caps and uniforms. This was the last decade of the wild and outlandishly colorful uniforms. When I was around the age of ten a local Blockbuster video store had various video cassette tapes of highlights from past World Series games. I rented "Highlights of the 1984 World Series" and fell in love with the Padres "taco bell" caps despite the fact that the Padres got creamed by the Tigers. A couple of years later Blockbuster got rid of all of those tapes and I was lucky enough to buy that very tape. Slowly but surely the colorful uniforms and caps began to disappear around 1983 when designs from the 70s (my favorite decade for caps and uniforms) began to fall out o...

Name / Age / Occupation: Steven August /45 / Entrepreneur When did you first start collecting pro-model baseball caps? 1975 How have you acquired your caps? I purchased many when I was younger, KM Pro used to sell them in the Sporting News. When they went out of business Roman Pro started doing the same. I used to wait for the UPS truck to come and deliver that little brown box with my next new cap in it. I also used to visit Gerry Cosby's in New York City, they had a very large selection as Pro caps were not as popular and easy to get in the 70's. What do you consider to be your “holy grail/grails”? I have a McAuliffe 1962 Mets cap worn by Jay Hook (who won the first Mets game ever)...pretty cool cap. I also own a few Mets "Pillbox caps" from 1976 which are classic. What is your favorite cap manufacturer? Without question KM Pro. What about baseball caps appeals to you? Something about the history and nostalgia behind them. I do believe the best caps made in bot...

 The history of the KM Pro Company goes back to 1896, when Tim McAuliffe Inc., a manufacturer of sporting goods was founded in Boston, Mass. McAuliffe supplied caps and uniforms to many sports teams, specifically baseball. I provided a small photo essay about the KM Pro Cap Company for the "Strictly Fitted" website, which features some addition information not found here. Link: History of KM Pro In a time when New Era was supplying caps to only a small number of teams, McAullife was king. McAullife caps weren't always manufactured by the company themselves. McAuliffe caps were often made under private label by companies such as Leslie and even New Era. McAullife's embroidery was provided by the Roman Art Embroidery Company, also based in Boston. All teams until expansion in the 1960s used McAullife caps at one time or another. Downsized by competition, the McAullife name was gone by the end of the 1960s. At that time, they became the KM Pro Company. KM...