The Ballcap Blog

UPDATED 9/22/19 PLEASE NOTE THAT AS OF JUNE, 2019 MADE IN USA ON-FIELD CAPS ARE NO LONGER BEING PRODUCED FOR RETAIL. One discussion that keeps coming up between baseball cap enthusiasts is the difference between New Era's USA-made and Chinese-made caps. The 2011 season saw the majority of all minor league teams wearing on-field caps made in China, and even some major league caps are being made in China, mostly special events caps. Ironically, from 2010 to 2012 the patriotic "stars & stripes" caps were exclusively Chinese-made. After receiving complaints, patriotic caps were made in the USA again starting in 2013. Since 2016, only team issued stars & stripes caps were made in USA. The spring training/batting practice/occasional regular game caps are also being made in China.. The differences between USA-made and Chinese-made caps are many. I have been told that New Era has received many complaints about Chinese-made caps regarding quality. I will go over the ...

Fellow readers, New Era would like everyone to know that they have ceased all cap repairs. I spoke to Dan Harrigan (the assistant customer service manager) and he told me that it takes too much time away from production, and they haven't set up a way to charge money for it. All caps that have been shipped in for repairs will be returned un-repaired. Who is to blame? Well, that would probably be yours truly. Some people that sent their caps in apparently referenced me and my blog, saying that they found out about it that way. Of course, I had no idea that so many people would be sending caps in for repairs, and I also had no idea that so many people were reading my blog! And to top it off, I'm not the only one that has blogged about it. I have sent several batches of caps in for repairs, completely unaware that it was a burden to New Era. After all, I had been told that repairing broken visors was "an easy fix". Had I known otherwise, I probably wouldn't hav...

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, but things have been crazy in my personal life this summer. Luckily, the craziness has died down and things are pretty much back to normal, so I should have some new articles coming soon. I have some things that I am working on. Right now, I just need your help to solve a mystery! I recently found this cap at a local thrift store. It's a vintage 100% nylon New Era cap that appears to be from the 70s. It features a logo of a duck's head, with a green crown and yellow visor. My first thought was that this was a Oregon Ducks cap, but I can't find any evidence of them ever using this logo. I figure it has to be a college or minor league team, since the cap is a fitted pro model. Thanks, Paul

Aside from the Angels "Flashback Friday" caps that were released recently, multiple caps for this season's "Turn Back The Clock" games have been released in the modern 100% polyester "Cool Base" style. Availability varies, and they can be found at hatlclub.com, ecapcity.com, and the mlb.com shop. Here are the caps that have been released to the general public thus far: Tampa Bay Rays as the 1940s "Tampa Bay Smokers" 1940s St. Louis Cardinals Los Angeles Dodgers as the 1940s "Brooklyn Dodgers" Early 1980s Seattle Mariners Washington Nationals as 1930s "Washington Senators" 1970s Atlanta Braves, made for the "Civil Rights Game" 1930s San Diego Padres "Pacific Coast League" 1970s/80s Philadelphia Phillies Early 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates Kansas City Royals (I can't find any further information, any help is appreciated) 1960s Baltimore Orioles More caps are expected to be released throughout the season, I...

"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. ...