The Ballcap Blog

"Hat Club" announced today via their Facebook page the arrival of the four Angels "Flashback Friday" caps to their retail locations. What is shocking to me is the fact that they went with the 100% polyester "performace" caps rather than wool models normally used for "Turn Back The Clock" games. Does anyone have these yet? I'd love some detailed pictures!

Early on in my collecting, I noticed there are two distinct styles of vintage New Era caps. Here are two examples of the exact same caps for two different teams. First we have the mid to late 1970s San Diego Padres caps. Then we have a pair of Chicago Cubs caps circa 1985 - 1987. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two styles is the visor. Notice the first cap in both pictures features a more "squared-off" visor. The second style has the more rounded edges like New Era caps of today. Let's talk about the insides. Style "one" on the left has transparent taping and backing behind the front panels. Style "two" on the right has satin taping and more opaque backing. Another difference is the embroidery. The 70s versions have somewhat of a difference, but on the 80s versions the difference is less drastic. Style one has much flatter embroidery. On style two, the logos are bulkier. The are other differences as well. I have noticed on style one

Hey everyone and sorry again for the lack of updates, I have actually been working hard on articles for the blog but I have been waiting on responses and I'm still gathering more information on certain things. Anyway, as most of us know, New Era introduced 100% Polyester on-field caps for MLB and MiLB in 2007. Many purists loathe these caps, but because I sometimes like to wear the latest caps for teams that I support, and I have purchased a few of them. Below are three example of caps that I have worn on a regular basis since 2010. At first I was skeptical about polyester caps. My first purchase was a 2009 San Jose Giants cap (My home MiLB team) . I though it was cheap and felt like cardboard. However, with time and with the purchase of a few more, I learned to like them. My biggest pet-peeves I had with wool caps were gone-the white stains on the crown, the discoloration of the sweatband, and of course, the shrinking and fading. As a drummer in a hard rock band they are ideal.