What Is and What Will Never Be

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 cropped made it appear to show a well-known hate symbol (think WWII). For the remainder of spring training, the Padres players wore the standard on-field caps. New Era apparently quickly slapped replacements together for St. Patrick's Day at their Florida plant, and they even made it to the Padres spring training facility in Arizona before spring training was ultimately canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is unknown if a retail version was planned.

2020 San Deigo Padres replacement St. Patrick's Day, also pictured with a pair of unused 2020 St. Patrick's Day team issued socks by Stance.

Speaking of 2020, Washington Nationals unveiled two new on-field caps and a new alternate jersey shortly after winning their first World Championship in 2019. The new on-field caps featured logos inspired by the old Washington Senators logos. One featured a "W" with a pitcher winding up in front of it, with the pitcher being directly copied from the Senators 1961-1971 primary logo. The other featured a logo with a "W" in front of the US Capitol dome with stars on each side. While the W with the Capitol dome cap has since become a staple for the Nationals, the W with the pitcher in front oddly never made it onto the field. No explanation was ever given as far as I know, and it was quietly "retired" after the season. New Era's Florida plant that produces MLB on-fields for player/official use only definitely made some for the team, so it appears the team did indeed have them ready to go and to be worn at some point. In early 2023, the Nationals/New Era officially dumped their stock of unworn team issued versions and they showed up for sale at Ross stores at multiple locations.

During the 2025 season, all MLB teams wore vintage inspired caps for the Hall of Fame Weekend. For some unknown reason, the Detroit Tigers decided to have both home and away versions made for the team, with New Era even delivering USA-made versions of both to the team. The Tigers only wore the home versions. Perhaps they just wanted to see what both would look like? And by the way, the Padres were the only team that received team issued Hall of Fame caps made overseas. Maybe if the Tigers hadn't ordered both styles, the Padres could have been made in USA.

MiLB

2025 was quite the year for caps that never came to be. Aside from one in MLB, we ended up having TWO in the minor leagues.

San Francisco Giants Triple-A affiliate the Sacramento River Cats unveiled a new alternate identity, the Sacramento "Gold Diggers." While this was meant to be an homage to the gold rush of 1849 (which happened near Sacramento), the unveiling accompanied by a video that many deemed sexist, as it referred to the "other" meaning of gold digger. I recall watching the video (which was not up for very long) and I recall wondering how well it was going to go over. Did they not consult with anyone beforehand to check and see if it was a good idea? Anyway, the caps were available at the time of unveiling, but were removed for sale from online retailers within a couple of days. Some folks managed to purchase and receive the caps before they disappeared. Some have also recently surfaced on eBay via online discount clothing sellers. I was also successful in getting one. As a current resident of Sacramento County, how could I not get one? An alternate logo of an actual gold miner was also made, but they opted with the logo below for what the players would actually wear. I hope that eventually the River Cats will actually do a proper (i.e. tasteful) tribute to the California Gold Rush of 1849.

The vast majority of MiLB on-field caps have been made in Bangladesh since 2020, and the quality and consistency has greatly varied.

Of course, we all know who Sacramento's "Gold Digger" is, and it's the guy who's MLB team is currently couch-surfing there before they inevitably head off for the bright lights of Sin City.

Finally we have the Chesapeake Baysox, Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, who also unveiled a new alternate identity in 2025 as the Oyster Catchers. It was quickly pointed out that the logo (which was an open oyster with a pear inside) resembled a specific part of female anatomy perhaps a little too closely, and the logo was quickly replaced to make it less so. The original logo was still present on the jersey sleeves, apparently because the jerseys had already arrived and the graphics were sublimated, making it impossible to remove. At the unveiling, it was said that caps would be available soon. However, they never showed up before the logo was changed. The original open oyster logo was replaced in the cap by an Oystercatcher bird. It is unknown if they were ever actually manufactured with the original logo, or if they were intercepted before arriving in Bowie or even before they left the factory in Bangladesh. Somehow, though, a cap store called "Anthem" was able to get "custom" New Era caps made with the original logo. They are not what the actual on-fields would have looked like, but they feature the original logo nonetheless.