Originally I was going to do a post on one of my many San
Francisco Giants caps, but I decided to wait until tomorrow when I have more
time to write it up. Instead, I’m rolling with the 2012 Pensacola Blue Wahoos
home cap/batting helmet. I realize this is a bit of jump; however, upon looking
over and reorganizing all of my New Era caps on account of the fact that I’m
crashing at my parents’ place for a bit, I ran a little short of time. This
little cleaning project also gave me time to recount how many caps I actually
have.
As of now the number stands at 244. For the last couple of
weeks I thought I was hovering around 260, so being so close is a little bit of
a mixed blessing. It’s good for the sake that I’m at least close to my
estimate, but being 16 hats shorts is basically saying that I will be without
two weeks of posts. More importantly, if I’m going to hit my goal of a
post-a-day, I really need to get my finances in order to achieve my goal.
For those who are unaware the Blue Wahoos are a AA affiliate
of the Cincinnati Reds in the Southern League. Last season was their “debut”
season as they were formerly the Carolina Mudcats from 1991-2011. In 2010,
businessman Quint Studer bought the Mudcats franchise amid a complicated series
of purchases and moves in order to bring a Double-A team to Pensacola, Florida.
The franchise would become the Blue Wahoos for the 2012 season. In order to
settle this purchase, Studer facilitated the relocation of the Kinston Indians Class A team to Zebulon,
where they took up the Mudcats name. In total, the arrangements cost Studer
around $2 million. As you’ll begin to learn from these posts, the Minor League
ownership game is quite a lucrative business. Teams come and go, much like the
players that make up their rosters.
This hat, as I mentioned above, was one of two hats used
during their home games, and the logo was featured primarily on the front of
all of the teams’ batting helmets. It’s definitely one of the cooler ones to be
released within the last five years; however, unlike the Eugene Emeralds who
released three new hats for this season, there is one player worthy enough to
mark up this cap after only one season.
#4-51: Billy Hamilton, at least the modern day version, is
being called the next coming of Rickey Henderson. Personally, as an Oakland
Athletics fan, I won’t go as far to say that, but the kid is mighty fast. On
August 21, 2012 Hamilton
broke Vince Coleman’s 30-year-old Minor League stolen base record of 145. Hamilton’s final number on the season stands at 155;
however, only 51 of his stolen bases came during his time in Pensacola. Hence the numbers: 4 for his
jersey and 51 stolen bases. While this may seem like kind of jerk move on my
part, I assure it’s not. I will give commentary on the first 104 stolen bases
in July as I have a personal story that pertains to his time with the
Bakersfield Blaze prior to his promotion.
I think what’s most amazing about this stat is that it’s
taken 30 years to break it. Base stealing, unfortunately, is a dying strategy
on baseball today. For example, the last person to register 100 or more stolen
bases in a season was in fact Coleman in 1987 with the St. Louis Cardinals. The
next highest after that; Henderson
with 93 in 1988. 70 pretty much became the benchmark after that, and only guys
like Marquis Grissom, Kenny Lofton, Tony Womack, Scott Podsednik, Jacoby
Ellsbury and Jose Reyes have hit that.
Hamilton
is only 22-years-old, while the list above is filled with guys who didn’t hit
their fleet of foot until they were 26 or older, with exception of Reyes who
was 23. Hamilton
still has a lot of time to make it to the Show, just as long as the Reds can
find room for him within the lineup.
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