August 3- Washington Nationals

When it comes to being a collector nothing really beats the feeling of a good score. The definition of “score” is not just any object; rather, it’s something that tugs at the heartstrings a bit. It’s something that will always display more value emotionally than monetarily. In my years of collecting New Era Caps I’ve had many scores. A few of them I’ve already written about (Tucson Padres, Jacksonville Expos and the Oakland Athletics) and quite a few of them I have been saving for special occasions. When it comes down to it, I could realistically argue that every single one of my caps has been a wonderful score. I think I’ve proved that over the last seven months with all of these posts, but the ones that have been discontinued, the ones that I’ve had to search high and low for and the ones that makes other collectors or even just fans of the team swoon are hands down my favorite of them all. As crazy as it may sound, especially for as new as the Washington Nationals are, this is one of those caps.

It hasn’t even been 10 years since the Montreal Expos packed up shop and relocated to Washington, D.C., but the Nationals have gone through six on-field caps and they are currently on their fourth batting practice cap. This really wouldn't be that big of a deal had it not been for the fact that the Expos only had two on-field caps in their 35-year existence, one of which I’ve already written about, and yet somehow I’ve already knocked out four of the Nationals caps (February 8, March 13th, April 17th and June 27th). Well, here’s number five. This is one that I had completely forgotten about until I randomly came across it on Ebay back in December of 2012. Like most days when I get bored I combed through every inch of Ebay using the most random of search criteria in the hopes that a lister would misspell a word or put in a lack of a description so that other hat enthusiasts would pass over rare gems and not drive the bidding price up. Not only did the lister of this “DC” cap spell Nationals “Natonals,” but they also started the bid at $4.99 with a $6.00 shipping cost. I threw in a bid of $11.27 a week before it expired and waited. When you wait for something special like this it feels like a month, especially when it comes down to the final minute of bidding. For all of you who are not savvy on Ebay, the last minute of an auction is a cyber-death match as all the other collectors come out of the woodwork and throw down bids at the only time that really matters. Somehow I escaped this process and made off with the cap for $10.99 including shipping. Hazah!!!

I know it doesn’t seem like much, but this cap has been extinct since the end of the 2008 season. It made its debut in 2006 and was paired with the alternate red “DC” jerseys the Nationals typically wore on Sundays. The cap itself was retired but the “DC” was tweaked with an added stars and stripes motif from 2009-2010. After that, the “DC” was fazed out of the Nationals uniform sets altogether. Pretty depressing when you think about it.

It bums me out way more than it should when hats vanish into legend like this cap. I realize that I sound a little overdramatic when I say that, but if you sincerely feel that way you have clearly missed the point of all of these posts. Every one of these caps tells a story about the players, the team and especially the fans who wear them. These aren’t just clothing accessories or sun shields; they’re relics of baseball history that can evoke a sense of camaraderie or rivalry in the minds of those who pass by. As much as much collecting New Era caps may seem like a “gotta catch ‘em all” game of Pokémon, the reality is that I care about preserving history in my own way. It’s nothing different than someone who collects coins, stamps or even vintage porn magazines; there’s a bond that forged ethereally and the thrill of the hunt or the telling of the stories will always keep us going… well, except for the porn magazine collection. I don’t know of many people who would have crowd pleasing stories about that. So with that I of course dropped some pretty recognizable numbers on this cap, both of which played key roles in the history/time frame of this cap. Enjoy!

#12- Soriano began his professional baseball career in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, training at their Carp Academy for Dominican players. In 1997, he was promoted to the varsity team, and, wearing number 74, he appeared in nine games, batting .118 (2 for 17) with two walks. Soriano disliked the intense Japanese practice schedule (shocker), and the Carp denied him a salary increase from $45,000 to $180,000 per year. Like Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, who had previously left Japan to play in the United States, Soriano hired Don Nomura to help his situation. After first attempting to void Soriano's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) contract by unsuccessfully arguing that the player was legally a minor when he signed it, Nomura advised him, like Nomo, to retire from NPB and pursue a career in Major League Baseball. This prompted Carp executives to file an injunction against Soriano, and to send letters to MLB teams demanding that they cease all negotiations with him. After the Nomo case, NPB officials had amended the Working Agreement without consulting any MLB officials in an attempt to prevent the situation from recurring. Since MLB had not agreed to any changes to the agreement, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declared that MLB would recognize Soriano as a free agent on July 13, 1998, and the Carp backed down.

I’m going to skip Soriano’s first run with the New York Yankees and time with the Texas Rangers and move right into the Nationals. On December 7, 2005, Soriano was traded to the Nationals in exchange for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge, and minor league pitcher Armando Galarraga. On February 10, 2006, Soriano set a record for the highest salary ever awarded in arbitration, receiving $10 million, even though he lost his request of $12 million. The previous high had been set in 2001 by Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves when he earned $8.2 million. The Nationals offered Soriano a five-year, $50-million extension, but Soriano rejected the offer. Soriano and his agent Diego Bentz instead opted to open contract negotiations during the off-season, so that he would become a free agent.

On March 20, 2006, Nationals manager Frank Robinson inserted Soriano in the lineup as the left fielder. Soriano, who since 2001 had played exclusively at second base, refused to take the field, and the Nationals organization threatened him with disqualification, which would have meant forfeiture of his salary, and he would not have received credit for service time in fulfillment of the obligations of his contract. With his contract's service terms officially still unfulfilled, he would then have been ineligible for free agency at season's end. Two days later, Soriano relented and played in left field for the Nationals in their exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Robinson indicated that he considered Soriano's move to left field to be permanent and would not consider moving Soriano back to second base at any point during the season. In his comments following that game, Soriano indicated that he would accept his new position without further argument. As the season got underway, however, Soriano began to enjoy his new position, and by the All-Star break, he led the league in outfield assists and became one of the few players ever to start the All-Star game at two different positions. Soriano set a new career high in walks with 67 (previously 38). He also reached a career high in home runs with 46 (previously 39). On August 25, a week after reaching 30–30, he became the fastest man in baseball history to reach 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases, reaching the mark in 929 games (breaking the previous record of 1,053 games held by Eric Davis).

In September, he completed his 20th outfield assist, becoming the only player in baseball history with 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases, and 20 assists. On September 16, 2006, Soriano stole second base in the first inning to become the fourth player to join the 40–40 club, after José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez. Six days later he became the first player to reach 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases and 40 doubles in one season.

Soriano only played one season with the Nationals, his best on a whole scale throughout his time playing in the National League. Soriano is a seven-time All-Star, all of which came consecutively from 2002-2008. He is also a four-time Silver Slugger winner and a two-time World Series Champion (1999 and 2000). Five times in his career Soriano has finished in the top-20 for the MVP award for either league with his best finish coming in third place in 2002 with the Yankees.

#11- If there was ever a face of the franchise for the Nationals; it’s hard to look beyond third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman grew up in Washington, North Carolina and played his college ball at the University of Virginia where he was an All-American and made First Team All-Athletic Cost Conference. He also started at third base for the 2004 USA Baseball National Team that won the gold medal in the FISU II World University Baseball Championship where he was also named the 2004 Dick Case (real name) Athlete of the Year by USA Baseball.

Zimmerman was drafted in the first round as the fourth overall pick by the Nationals in the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft. After being signed on the day he was drafted, he was sent to the Savannah Sand Gnats, the Nationals' minor league A-level affiliate and then quickly moved up to the Harrisburg Senators, the AA affiliate. Zimmerman was called up to the majors when rosters expanded in September 2005, and shared third base duties with Vinny Castilla, taking over the position on a more permanent basis between the time the Nationals were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and the end of the season. In his first major league at bat at RFK Stadium he muscled a double to right center. Over the course of 20 games, he posted a .397 batting average, 10 doubles, and six RBI in 58 at-bats. He was the only member of the 2005 team to hit over .300 in at least 50 at-bats all while wearing #25. He remained with the Major League club to start the 2006 campaign, taking over third base duties from Castilla, who was traded to the San Diego Padres. Prior to 2006 Spring Training, Zimmerman changed his jersey number from #25 (2005) to #11, his former college number.

Zimmerman started his first full-season with a bang in 2006, hitting .287 with 20 home runs and 110 RBI. He probably would have won the Rookie of the Year Award that year had Hanley Ramirez not stolen 51 bases and scored 119 runs for the Florida Marlins. Nonetheless, Zimmerman pressed on with his career and has only taken a brief injury timeout in 2008 and 2011 where he still played in at least 101 games in each of those seasons and at least 142 games in the other six.

Zimmerman has only made one All-Star Game appearance (2009) in his nine-year career, the same year that he won his only Gold Glove Award thus far and his first of two Silver Slugger Awards. He’s a fan-favorite, a walk-off artist and a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award winner (2012). The man is Nationals baseball.

June 27- Washington Nationals

Originally I was going to hold off a bit on writing about this cap, until I double-checked my archives. In the whole mix of trying my best not stumble over repeating the same teams’ caps within a month-long time frame, I’ve somehow managed to neglect writing about certain teams for longer than that stretch. I must also take into account how much I’ve fallen behind in my quest to write about a new cap every day this year and how I’m trying to catch up at a somewhat miserable rate. Nonetheless, when looking at the grand scheme of things and which day I’m on in my posts, this particular Washington Nationals cap actually falls within a perfect time frame. If you haven’t noticed by now, even though I’ve fallen almost a month behind, I’ve done my best to keep my posts in REAL TIME, in that I try to give you the story as it happened up until that day as to not confuse anyone with stories that may have taken place after afterward. This piece will dabble a little bit into the “future,” but not too much.

I picked this Nationals cap up on June 24^th during my shopping spree at New Era’s headquarters in Buffalo, New York along with about 20 other caps during my trip for the Fan Appreciation even they held for nine other collects and myself. Of all the hats I picked up, this was one of the newest to this season that I scored which was also kind of a weird move on my part when considering that fact that I could have had any other hard to find hat than this one. By that I mean I could have easily scored this cap off of the Lids Web site at any point in time, but there was just something about that was telling me to add this to my cart. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that up until the moment I saw it on the wall I had only come across it in photos as the store I work at, Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) and the Lids at the mall I work don’t have it in stock. Either way, I was going to purchase at one point or another, so I figured in this case, “why not now?”

As I just mentioned, the Nationals introduced it this season as their “alternate two” cap, which I found to be an unusual title considering that the Nationals are down to three caps, including this one, which they wear on a regular basis on the field. One of which, their road cap, I wrote about on April 17^th. The road cap features the exact opposite color scheme as the alternate cap and is also the last Nationals cap I've written about. Clearly I’m slacking. Anyway, the Nationals have only used one other “alternate” cap, excluding holiday caps, during the franchise’s time in our nation’s capital (the red cap with a white “DC” logo), but I’ll touch on that in a later post. The thing about that cp is that it hasn’t been seen or heard from since the end of the 2008 season. Therefore, there really wasn’t any need to give this cap the “alternate 2” title when they could have just stuck with alternate.

As far as when they’ve used the cap, they’ve only worn it during home games which take place on back-to-back Saturday and Sunday games. Having only caught a speckle of Nationals games this season, it was hard for me to recall whether or not any of the games I had watched lived featured any of the players wearing it; however, thanks to Chris Creamer and the fine folks at Sportslogos.net, they’ve been cataloging every team’s record during the 2013 campaign and how the perform under every uniform combination for the season. In essence, with four new game style caps introduced/re-introduced this season, I at least have a bit of a direction as far as where to start in some these stories. At the same time, since two of the four caps brought out are alternate throwback styles, I pretty much have this Nationals cap and the New York Mets alternate as the only ones to really worry about. The other two; a 1983 homage Chicago White Sox which I’ll get to later in the year and the 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates throwback I wrote about on June 12^th.

With only a few months to work with on this cap the one thing that was discovered about this cap is that it riddled with bad luck. From their first official game of wearing it on April 13^th against the Atlanta Braves through today, the Nationals have only fared a record of 2-9. For having only worn this cap at home that’s a rather disturbing trend. Even worse is that the team continues to use it. Now, I’ve always know baseball to be a game of superstitions. Players will do weird things like wear their teammate’s pants (Jose Bautista), some will go without washing their socks (Jason Vargas) and other will eat fried chicken before every game (Wade Boggs); however, once a losing trend starts to form, players usually figure out what the common problem is and rid of it as fast as they can. Somehow this cap has been overlooked in that discussion. Whoops!

When trying to come up with any kind of marks for this cap I scoured the stats to try and find something interesting. At first I was going to roll with #8 for Danny Espinosa as he had reached based at least once, in some form or another, in the first four games of the hat’s use, BUT… it sadly went awry by game five. The same could have been said about #25 Adam LaRoche as I was tallying the game boxscores backwards; however, once I got to the first few games of the season I noticed a consistent slew of borderline golden sombreros. So, I took the easy route and went with the two guys who were able to muster wins in the two of 11 games played prior to today.

#27- Jordan Zimmermann is off to the best start of his career this season, all ready going 11-3 with a 2.28 ERA and gaining a lot of respect amongst critics for a potential National League Cy Young award at the end of the year. Zimmermann’s game under this cap took place on June 9^th for Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins in which he performed masterfully by going a solid seven innings with eight strikeouts in the Nationals’ 7-0 win. However, Zimmermann’s tale to this point is just as interesting.

Zimmermann was born and raised in Auburndale, Wisconsin, which is about 90 minutes west of Eau Claire where my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) grew up. If you can’t tell by both of their last names, Wisconsin has a strong German heritage running through the state. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and was drafted by the Nationals in the second round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. In 2008, Zimmermann had a combined 10–3 record with a 2.89 ERA at intermediate-A Potomac and AAA Harrisburg, and in July was named to the Eastern League (AA) All-Star team. He finished the season leading the organization in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average, and was the MiLB.com Nationals pitcher of the year.

In 2009, Zimmermann made the Nationals' roster as the fifth starter; however, the Nationals did not need him in the rotation until mid-April, so Zimmermann opened the season with the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. Zimmermann's contract was purchased on April 20, 2009, and he made his major league debut that night, after a two-plus hour rain delay, against the Atlanta Braves. He pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits, with three strikeouts and a walk, earning the victory. Zimmermann won his second game in as many starts against the Mets, becoming the first Nationals/Expos pitcher to win his first two starts of his career since Randy Johnson did so in 1988. Coincidentally, Zimmermann was the losing pitcher in Johnson's historic 300th win on June 4, 2009.

Not too long afterward Zimmermann began experiencing elbow pain, and in July landed on the disabled list. In August 2009 Zimmermann was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament and underwent Tommy John surgery, expecting to miss 18 months. In 2010 he made quick progress. Over four minor league levels, he started 10 games in limited play, racking up just 39.2 innings, but compiling a solid record: 1.59 ERA, 27 hits allowed, 31 strikeouts, and just six walks. On August 26 he was recalled to make his 2010 debut back in the big leagues, where Zimmermann got a no-decision in an eventual win by the Nationals over the Cardinals. On this same day, the Nationals learned that their other young pitching phenom, Stephen Strasburg, would need Tommy John surgery and would be out for 12–18 months. In Zimmermann's second return start, however, five days later, he pitched six shutout innings, allowing only one hit, no walks, and striking out nine, a personal best. He also became the first National to get through six innings facing only 18 batters.

2012 marked a career year for Zimmerman as he went 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA as a member of, not only a stacked rotation, but as a member of the first Nationals/Expos’ team to win the NL Eastern Division title in the franchise’s history.

Zimmermann also got married during the offseason to his longtime girlfriend, and fellow Wisconsinite Mandy Jellish. The only reason I bring this up is because they got married over New Year’s in Wisconsin the same time I was visiting Angie for the first time since we had met in September for the Miami Marlins game I wrote about on February 23^rd. How do I know this? Collin Balester, the man who is pretty much responsible for convincing me to get out to Florida for my Major League Baseball stadium road trip. The man is a hell of a good luck charm.

#37- On the other side of the tape is Mr. Franchise himself, Steven Strasburg. Strasburg was actually on the losing end of two of the game the Nationals played under this cap on April 13^th and May 11^th; however, he locked up the win in the contest played on May 26^th against the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 6-1 in his nine strikeout performance. Strasburg is currently 4-6 with a 2.41 ERA as of today as he had a no decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks in their 2-3 loss.

 Strasburg attended West Hills High School in Santee, California. At first, he struggled on the school's baseball team, posting a 1–10 win–loss record in his junior year. A 12-strikeout game against El Capitan High School in his senior year, in which Strasburg allowed one hit, drew attention from scouts. He finished his senior year with a 1.68 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 62 ⅓ innings pitched, with seven complete games. He finished with three varsity letters, set school records in ERA and shutouts, and was named his school's 2006 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was also named second-team all-league and his team's MVP. Despite these achievements, he was not selected in that year's Major League Baseball Draft.

Strasburg had hoped to attend Stanford University but was not accepted there. Although recruited by a number of schools across the country, he enrolled at San Diego State University, where both of his parents attended school. He played college baseball for the San Diego State Aztecs, coached by Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Tony Gwynn. When he first arrived, he was an unlikely candidate to pitch collegiate baseball at all; he was so overweight and out of shape that his conditioning coach nicknamed him "Slothburg" and encouraged him to quit baseball. He also had a difficult time adjusting to college life, moving out of his dormitory and in with his mother after five days. He acknowledged, "I wasn't the most mature guy out of high school. ... The dorm was an overload, too much, too soon." Strasburg responded with an intense workout regimen, losing 30 pounds (14 kg) in the process. He also worked to improve his mental toughness. Coaches tested him by placing him in high-pressure situations and telling him he needed to get strikeouts.

San Diego State used Strasburg as a relief pitcher in his freshman year; he began the season pitching in middle relief, before becoming the Aztecs' closer. He held opponents to a .141 batting average against and was named Co-Freshman of the Year for the Mountain West Conference. In the summer of 2007, Strasburg also played for the Torrington Twisters of the collegiate summer baseball New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). He was named to the NECBL First Team as a closer, and was also chosen as the Top Pro Prospect and Top Relief Pitcher in the NECBL.

In 2008, as a sophomore, Strasburg was converted to a full-time starting pitcher. He went 8–3 with a 1.58 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 98⅓ innings. Four of his thirteen starts in 2008 were complete games, two of which were shutouts. On April 11th of that year, he struck out a Mountain West Conference record 23 batters in a game versus the University of Utah. He also gained eight miles per hour on his fastball, regularly working in the upper 90s and touching 100 mph.

Strasburg finished his junior year, the 2009 season, 13–1 with a 1.32 ERA, 59 hits allowed, 16 earned runs, 19 walks, and 195 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched. In his final home start on May 8, 2009, Strasburg threw his first career no-hitter while striking out 17 Air Force Falcons batters. His lone loss came against the Virginia Cavaliers in the NCAA Regionals as Virginia advanced toward the College World Series, but he still struck out 15 in seven innings during the loss.

On June 9, 2009, Strasburg was drafted number one overall in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Nationals. On August 17, 2009, he signed a record-breaking four-year, $15.1 million contract with the Nationals, just 77 seconds before the deadline, shattering a dollar-amount record previously held by Mark Prior, who signed for $10.5 million in 2001. Strasburg made his professional debut on October 16, 2009, starting for the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. He was selected to play in the league's Rising Stars Showcase, but was unable to participate due to a minor neck injury. He also won Pitcher of the Week honors for the week of November 2, 2009 and led the AFL with four wins. Before the 2010 season started, Baseball America named Strasburg as the top pitching prospect, and the second-best overall prospect behind Jason Heyward.

Strasburg was assigned to the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League for the start of the 2010 season. There was so much anticipation and hype surrounding Strasburg that there were about 70 credentialed media members in attendance at his April 11, 2010 debut, and ESPN nationally broadcast portions of the game. He won his Senators debut against the Altoona Curve, allowing four hits and four runs (one earned), while striking out eight batters in five innings. During his first home start on April 16, he yielded two hits and an unearned run with three strikeouts in 2⅓ innings in a loss to the New Britain Rock Cats, one where his innings were limited due to a rain delay. Harrisburg set an attendance record in Strasburg's home debut with 7,895 fans. He completed his Class AA stint with a 1.64 ERA while striking out 27 and walking six in 22 innings.

On May 4, 2010, he was promoted to the AAA Chiefs. In his first game with the Chiefs, he pitched six scoreless innings, striking out six batters while allowing one hit and one walk. That game drew 13,766 fans—the highest attendance in the 135-year history of baseball in Syracuse. In his second start, Strasburg was removed after pitching six no-hit innings. He finished his minor league stint with an overall record of 7–2, an ERA of 1.30, 65 strikeouts and 13 walks in 55⅓ innings, and a WHIP ratio of 0.80.

Strasburg made his major-league debut on June 8, 2010, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. A Sports Illustrated columnist termed it "the most hyped pitching debut the game has ever seen." Strasburg picked up the win in his debut, pitching seven innings, allowing two earned runs and no walks and 14 strikeouts, setting a new team strikeout record. Also, he was the first pitcher in history to strike out at least eleven batters without issuing any walks in his pro debut, while falling just one strikeout short of the all-time record for a pitcher's debut—Karl Spooner (1954) and J.R. Richard (1971) both struck out 15, but each took nine innings to do it, and each walked three. (Bob Feller also struck out 15 in his first start, although it wasn't his big league debut). He struck out every batter in the Pirates' lineup at least once and struck out the last seven batters he faced—also a Nationals record. He threw 34 of his 94 pitches at 98 miles per hour (158 km/h) or faster, including two that reached 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

In Strasburg's second and third major league starts he struck out another eight and ten batters, respectively, setting a major league record for the most strikeouts in a pitcher's first three starts with 32. The previous record holder had been Richard, who struck out 29 in his first three starts in 1971.

Strasburg was also featured in the cover story of Sports Illustrated following his second start. His #37 jersey was the top-selling jersey in all of baseball for the month of June and became the best-selling Nationals jersey of all time in that span.

Strasburg was placed on the disabled list with an inflamed right shoulder in July 2010. He returned to action on August 10, but in his third game back, on August 21, he was removed with an apparent injury. On August 27, the Nationals announced that Strasburg had a torn ulnar collateral ligament (like Zimmermann), requiring Tommy John surgery, and about 12 to 18 months of rehabilitation. In the 2010 season Strasburg pitched in 12 games, all starts, throwing 68 innings, 92 strikeouts and compiling a 2.91 ERA. He was named a pitcher on the 2010 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team. Strasburg made his first rehab start on August 7, 2011 for the Hagerstown Suns. Strasburg made six rehab starts during the 2011 minor league season throwing a total of 20⅓ innings, with 29 strikeouts, compiling a 3.49 ERA and a 1–1 record. He then made 5 starts during the 2011 major league season, his first coming against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 6. That year he threw for 24 innings, struck out 24, compiled a 1.50 ERA and a 1–1 record.

In April 2012, Strasburg accumulated an NL-best 34 strikeouts and second-best 1.13 ERA. He totaled 6 walks and did not give up a home run. Consequently he was named NL Pitcher of the Month. On May 20, Strasburg went 2-for-2 as a hitter in a game against the Baltimore Orioles and hit his first career home run, a solo shot off of Wei-Yin Chen.

In his June 13 start against the Toronto Blue Jays, Strasburg became the first pitcher of the year to strike out 100 batters.  On July 1, Strasburg was elected to his first All-Star Game, alongside teammates Gio Gonzalez, Ian Desmond, and Bryce Harper. Strasburg ended the season 15–6 with a 3.16 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 197 strikeouts in 159⅓ innings pitched. Strasburg hit .277 with a home run, 7 RBI, and three walks, earning him a Silver Slugger Award.

As part of Strasburg's rehabilitation from his Tommy John surgery, and as a precaution due to his low innings total in 2011, the Nationals decided to limit the number of innings Strasburg would throw in the 2012 season. Although the number was never official, rumors started that Strasburg's limit would be between 160 and 180 innings. It was also decided that Strasburg's shutdown would be final; he would not pitch in the playoffs. Dr. Lewis Yocum, the surgeon who operated on Strasburg's elbow, agreed in 2011 that Strasburg's 2012 innings total should be limited, although he did not consult with Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo or Strasburg during the season. Teammate Zimmermann underwent a similar process the year before.

Strasburg's high profile and the success of the Nationals in the 2012 season made the innings limit a topic of national conversation. In addition to baseball writers, a number of other figures made their views on the topic known, including football broadcasters Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw, basketball reporter Stephen A. Smith, and even prominent politicians such as Rudy Giuliani and Mitch McConnell. Rizzo defended the decision to shut down Strasburg and criticized the buzz surrounding it: "It's a good conversational piece; it's a good debatable subject. But most of the people that have weighed in on this know probably 10 percent of the information that we know, and that we've made our opinion based upon." The Nationals announced that Strasburg would be scheduled to make his final start on September 12 and would be replaced by John Lannan in the Nationals' starting rotation. However, after a rough outing on September 8, Davey Johnson announced that Strasburg was finished for the 2012 season. Strasburg spent the postseason on the physically unable to perform list as the Nationals lost the 2012 NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals.

April 17- Washington Nationals

I’m finally back in Florida!!! After two months of being away from my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) I was finally able to complete my education at the University of Oregon, get down to the Bay Area for Opening Day with the Oakland Athletics and be stably unemployed for the last month. All of those things were definite motivators for me to get out to be with the one lady in my life who I love more than baseball. Hard to believe, right? Thanks to a generous gift from my friend Anthony Curtis (@AnthonyCurtis68) I was able to take a red eye flight on Tuesday night at which I got in around 7 AM. Being in a long distance relationship kind of sucks, but if both parties are happy enough with the other and willing to make it work, then there nothing will stand in your way of making it last until you can be together for the rest of your lives. This, in a nut shell, is how I feel about Angie.

I’ve never much cared for airplanes. In fact, they terrify me. While I totally understand that it is statistically a much safer means of travel, I still hate the idea of being trapped in a compartment 30,000 feet above the ground. I’m not much of a drinker, but in this case I felt it was a necessary tool in helping me fall asleep. I decided to roll the dice with a bottle of Jack Daniels, at which I was hooked up with an extra one because it took the flight attendant a while to be able to get one to me. I did not complain one bit.

I crushed the first one fairly quickly with a Coke Zero on the side as I am a proponent on never mixing anything with whiskey or bourbon. Unfortunately, every time I tried to nod off to sleep the woman next to me rolled over and smacked me with her elbow. I could have said something, but I decided to watch TV shows on my Ipod instead.

The six-and-a-half hour flight went by pretty quick with my TV aid as well touched down in Fort Lauderdale. Now, the one thing I hate more than being stuck in an airplane up in the air is being stuck in an airplane while it’s on the ground. I always have my stuff together and try not to be “that guy” who holds everybody up. The 30-40 old people sitting in the seats ahead of me felt the exact opposite of me however. After about a 15 minute wait I rushed out the door and down to baggage claim where my sweetie was waiting for me. One of the greatest feelings in the world is that first hug and kiss we share whenever we see one another after a long wait. It’s a reassurance that all of the patience and sacrifice the two of you make all becomes worth in that tender moment.

Angie had to be at work at 9:00 AM unfortunately, so we didn’t have that much time to spend together before she changed into her operating room scrubs and headed out the door to the hospital she’s working at as a part of her rotation as she finishes up her education at Nova Southeastern University. We had one last long kiss goodbye before she walked out and I went right to sleep. Angie and I had tickets for tonight’s Miami Marlins game against the Washington Nationals and I had plenty of time to catch a snooze before she got home from work to change and head out. Since I knew in advance we were going to the game I made sure to plan ahead in the apparel department and was ready to roll with my Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) player-T and a brand new Nationals road cap.

The Nationals started using this cap at the start of the 2011 season as a replacement for the all navy blue road cap they wore from their inaugural season in 2005 through the end of the 2010 season. I wrote about that cap on February 8 and it is still hands down one of my favorite caps to wear. It was also one of the best selling caps between 2005 and 2008, and I’ll never understand why they decided to get rid of it. Either way, with a new cap on the shelf, I was quick to scoop it up during the fall of 2011 from the Lids in Eugene, Oregon. Because let’s face it; the more hats a team brings out, the more hats I’ll be adding to my collection.

Since I was wearing it for the first time I hadn’t had a chance to mark it up yet. Some time last week I had an idea of two players I was originally going to add to it, but that was all before I won a rare red “DC” logo cap on Ebay. Not only is that post in the not-too-distant future, I also felt the two guys I had in mind were a better fit for that era. So, I rolled the dice with these knuckleheads.

#20- Ian Desmond was a third round draft pick by the Montreal Expos back in 2004 out of Sarasota High School in Florida. What’s most interesting about this pick is that it was the final year in which the franchise drafted as the Expos. Even more interesting than that, Desmond is one of only two guys drafted by the Expos that year who are currently playing in the Majors. Collin Balester is the other guy. From 2004-2008 Desmond had some mediocre years in the Minors. He hit .26y with the Potomac Nationals in 2007 and never had more than 13 home runs in any of the years he played in the Minors. The 13 home runs also occurred in 2007. In 2009 Desmond hovered between the AA Harrisburg Senators and AAA Syracuse Chiefs, a season in which everything came together for him as a hitter. That season he hit .330 with seven home runs, 32 RBI and 21 stolen bases. With the September call-ups just around the corner, Desmond got the nod.

On September 10, 2009 Desmond made his long-awaited MLB debut against Joe Blanton and the rival Philadelphia Phillies. Every day shortstop Christian Guzman had gotten the day off. Desmond did not let his opportunity go to waste. In the fifth inning, during his second at-bat, Desmond tagged Blanton for his first career home run with two on and two out. Before the day was over Desmond would add a double to his achievements. Desmond also found himself in the driver’s seat as the every day shortstop from that day forward. Guzman converted to a second base role; however, he was traded to Texas Rangers in July of 2010. He has been a free agent ever since. Desmond had decent seasons in 2010 and 2011, but it was in 2012 where Desmond proved his worth.

I had been an avid follower of Desmond’s since his days in the Minors and I always made sure to pick him up for my fantasy baseball teams in 2010 and 2011, knowing that he would be a reliable substitute for my regular starters. It was only a matter of time before Desmond’s potential showed. In the MLB Fan Cave we had our own fantasy league going and Kyle Thompson was the lucky recipient of Mr. Desmond somewhere in the middle of the draft. I was not cool with this; however, I had drafted David Freese, a move he was not cool with as St. Louis Cardinals fan.

By the end of April Freese was one of the best hitter in the game, proving his numbers in the 2011 postseason weren’t a fluke. This made Kyle unhappy. On numerous occasions he asked me if I would be willing to trade him. Every time I responded I reminded him that in the eight previous years I had never made a trade. I had picked up Rafael Furcal off the free agency wire in the second week of May, a move that proved to be very valuable for me. Furcal had gone on a tear and I continually punished my opponents on a daily basis. Because I had another Cardinal on my team, Kyle of course became incredibly jealous. He one again offered a trade, this time for Freese and Furcal. I looked over his roster and told him two players I felt would make for a fair exchange: Desmond and Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre. He immediately declined. Two weeks would go by as Freese and Furcal would continue to light it up offensively. Desmond and Beltre were putting up decent numbers at the time, but not enough that would motivate anyone to make the deal that I was asking, but I knew from past experiences and research on each player that they were due for a power surge. Kyle did not know this. Kyle was thinking more with his heart than with his brain, a surefire mistake when it come to fantasy baseball. On May 14^th Kyle sent me a trade request: Beltre and Desmond for Furcal and Freese. I happily accepted his deal. What’s funny about this move is that I wrote a sketch for the Fan Cave about it. The scenario would have been the two of us in a fancy restaurant at which he would slide me over a card with his offer. I would proceed to yell at him and storm out of the restaurant for such a horrible deal. The screen would go black, a message of “30 seconds later” would pop up, come back to scene of me walking back in and accepting his deal. That’s just the Cliff’s Notes version. With Desmond, his season was just about to take off.

Almost immediately after the deal was made Desmond took off offensively. Desmond hit four home runs in the first week-and-a-half. He would then go on to average over .312 every month from June 1 through the end of the season. He finished the year with career highs in average (.292), home runs (25), RBI (73), hits (150), doubles (33) and runs (72) despite only playing in 130 games. His campaign landed him his first of many All-Star Game appearances, a Silver Slugger award and a respectable 16^th place finish in the National League MVP vote. Needless to say, I was quite happy with the results.

#48- I had the pleasure of meeting Ross Detwiler in the Fan Cave when he came in, along with Gio Gonzalez and Edwin Jackson, in early April 2012. Due to the fact that Detwiler was making his season debut that evening he kind of kept to himself toward the entrance of the building, away from everyone else. Gonzalez and Jackson ran around the place like it was a Chuck E. Cheese. The sketch that the production crew had set up involved Gonzalez and Jackson taking care of Detwiler’s daily activities so he could concentrate on his start. Jackson walked all of Detwiler’s dogs while Gonzalez had some dental work done in his place. One of the scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor involved the two transporting a body in a black body bag. Still not sure why they cut it. While all of the filming was taking place I took it upon myself to go over and talk to Detwiler as everyone else had ignored him. We chatted about music and a few movies to try and help him relax. I was able to help coax a bit of a smile out of him, and by this time all the other Cave Dwellers decided to finally come over and talk to. From what I recall the others talked about his start, something I didn’t want to touch. He seemed cool with it though. That night he pitched five solid inning of scoreless baseball, only giving up one walk and two hits while striking out six.

Detwiler broke into the Majors in 2007, the same year he was drafted out of Missouri State University. He only made one appearance that season on September 7: one perfect inning. Detwiler wouldn’t be seen again until 2009 where he made spot starts until the 2012 season. His first three full years were a bit rough; however, his 2012 campaign ended with a 10-8 record, a 3.40 ERA and 105 strikeouts. During my travels around the country last season I saw him make a start against the New York Mets at which he pitched six decent innings, giving up three earned runs off of one walk and six hits. The Nationals won the game 6-4 for his seventh win on the season.

Tonight Detwiler made his third start of the season against the Marlins with Angie and me in house. In his previous two starts Detwiler has been pitching near flawlessly. He had only given up three walks, 10 hits and one earned run in 13 innings, good enough for a 2-0 record and a 0.69 ERA. Against the Marlins he was just as good, going seven innings while only giving up one earned run off of seven hits and zero walks. He currently stands at 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA and is currently leading the pace for the NL Cy Young award.

While Angie and I didn’t necessarily have a horse in the race in the game, it was great to get back to the stadium where our relationship first blossomed. As much as people want to knock how gaudy it looks and how poorly assembled the team is, Angie and I will always look at it as our own special place where we first fell in love.

March 13- Washington Nationals

For several years I shared the same plight as my friend Dave Kaufman, and quite possibly the majority of Montreal, in being overtly depressed over the Montreal Expos relocating to Washington, D.C. We were, and are still extremely saddened by the move at the end of the 2004 season; however, different motives fueled our emotions. For Dave, he had lost the one team he grew up with. For me, I lost the team I grew to love, and even more so, lost the team that quite possibly could have ended up in my backyard in Portland. Regardless of our feelings, the overall feeling of a team moving back to a city which lost two teams previous never made much sense, even if the money was right.

For starters the Washington Nationals played all of their home games at the old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the same stadium that was built for the second incarnation of the Washington Senators back in 1961. A stadium, mind you, that they shared with a professional soccer team, DC United of Major League Soccer. From 2005-2007 the Nationals played all of their home games at RFK while a new stadium, Nationals Park was being constructed. Despite the new ownership, the team still performed as mediocre as the Expos had before their move. I’m not trying to dog on the team, but it’s unfortunately the reality of things. The team went 225-261 under then managers Frank Robinson and Manny Acta. In 2008, the team’s first year in nationals Park, the Nats went 59-102, and to cap things off they posted the exact record the following season which prompted Acta’s firing, only to be replaced by Jim Riggleman midway through. Despite their poor finishes, the team was starting to spend money on trying to keep and attract talent like Josh Willingham, Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman.

From 2010-2011 the Nats starting spending a significant amount more, especially after the acquisition of Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) and utilized their draft picks to their utmost potential. By the time 2012 rolled around the Nats were stacked. Analysts saw the heavy-hitting and stellar-pitching lineup as more of a fluke and didn’t expect them to do much. Ha! Try 98-64, the best record in Major League Baseball. On top of which the Nats made the playoffs for the first time in their history, and the second time in the franchise’s history.

The team I saw on the field this last season certainly shook off any bit of the lingering cloud left over from the old Montreal days; a mixed sentiment felt back in the old country. When I visited Montreal over the summer I overheard a few people talking about the Nats every now-and-then. Some was good, a lot was negative; and while I don’t feel that people should let go, the fact of the matter is that the Expos faded out in D.C. at the tail end of the 2010 season, the same time this hat became defunct. From 2009-2010 this cap served as the alternate cap, something I felt was way too short of a time frame. The Nats certainly went through a dark period under this cap; however, it was because of those gloomy times that the team was able to pull some solid draft picks and make some phenomenal trades for the 2012 season. Moves which totally justify the numbers I dropped on this beast.

#47- It was an extremely sad day in Oakland Athletics nation when Gio Gonzalez got traded to the Nats; however, in return the A’s got Derek Norris and Tommy Milone, a move which proved to be extremely beneficial for both sides. On April 16, 2012 Gio, Edwin Jackson and Ross Detwiler made their way to New York and in through the doors of the MLB Fan Cave. Since there wasn’t a Nationals rep in the Cave I had always taken it upon myself to rock the gear of any team whose players paid a visit, but only if none of the other eight were reps of their teams. My mother raised me right, in the sense that as a host I am always obligated to make the guests feel welcome. So sure enough the gang came strolling in, full of life. Detwiler was a bit standoffish on account that he was making his season debut against the New York Mets that night, but Gio and Edwin took to the Cave as if it were a funhouse. I was given the honor of leading the tour, something which felt really cheesy to me considering that these guys were grown men who just wanted to hang out, put their feet up and take a peek on their own time. As the tour came to a close Edwin and Gio were called over by the production crew to shoot their scenes for a video they were making on doing Detwiler’s chores for the day to keep his mind clear for his game. It was also during this time that the cat was let out of the bag on the Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) rule.

A few days before they came in there was a rule established by Ricardo Marquez and Ricky Mast that anytime anyone said the name Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) I had to bark like a dog. No exclusions applied. One of the two had tipped Gio off and in between takes he shouted Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) from across the Cave. This happened somewhere between 15 and 20 times, including his ordering the cab driver to stop and wait for him so he could run back inside and yell it at me one more time. Prior to his visit Gio had gone two games without a decision on the season and with a 3.38 ERA. After he left he went on to win seven of his next eight, dropping his ERA down to 2.04 at the end of May. It was also around this time that I had picked up this cap from the New Era Flagship Store from across the street. As soon as I got it back to the Cave I felt compelled to drop his number on the front for being such a cool dude. Unfortunately for me, I got the axe from the Fan Cave the following day.

Gio and I had been talking sporadically throughout the season on Facebook; however, when I started my road trip we stopped talking for the sake that we were both clearly busy with real life. On August 17 I made my way to D.C. to catch two games versus the Mets. It was during this time I met a longtime Twitter buddy Rachel Wynn (@RachWynn), a die hard Mets fan. Rachel and I hung out during the first game where we proceeded to get “white girl wasted” throughout the night along with one of her friends who came down to the games with her. The one thing I remember most from the first night was ending up at The Bullpen, an outdoor bar across the street from Nationals Park. There, we proceeded to crush a heavy amount of Bud Light with Lime and walk around the joint making fun of all the frat guys we saw. At one point the conversation turned really weird and I started coming up with ways to make a train wreck of a scene. The best idea? Yelling, “Who wants to get fuuuuuuuuuuuucked!?!?” as loud as I could. The rest of the night is a blur, but I had to get back to the game the next day so I slept in the car as to not cause an accident.

Game two came around and I headed in earlier with the hopes that I might be able to go say hey to Gio. Apparently luck was on my side as I stumbled into this sign on my way through the gate…

I’ll admit, I was a bit hesitant to drop in to say hello. I’ve never been much of a “fanboy.” You know, those guys that hound for autographs and photos and such. I literally just wanted to say hello… and maybe get one photo. I got in line pretty early and had to wait about 35 minutes to get inside, which wasn’t a big deal as I had time to kill anyway. I finally got close to the table he was sitting at when I noticed a sign that said “no photographs.” As in no photographs with the player so that more people could file through during the designated time. So, I popped this photo as fast as I could before I got up to the table.

I had promised a friend, Toni Taylor (@condorsfan06) back in Bakersfield, California an autograph of Gio’s. Not having anything else on me I slid my ticket across the table while his head was still down. He signed it and handed it back. In the process of his arm reaching out to his head tilting up he went from chill mode to jumping over the table to give me a hug in less than a nanosecond. “Heeeeeyyyyyy!!!” he yelled as he put me in a bear hug. We chatted for a very quick second as to not hold up the line, at which it ended with his asking, “Are you coming to see me pitch tomorrow?” My original plan was to drive to my friend Tom’s house in South Jersey the next morning; however, when a ball player asks if you’re going to be at their game, you do it.

I met up with Rachel and her friend again after game two somewhere in DC, along with another group of people we had partied with after the previous night’s game. This time around; however, I kept a cool head and kept my drinking light so I could go back to my hotel to shower and sleep. Luckily for us there was a bar we stepped into that had a Nintendo 64 set up with Mario Kart 64 in the console. Needless to say, Rachel and I made it an all out war. Can’t remember who won though. So I’ll claim it.

The next day came and it was pouring rain. Somehow in the two and a half months I had been traveling I had yet to deal with a rain delay. With nothing else to do I decided to grab a few beers and a few smokes to kill time during the three-hour delay. During my tour of the stadium I was spotted by two hardcore Nats fans who had been following me on Twitter since my time in the Cave. What was funny is that when I passed by them I had an apparent scowl on my face, which is common for me whenever I’m in the zone and on a mission. I got back to my seat when Gary (@SperryGary) had hit me up asking if it was me. I immediately remembered who I had passed and went right back to make introductions. Gary, his friend Ryan (@MyGuyRyan) and I hit it off really well, crushed a few more beers before the rain finally let up and Gio got to his warm-up routine. I dropped down, snapped a few photos and sank into my seat. Gio pitched a solid 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and I met up with Gary and Ryan front row on the first base side for the last two innings of the game. The Nats won 5-2 and Gio’s record jumped to 16-6 with a 3.23 ERA.

Gio unfortunately finished in third place for the National League Cy Young award, which in all honesty could have gone to Clayton Kershaw easily as well, but it was RA Dickey who took home the treasure. Last night Gio was tapped to make his season debut for the USA Baseball team in the World Baseball Classic. And, in classic Gio form, he dealt five solid innings only giving up three hits, no runs and punching out five batters. Oh, and if I didn’t emphasize this earlier, Gio is clearly one of the Top 10 raddest dudes on the planet.

#34- If you haven’t been following me on Twitter for very long there’s a very specific thing I always refer Bryce Harper as: “some Mormon kid.” Being a fellow Mo-Mo myself I always find it incredibly awesome to see a strong kid of faith following his dreams in the same footsteps as such greats as Wally Joyner, Cory Snyder, Jeff Kent and Harmon Killebrew. Harper was taken with the first overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft; something that really didn’t shock anyone. I mean, the kid is the real deal. Despite being the #1 ranked prospect, Harper started the season in AAA Syracuse for the Chiefs… for 21 games. The Nats promoted him to the Show and he made his MLB debut in Dodger Stadium on April 28, 2012. In that same game he cracked his first Major League hit, a double over the head of Matt Kemp as which he jammed around the bases so fast his helmet flew off, exposing that sweet power Mohawk-rat tail combo he had going. It wasn’t too much later after a game in Toronto that we were given one of Harper’s quotable gems after a reporter asked him what his favorite beer has been since getting to Canada where he can legally drink on account of his age. His response, the priceless, “That’s a clown question bro” that we’ve all said to a friend and/or co-worker at some point in time since that night. While people want to clown the kid for saying that, I have to tip my cap to him for having the foresight to get that quote trademarked and copyrighted for licensing purposes.

Harper churned out a phenomenal season, which merely added to the magic that was the 2012 Nationals, with his NL Rookie of the Year award after posting .270/22/59 and 18 stolen bases. The one thing that I will forever appreciate about this kid; however, is his attitude. He doesn’t fake it, he owns it 100%. I recall an interview he did for a magazine round the time he was drafted at which he commented on why he’s so arrogant on the field. His response, "There are so many people out there who will tell you that you can't. What you've got to do is turn around and say 'Watch Me'” That’s pretty insightful for a 19-year-old.

While I never had the chance to meet Harper when he stopped by the Fan Cave, I hope I get the opportunity to pick his brain sometime down the road. It’s very rare for me to admire someone so much younger than me, but if it was going to be anybody, who better than a person who puts his money where his mouth is?

February 8- Washington Nationals

5/20/2014: No matter how many times I’ve kept sending this story out via Twitter, I did it with the feeling that I was missing a lot of vital details which have confused quite a few of my followers since the first month of when I was in the MLB Fan Cave back in 2012. Due to the fact that today is in fact Jayson Werth’s (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) birthday AND the Washington Nationals recently came to Oakland to take on my Athletics, I figure today was just a good as any day to fill in a lot of the holes and make some important updates.

First, let’s get the barking situation out of the way. Back on March 13, 2013 I wrote about the Nationals’ “DC” alternate hat which I focused my attention on Gio Gonzalez and Bryce Harper. About a week before Ross Detwiler, Edwin Jackson and Gio stopped by the Fan Cave in early April I was given the punishment/blessing of having to bark like a dog anytime someone said Werth’s name. If I said his name, I would have to do a double set. This little gimmick became a huge hit with kids who stopped by on the weekend for a tour and especially with my good friend Robert Curtis-Hardy, a Boston Red Sox fan who lived next door. Even though this barking was only relegated for the time I was in the Fan Cave, I haven’t let that slow me down for the last two years. It’s obviously become more of an inside joke; however, it’s too fun to let up especially when I’m in random places and his name happens to come up in conversation. This takes me to May 9-11 of this year (2014).

For those of you who don’t know, I actually work for the Athletics in the special events and promotions department; however, I can’t really discuss most of what I do as it’s a bit of a surprise. One thing I can tell you is that I have on-field and behind the scenes access for every game that I work. Some of you know what I do and I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t mention anything publicly as I would love to keep my job. Anyway, the last time I had seen the Nationals play was in April of last year (2013), when I went to go visit my girlfriend Angie in Southern Florida for a few weeks. Literally the day I flew in when headed 30 miles south to Miami to catch the last game of the series between the Nationals and the Marlins. Due to the fact that we had gotten there a little bit before the game started, I didn’t have time to run down to the dugouts to try and snag a photo with Mr. Werth; however, that didn’t keep me from having a little bit of fun when he came up to bat. 

But here we are, a year later with a much better opportunity to accomplish my goal. Well, sort of.

One of the rules of my position is that I’m not allowed to take photos or ask for autographs (I never ask for autographs) from any of the players of either team nor special guests that we may have singing the National Anthem or throwing out first pitch. I bring this up because two of the members of the band Journey happened to be in town for the Saturday game which was also a Journey-themed fireworks night. I also bring this up because I ended up appearing in photos with them before the game.

One thing that I did come to learn is that Werth always spends time in the visiting team’s batting cage right before the game starts. For those of you who don’t know, the batting cage is located right behind the wall in centerfield, which also happens to be one of the areas that I work out of. In summation, I had the greatest of all opportunities to see Werth before the game started, but unfortunately I was busy doing one job for the first two games of the series, thus preventing me from having some face time with him. Even with what I was busy doing it didn’t stop me from barking when the PA announcer Dick Callahan called out Werth’s name which also happened to be at the exact moment when he came into centerfield gate to take some more practice swings. But, as luck would have it, I had a different job to do for the final game of the series which would give me the opportunity to at least shake his hand or something.

The final game of the series fell on Mother’s Day, which is also Breast Cancer Awareness Day throughout Major League Baseball. Seeing as it’s my first year with the team I made sure to be readily available for anything as I didn’t really know what would be going on. Basically all I was asked to do was talk to some of the cancer survivors while we waited for them to be let onto the field for the pre-game ceremony and honoring. I’ll get into more details on this in a future post, but what I can tell you now is that I had a blast chatting it up with those women and the one guy who happened to contract breast cancer. My mother is a two-time breast cancer survivor so it didn’t make anything we talked about awkward.

Right around the time all of the survivors were being let onto the field Mr. Werth walked into the entrance and into the batting cage. Right after the ceremony ended we all came back inside and I hung around with my co-workers as all of the survivors headed up the ramp and into the stadium. It was within this moment that Werth was just getting done with his BP session so I figured then was the best time of any to at least tell him “good luck” or give him a fist bump before he headed out.

Now, this part of the story is going to sound like total BS, but I promise you this is exactly how it went down. Since I was somewhere near the batting cage for the first two games of the series I could hear the rhythm of when Werth was taking hacks at each pitch; after every swing there was about a two-to-three second gap in between. On the final day there was a much longer gap in between a few of his strokes, but I’ll get to that in a minute. As he stepped out of the cage I walked toward him at which he turned his head, locked eyes with me and immediately began walking toward me. Despite the fact that we didn’t personally know one another we immediately began chatting it up about how amazing each others’ beards were. “Gay” is probably an adjective that comes to most peoples’ minds, but I say there’s nothing wrong with two dudes complimenting one another over amazing facial sweaters. This also would have been a great time to take a glorious photo; but like I said, I didn’t want to get fired. Instead, we bumped fists and headed back out onto the field. A few minutes would pass before the hitting instructors that were in the cage with him came over to me to let me know that he kept stopping in between his swings to talk about how “majestic” my beard is. “Majestic,” his words, not mine.

As soon as the bottom of the sixth inning got underway Werth and I had one more encounter as I was standing in the stairwell in right field, waiting for the start of the Hall of Fame Mascot Race that the Athletics do every weekend series. Right after the Nationals got done with their warm-up tosses Werth looked right at me, stroked his beard and gave me a finger point. I of course returned the favor, because that’s what beard brothers do. One of these days I’ll be able to capture, frame and share a photo of our glorious beards together, but for now it’ll have to wait until early June when the Nationals come back to the Bay Area to take on the San Francisco Giants. I’m usually not so weird about these kinds of things, but you all know how awesome this will turn out if I’m able to accomplish my mission. Until then, Happy 35^th Birthday Jayson Werth! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!

Original post- If there was ever a team with a severe case of schizophrenia, when it comes to hats and uniforms, it might be the Washington Nationals. Since 2005 the Nationals have worn seven different style of hats and 17 variations of jerseys/uniforms. I find this incredibly funny considering that from 1969-2004 the Nationals were the Montreal Expos, and during that time the ‘Spos only had three styles of hats and six uniform/jersey variations. But, I suppose big city life will do that to a person, let alone a team. But I digress; this particular hat was worm from their humble beginning in 2005 through the end of the 2010 season. I’m still a bit confused as to why they stopped using it. To be honest, it was one of my favorite hats, as well as one of the best selling hats after it was introduced. In fact, it was one of the first few hats I scooped up when I really started putting my collection together. The one drawback I have with my cap is that it’s a size too small. Believe it or not, I used to have really short hair.

I brought the hat during the summer of 2010, and at the time I really didn’t have any intentions of ever throwing numbers on it. It was simply just a hat I enjoyed wearing from time-to-time. It was during the summer of 2011 that I really started to go to town on my hats. Only my 1969-91 Expos hat had any kind of a marking on it, but one night after I had a few friends over, I noticed that my old San Francisco Giants hat was missing. I realize as ardent of an Oakland Athletics supporter as I am, something like that wouldn’t bother me so much. My biggest issue with that was that I had owned the Giants cap since my bat boy days in Bakersfield… and it was a gift from JT Snow. So yah, I was furious. From that day forward, I started marking my hats, mostly for the purpose of knowing if someone was wearing one of my stolen hats.

Wow! I really got off topic there. I guess my point of establishing the “why” of marking my hats; it will help explain the numbers on this one. And yes, there will be a lot of barking involved.

#28- JAYSON WERTH!!! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!! Werth has always been one of the guys in the League that I love watching, especially during his time with the Philadelphia Phillies. So, when the Nats gave Werth a huge contract at the end of the 2012 season, I was ecstatic with the fact that he would be the standout player the Nats had needed since moving to D.C. Well, besides Ryan Zimmerman. I should also pint out that this was the first time I had decided to use a white out pen to mark my hats, as opposed to the silver Sharpie that I use now. Hence why it looks pretty lame. I’m not really sure if it was a blessing or a curse however, as Werth’s numbers didn’t exactly cut the mustard in his first year: .232/20/58 in 151 games. Yikes! At the time when I was marking up my caps I didn’t really put much focus on the year in which the cap was used, and the players from those teams, etc. I just wanted to pay tribute to my bearded brother from another mother.

#38- Michael Morse, on the other hand, I added when I was in the MLB Fan Cave. I had left Werth’s number solo for well over a year and needed to make a fine addition. After pulling up the numbers I had once again neglected to give Ryan Zimmerman any love. (Don’t worry, I made up for it on a different hat) 2010 proved to be the breakout year for Morse as he made appearances in 98 games. That season he went .289/15/41 in 266 at-bats. The most important thing to take from that season is that those numbers dwarfed the four years worth of sitting on the bench he had done with the Seattle Mariners. Morse had a lot of promise and the Nats knew how to utilize it in the outfield as well as on first base for the days when Adam Dunn wasn’t playing. But I think the biggest reason I threw Morse’s number down is for the sake of his totally badass nickname, .38 Special. Well, I’ll admit that I’m probably the only guy who calls him that, as BaseballReference.com has his nickname listed as “The Beast.” I don’t care, I’m totally sticking to my guns on this matter.