The Ballcap Blog

This was the first time in about three years that I had been able to attend A's Fanfest. My brother and I had been attending the NAMM expo in Anaheim in that time, which usually takes place the same weekend. The last A's Fanfest I attended was the first time they had it outdoors at "Jack London Square" in Oakland, where they continue to have it to this day. Jack London Square is Oakland's waterfront area, which is a decent area to visit. In the past, A's fanfest was held at the Oakland Coliseum or the neighboring arena. The A's fanfest website did not mention a game used memorabilia sale, as they had in the past. I emailed the guy in charge of the A's game used sales. He told me there would be a tent sale with some "equipment" available for purchase but was not specific on exactly what this "equipment" was. When I got in line for the tent sale, my expectations were very low as I could not see any caps. The line was near a benc...

This year's Padres Fanfest was quite something. Upon entering the Padres garage sale, I was greeted by tables and tables covered in caps. It appeared that the team was getting rid of all of its team-issue stock since the Padres will have new uniforms next season. They had all the varieties; spring training with the Cactus League patch, batting practice, primary home blue, Friday brown alternate, and camouflage alternate (the later three had 50th anniversary patches).  Spring Training "Hex Tech" bell panel cap with Cactus League Patch. Standard blue cap with 50th Anniversary patch. Good bye and Good riddance, blue! The caps were definitely team issued, as they lacked New Era's stickers. The boxes they were in were labeled clearly for the clubhouse manager to easily find what he needed. I grabbed a few of the boxes when they became empty. In retail, the Friday brown Taco Bell caps were only made in USA for the first batch sold in the Padres team stor...

I recently find out Will Arlt passed away. He was the owner of Cooperstown Ballcap Co., later Ideal Cap Co. It appears he may have passed sometime in early November of 2019. I had noticed that Ideal Cap Co. had stopped releasing new caps on a monthly basis, so perhaps Mr. Arlt had been ill for a little while before passing. Will was one of the last people that believed in making a fine-quality ballcap and actually did so. I never had the chance to meet Will Arlt in person. In the summer of 2018, I visited Cooperstown, NY just before the Hall of Fame induction ceremony that year. It was busy on the downtown strip. Ideal Cap Co. had been (and still does, as of the time this is being written) selling caps at the store of the "Where It All Began" bat company. I went in the store and bought probably half a dozen caps. There were more that I wanted, but they were sold out. They told me they would be restocked in a short time that same day. Wouldn't you know, a short time l...