The Ballcap Blog

According to multiple news outlets, upon the closure of New Era's manufacturing plant in Derby, NY, production of New Era's on-field caps for MLB team-issue only would be transferred to a facility in Hialeah, Florida. The facility has already been in use for several years by 5th & Ocean, a clothing company purchased by New Era in 2009. At his facility, 5th & Ocean "decorates" (i.e. screen-printing) already made clothing such as shirts. With a bit of sleuthing, I was able to find exactly where the facility is in Hialeah, as well as some photos of the interior of the facility during a mayoral visit in 2011. Keep in mind that the facility may be completely different on the inside now. While it wasn't hard to get photos and footage of New Era's Derby, NY plant, it seems highly unlikely that we'll likely ever get to see any footage or images of workers "assembling" the caps that MLB players wear from this point on. 5th & Ocean seen ...

The San Diego Padres have brought back the brown! This past Saturday, the Padres unveiled the team's new brown uniforms. It's a major moment for those of us that have tried to make our voices heard to the Padres organization. I have been a supporter of the "bring back the brown" movement since childhood. Let's talk about the new caps... The Padres new primary cap resembles the original 1969 cap but with an updated version of the logo they've been using for over fifteen years. They've also updated the cap they wear with the camo jerseys and made it the same shade of dark brown. The cap worn by new Padres manager Jayce Tingler at his introductory press conference. Notice how warped and out of shape the crown and visor are. It is unknown if the cap was 100% made overseas or if it was "assembled" in Miami. New Era's quality is going downhill like a runaway train. The new darker-brown camo cap. There appears to be no other...

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 quest...

After New Era announced last year that their Derby, NY plant would shut down in June of this year, I made it my mission to visit as many ballparks as I could to search for New Era's USA made caps before they were gone. I made it to nearly twenty professional ballparks. Unfortunately, the plague of imported caps replacing the USA-made caps was well underway. However, I did have some success. Please follow along to the story of my journey. After attending MLB "fan fests" and memorabilia sales at the start of the year, I began the start of the 2019 season in Sacramento at the River Cats annual "Pre-Season Party" on March 3rd. I purchased their two new styles, both made in USA. The River Cats went on to become the Triple-A National Champions. My first MLB game was with the Oakland Athletics. I found "Kelley Green" caps with the MLB 150 patch made in the USA, but in all other styles with the patch they were imported. On April 7th, I made a ...

Do you live on the West Coast of the United States and want to plan the ultimate baseball road trip? What If I told you that you could visit TEN different ballparks in the United States just by staying on one route the entire time? It's simple and easy. This article will focus on the ballparks that are located along Interstate 5. Visiting all ten ballparks on one road trip could be quite a daunting task. You would also have to count on all teams being home, which probably won't happen. Since I live in the SF Bay Area, I broke the road trip into several trips. Interstate 5 begins its long journey northward at the US/Mexico border in California not far south of San Diego. The first professional ballpark you will encounter is Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. The ballpark is roughly a mile from Interstate 5. About one hundred miles up Interstate 5 north of San Diego, you'll reach Anaheim. Angel Stadium is less than a mile from I-5. Just over thirty miles no...

The Ballcap Blog is back! I'd like to discuss the events that took place over the past year with New Era closing their plant in Derby, NY. In November of 2018 it was announced that New Era would be closing their manufacturing plant in Derby, NY, their last US manufacturing plant. The plan was to close the plant in March of this year, but some workers stayed to do some additional work until June. The last caps made in Derby were MLB player issue caps for special events (4th of July, etc). Many looked for answers. New Era's official statement was that they no longer wanted to manufacture their own product and wanted to be more of a "brand" than a manufacturer. The MLBPA spoke out and asked New Era to keep the plant open but it was to no avail. Some blamed politics as New Era's real reason for the closure. New York state's tax incentives for the plant were expiring. Others blamed Trump's tariffs, which hit the headwear industry hard and New Era spoke out ...