June 26- Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves

Despite the fact that I bought this hat while in Buffalo just the day before, it’s one of the few hats that I have that carry a lot of personal meaning. If you’ve actively followed these posts, or at least gone back and read a few from my archives, the logo on the front may seem familiar as I write about a similar cap back on March 5^th. Of all the logos in Major League Baseball it really comes as no surprise that the two I have a kinship with most also happen to be the most controversial: Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians and this one, Chief Noc-a-Homa of the Atlanta Braves.

I honestly can’t explain why I’m so drawn to it, perhaps a little of it does stem from the backlash it has received over the years; however, I don’t make it a point to be offensive on any level about it. To me, it’s just a symbol of the past which has been misconstrued over the decades when it was first introduced during the Milwaukee years in 1954. I bring all of this up because as much as it has pitted baseball fans or political pundits against one another for so many years, to me, it’s a symbol of bonding that will always remind me of the greatest year of my life with two people who have shown me a lighter side of “The Chop.”

Since this is a custom cap that I’ve already dwelled upon there really isn’t much of a reason to re-hash on old material. If you are interested about the history of the symbol, I highly recommend clicking on the link from my original post above. The one thing I can give you about this one is that it was cleverly done in the original Milwaukee styling. While the red bill and the navy blue panels were both shared by the Braves of Milwaukee and Atlanta, the Noc-a-Homa head in a flesh-colored tone was shown more prevalently in the early years between 1957-1966 up north; however, there was a five-year time frame in with the same color pattern was used in Atlanta (1967-1971), but with a much more detailed face.

Milwaukee

Atlanta

 This particular hat, or the Diamond Era cap featuring this logo that was originally supposed to be released this season, was a hot topic of conversation amongst the other eight #CrewEra13 invitees and myself. All of us had in some form or another agreed that the original batting practice cap was one of the Holy Grail pieces we wanted to add to our collection. At one point we (more I) thought that there was some sort of box of Diamond Era Braves caps somewhere within the confines of New Era’s headquarters, much like what happened with the Ark of the Covenant at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Some of our top men are on it.

Nonetheless, this cap was still available for purchase, which made all of us happy. In some weird way this logo became the unofficial symbol of our trip to Buffalo as most of us all ready had some variation of the Noc-a-Homa logo on a cap, but more important, we all have some kind of a fascination with it.

Due to the fact that this is not a game style cap I have a lot more freedom in how I marked this bad boy up. Rather than take a historical route like my other posts, I decided to go with something more important to me.

R/R: Of all the Braves fans I’ve met throughout my 30 years of existence, there are two that have made a significantly profound impact on my life at two very important moments, and; coincidentally, they both happened to be named Ricky: Ricky Mast and Ricky Ruby.

Ricky Ruby (@RickyRuby) and I met in the lobby of the Lafayette Hotel in downtown Buffalo, New York two days ago when we both were invited to the Fan Appreciation event held by New Era on June 23^rd and 24^th. Ruby hails from Atlanta and is one of the bigger pro-Atlanta fans I’ve ever met; however, it’s not for this that I’ll continue to remember him. One of the things that the other eight of us quickly picked up about Ruby is that he’s a big video game and comic book connoisseur. It was first brought to our attention at Niagara Falls when we hiked to the south side of the mouth and Ruby text message tone went off. His tone: the “Go-Go Power Rangers” chime that the red ranger received when ZORG was trying to get a hold of them. Needless to say, the 11-year-old versions of us quickly came out of hiding upon hearing it.

I found this on his Facebook page. Sorry for stealing it.

Throughout the rest of the trip Ruby delighted us with his cavalcade of custom comic book and video game caps that he purchased from shops in Japan which featured Batman, Mario from Super Mario Bros. and Iron Man. But the one topic of discussion that he and I kept bringing up was the matter of the Noc-a-Homa Diamond Era cap. We both had different motives as far as why we want the hat (I suppose), in that he wants it for his Braves/Atlanta collection, where as I want it for my ownership of all the Diamond Era/Braves history collection. In the grand scheme of things one could easily say that both falls within the same boundaries, which I would not dispute as we’re both avid collectors of all hats Braves.

When I got back to Portland I made sure to give him a follow on Instagram and Twitter. Due to the fact that I had been having issues with my phone throughout the trip to Buffalo I wasn’t able to do it then. Once I got back and we started tweeting back and forth with one another I got to see how big of a deal Ruby is within the Atlanta/Braves community. I’ve always been a fan of interacting with supporters of other teams besides my Oakland Athletics as well all have that common ground of fan hood, we all share the same kinship for baseball. One thing that I am looking forward to is the opportunity to get to a game at Turner Field with Ruby for two reasons:

1. Because I’ll have someone awesome to shoot the breeze with at the game.

2. Turner Field is one of the three Major League Baseball parks I have yet to visit. I couldn’t think of anyone better to check that off of my list with.

Ricky Mast (@RickyMast) and I started talking back in February of 2012 when we were both in the running for the MLB Fan Cave this last year. On a nearly routine basis he, a lot of the other prospective Cave Dwellers and I gabbed on Tiny Chat. Despite the fact that we were in competition with one another, all of us hit off fast for the same reason I mentioned above, we’re all baseball fans. No matter what the team or rivalry is one can always seek solace in the common ground and develop a kinship. Such was our case.

Ricky pulling off a low-key mohawk shark in the background.

Ricky being Ricky.

 

 Mast and I first met in person in Phoenix, Arizona as our planes landed around the same time along with Megan Washington (@teammegan) as the two of them had arrived on the same flight. Naturally, we all hit it off immediately as we swept through the terminals to try and find where we had to meet the shuttle to get to the hotel.

For those of you who are NASCAR fans Mast is the son of Rick Mast, a veteran driver who drove during the Winston Cup days from 1988-2002. What’s most interesting about this is that despite the fact that I don’t closely follow NASCAR I knew who Ricky’s dad was when I lived in Bakersfield, California as two acquaintances both had posters of Rick and his HOOTERS-sponsored car in their garages: Mark, a neighbor down the street whose daughter and I were friends, and Rick Mears, the Hall of Fame four-time Indianapolis 500 champion who lived a few blocks away whose son was friends with my brother Adam.

Ricky and I hit it off pretty well from the start, but we hardly ever saw each other from what I recall in Arizona. He and I were pitted in different groups and went to interview different teams/players as part of our final day’s worth of challenges. In the end though, he and I were both chosen to represent our teams as part of the final nine for the Fan Cave in New York City.

As much as I can recall about conversations and moments that we shared in the Fan Cave, there are only a few moments that I think back on regularly that always put a smile on my face. One of the features that we had on the walls was a radio that worked based on Bluetooth functions. Anytime the late games started up we (all nine of us) would use it to our advantage and play a continuous amount of sound bites and songs to help keep us entertained as the night wore on. Nothing against watching baseball for 12-16 hours a day, but sometimes there can be a few boring moments and breaking the monotony is necessary. One of the cards ( six of spades) that Ricky had in his pocket was the theme song to the TV show “Night Court,” a favorite show for both of us as we were growing up. TV theme songs and movie quotes became a regular line of conversation between the two of us. One particular moment in which it was caught on film was when we were filming the opening scene to the “Miggy Poco” telenovela sketch with Miguel Cabrera and Jon Glazer of “Cheap Seats” and Conan O’Brien fame. If you go back and watch the sketch you can see Ricky and me in the background talking; however, you can’t hear what we are saying. In a nut shell, Ricky and I were reciting the first interview between Will Ferrel and O’Brien when Ferrel came out in character as Robert Goulet. A few highlights include, “Dyan Cannon, she’s got a shape to her,” “Hello Johnny!” "Oh I’ve just been driving a lot,” and “Robert Goulet ate too many cherry Pop-Tarts backstage.” Ricky was as big, if not bigger, fan of ridiculous comedic quotes and standup routines as I am. There was seldom a time when he and I wouldn’t try to make the other person laugh from the moment we woke up to when we went back to our apartments to get some sleep. Our dueling Harry Caray’s became quite the treat, as did the occasional Ric Flair-style “Wooooooooo!!!” No matter what we said or how we said it, every bit was a gem, and I can’t recall laughing harder around anyone I’ve ever met.

Ricky is also quite the accomplished musician, no matter how much he may try to downplay it. Put an acoustic guitar in his hand and he’ll crank out some country gold. Since I was only in the Fan Cave for the first two-and-a-half months I didn’t become familiar with his Braves tribute to “No Diggity” by Blackstreet with his version titled “Go Yickity,” which was accompanied by a wonderful popsicle stick puppet show music video. However, I was fortunate to witness three moments of his brilliance at the tail end of April and the first few weeks of May. The first is something that very few remember, but I tweeted about as it was going on. I’ve always been a huge fan of the “Star-Spangled Banner’ when it’s performed via guitar. I don’t remember the exact date but games were just about to get underway when Ricky sat behind the couch and gently strummed away at the acoustic playing our national anthem. The other seven Cave Dwellers were going about their business, typing things up, talking, etc., but I completely tuned everything out to listen to Ricky play. It was one of the most endearing moments I recall from my experience.

The second moment came on May 3rd when Patrick Corbin and JJ Putz of the Arizona Diamondbacks stopped by for a visit before the opening game of their weekend series versus the New York Mets. A few days prior we had been sat down by the executives to talk about how we were doing after the first month of being there. I won’t go into too much detail now as I’m saving the whole discussion for a later post, but from what I recall from what Ricky had told me, they had said that he needs to produce more original material. I was shocked by that comment, but Ricky, being the loyal and diligent guy that he is, ducked into the corner and immediately got to work. What he came up with is a version of Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Hold My Hand” but sung as a tribute to Braves’ catcher Brian McCann. 

For the time it took him to put it together and the balls he had to play it front of everyone, including Corbin and Putz, it was astonishing. Putz ended up getting it on video as he and McCann were good friends, but I’m not sure if Ricky ever got any feedback on it. But that’s not the end of this. I’m still not sure if Ricky knew this in advance or if I just didn’t check the schedule of upcoming visitors, but Darius Rucker, Hootie himself, paid a visit to the Fan Cave shortly after Putz and Corbin left. As it turns out Rucker is a big Cincinnati Reds fan, and of course I was coaxed into showing off my Reds tattoo to Rucker, at which he was pleasantly surprised by the detail (thank God). At the same time Ricky was asked to play his version of “Hold My Hand” for Rucker, which Ricky, once again, knocked right out of the park. I’d say as far as creativity goes, Ricky definitely grabbed the bull by the horns. Literally.

The third moment came on May 22^nd when Billy Butler, Aaron Crow, Bruce Chen, Brayan Pena and Jeff Francoeur of the Kansas City Royals paid us a visit. Most of this day I paid tribute to on May 23^rd in one of my Oakland Athletics posts, but there was one major detail that I had left out. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, Ricky had written a song about Francoeur as he is still a huge hit with the Braves’ fan base. 

I’m pretty sure it’s still available on the Fan Cave Web site, so do yourself a service and check it out. This particular song was a Ricky Mast original and became a huge hit with Francoeur and the gang. The thing that I found most shocking in the end was that it almost didn’t air because of Ricky’s last line in the song, “He’s a badass in the USA.” Due to the word “badass” being used it was almost scrapped. I guess the word on the street is that it took 10 emails back and forth with the head office to approve of it, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about showbiz AND the word on the street, it’s usually pretty reliable. Either way, the important thing is that it was approved.

On of the last little anecdotes I have from our time in the Fan Cave has to do with one of the lesser-known rules in which Ricky had to abide by. By now, most of you have become fully aware of the fact that I had to, and still do, bark like a dog anytime anyone, including myself, says the name Jayson Werth (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) It became a bigger hit than I expected, especially with kids who came to take a tour. Now, one of the rules of the house that followed was that I had one for Ricky. Anytime I said Chief Noc-a-Homa Ricky had to reply with, “I love Ted Turner!” Probably the best/worst moment of this came on New Year’s Eve of this last year when I was in Ft. Lauderdale with my girlfriend Angie (@sconnieangie). It was a little after midnight EST and the bar we were at, America’s Backyard) started playing the Florida State/Atlanta Braves chant song. You know, the one they do as everyone does The Chop? Anyway, I was pretty drunk when it came on and I decided to text Ricky about it, at which I also mentioned Chief Noc-a-Homa. Within a matter of seconds I got a sold, “I love Ted Turner” in response. I don’t remember much of the night after that, but seeing that text again in the morning put a solid smile on my face as I was more than likely barfing.

After I was eliminated from the Fan Cave at the end of May I did my best to keep in contact with Ricky and few o the others guys. One moment in particular that I’ll never forget is how I almost caused an accident in Los Angeles in an attempt to take a photo of a Ralph’s grocery store. As weird as that sounds there is a very good reason for doing so. Of all the movie quotes that Ricky and I bounced off of one another, there’s a line from “The Big Lebowski” that came up the most. The scene in which it takes place is after Donny, played by Steve Buscemi, has a fatal heart attack and Walter (John Goodman) and Jeff aka The Dude (Jeff Bridges) are sitting at the desk of the head of the mortuary to negotiate (shout about) the price of the urn in which Donny’s ashes are placed. After not coming to an agreement in regard to a portable receptacle, Walter shouts, “God damn it!!!” followed by, “Is there a Ralph’s around here?” It became our bread and butter play. Anytime I shouted, “God damn it!!!” Ricky would always follow up with, “Is there a Ralph’s nearby?” Seeing how I was in LA, where the film took place, and there was an actual Ralph’s “around here,” I had to do it. From what I recall, Ricky was most pleased.

In the months to follow Ricky and I spoke less and less, which was mostly fueled by something stupid I said during the 2012 MLB All-Star game, which I’ll get into detail about when I reach that post. After Ricky was eliminated I pondered for a good few hours before sending my apology. I was happy that he responded, but was really upset that he was let go. Of the nine of us, I am confident to say that he was the second-most interactive with fans, but truly the most talented of the group.

Months would go by before we spoke again, which came on a really weird night. Back in December of 2012 I was one of thousands of victims involved in a shooting that took place at the Clackamas Town Center Mall in which I worked. Once again, I’ll go into more detail later in the year, but of all the people to hit me up in the wake of the aftermath, the one that meant the most was Ricky. It’s one thing for people that I regularly talk with to know what was going on and check up on me, it’s another thing for someone to be genuinely interested in my well-being after months of silence.

Not a day goes by that I don’t regret what I said, to cause the shift, but I’m glad that steps have been taken and we’re talking again, even if through the occasional jokes on Twitter. It’s only fitting I suppose. That was pretty much what our relationship was based on from the start. And I’m certainly not complaining about a good laugh in my life.

June 25- Kinston Indians

This particular cap purchase came as a result of a whim, rather the necessity. I found it at the New Era Flagship store across the street from the MLB Fan Cave in their quite respectable minor league section. I had spent a solid 20 minutes in the store which is way longer than I usually dedicate time toward shopping in one location, unless of course I’m chatting it up with the employees. Sadly, this was not the case. It was still pretty early in my time in New York City and for some odd reason I had the urge to buy a couple hats, but was having a lot of difficulty committing to any of them. This particular Kinston Indians hat I must have picked up and put down at least six times before I finally gave it the green light. My only problem with it is that it’s a custom cap. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, and will continue to mention throughout the year, I always prefer the actual game colors, logos and styles and very rarely pick up a custom cap… unless it’s something worth adding to the collection. Well… this one was definitely up to snuff.

The Kinston Indians wore this cap for all of their home games in 2011, their final season. The only difference between this cap and the one from 2011 is that this one features a gold outline and interior of the feather, as opposed to the tan outline and white interior to the feather featured on the game cap. Personally, I’d actually say that the look of this one is better, and pretty much the main reason why I rolled the dice on it.

Now, it’s pretty rare for me to get really caught up on things “that shouldn’t matter” to the point where it depresses me. I tend to focus on the long term effects and the historical sides of things way too intently. I bring this up because one of the many “things that shouldn’t” bother me is when a minor league team packs up and relocates. The same could easily be said about a Major League franchise, which has only happened once in my lifetime, but in most cases with the minor league system the deep-rooted history that goes along with each team is just laid to waste. It’s a common practice that’s merely part of the business, and very few towns have seen baseball come and go, thrive and die as much as Kinston, North Carolina has.

Established in 1987, the Indians, or "K-Tribe" as they were popularly known, were an advanced-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and played through the 2011 season. A total of 17 managers led the club since the start of the Indians affiliation including two who have since managed the big league club. The Indians played in 3,458 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 1,925–1,533. Kinston has served as a farm club for ten different major league franchises and one minor league club as professional baseball in the hamlet dates back to a 1908 squad in the Eastern Carolina League. Despite having one of the smallest markets in professional baseball, Kinston has proved its viability for over a century.

Kinston was represented by many excellent amateur clubs since the late nineteenth century, but it was unable to sustain a viable professional team until the mid-1920s. Earlier attempts included an aborted campaign in the Class D Eastern Carolina League in 1908 and an "outlaw league" team in 1921 and 1922. The latter was notable for being managed by former major league pitcher George Suggs and College Football Hall of Fame member Ira Rodgers. Due to the efforts of the city's business leaders, former local amateur star Elisha Lewis, and George Suggs, the town secured a professional team in the Virginia League for the 1925 season named the "Eagles".

The Eagles were a Class B team playing out of a then newly renovated stadium designed by Suggs known as West End Park. The squad had little success against other teams in their league, but was successful enough in gate receipts to validate the city's capacity to sustain a professional team. Kinston's team remained in the Virginia League for three years and then migrated to a newly reformed Eastern Carolina League. This later affiliation collapsed along with the stock market in 1929. The 1920s Eagles' roster included a young catcher named Rick Ferrell, who later had a long playing career and even longer front office career in the major leagues. In 1984, Ferrell became the only former Kinston player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Another player, Frank Armstrong, gave up baseball for a career in the armed services and became one of the most decorated generals in the history of the Air Force.

The Great Depression took a great toll on the minor leagues, with only thirteen teams operating across the U.S. at a 1933 low point. Like most, Kinston sat out the first few years of the Great Depression but reentered play for the 1934 season in the semi-professional Coastal Plain League. By 1937 the circuit had become a fully professional, Class D league as ranked by the National Association. The city remained in the Coastal Plain League continuously until it was disbanded after 1952. As a member of this affiliation, Kinston saw many playoff appearances and won league championships in 1935 and 1947. Among the superior talent during this period was a young player named Charlie "King Kong" Keller who is listed as among the top forty major league players of all-time in terms of on-base percentage (.410). Keller won four World Series titles with the New York Yankees from 1939-1958 and made five All-Star Game appearances in that same stretch.

Kinston was without a team for the three-year period following the dissolution of the Coastal Plain League. In 1956, the owner of the Burlington Bees of the Carolina League moved his team to Kinston. At that time, the Carolina League was a Class B loop with teams located in Virginia and North Carolina. The team, calling itself the Kinston Eagles, were a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate and featured the city's first African-American ball players. In these early days of the Civil Rights Movement, the black players in the Carolina League received much verbal and psychological abuse from the largely white, Southern fan base. The first black players were Frank Washington and Carl Long. Long excelled during the 1956 season, setting an RBI standard of 111 that has never been surpassed by any later Kinston hitter. While the integration succeeded on the ball field, the team failed financially. The Eagles' owner was an inept businessman who brought the club near bankruptcy before it was moved 40 miles away to Wilson in 1957.

Kinston's re-entry into Carolina League baseball in 1962 was successful both on the field and at the turnstile. The Eagles were able to claim the first of its Carolina League crowns. At a time when Kinston's population was only 25,000, the ball club attracted over 140,000 fans. Part of the lure was the talent supplied by Kinston's parent club, the Pirates, which included Steve Blass (17–3, 1.97 ERA, 209 K's), and Frank Bork (19–7, 2.00 ERA). Another fan attraction was that the Eagles were for the first time a community owned team, operating under the non-profit Kinston Eagles Baseball Company, run by an elected eighteen-man, unpaid board of directors. Profits were reinvested into improving the stadium, promoting the team, and supplying playing equipment for the youth of Kinston. This arrangement continued through all thirteen years of Kinston's second tenure in the Carolina League, from 1962 through 1974.

In 1963 minor league baseball was restructured nationwide, with B, C and D classes eliminated. The Carolina League became a advanced-A circuit. The Eagles failed to win any championships during this second era of Carolina League play, but they managed to make the playoffs in six of thirteen seasons. The Pirates stuck with Kinston through the 1965 campaign. During three of those four seasons, the Eagles were managed by Harding "Pete" Peterson, who later oversaw the Pirates farm system, and became the Pirates' general manager, helping to build the late seventies team that won the World Series.

The Eagles became affiliated with the new Atlanta Braves during 1966 and 1967. From 1968 through 1973 the Eagles were affiliation with the Yankees; the fans saw a lot of future all-stars pass through the city including a young Ron Guidry. During the 1970s the popularity of minor league baseball reached its lowest point and the attendance in Kinston fell to only 30,000 for the 1973 season. The city needed a revival of interest, and the Montreal Expos were turned to for help. The young Montreal franchise boasted a strong farm system with a lot of talent. So much talent in fact, that they decided to experiment with having two advanced-A affiliates. Instead of dividing the players evenly between the two, all the top players were placed in the West Palm Beach club, while the newly renamed Kinston Expos had to make do with castoffs. The Kinston team soon found itself overmatched among its Carolina League rivals. The Expos fell to last place and attendance fell to only 27,000 for the year. Montreal declared the experiment a failure and withdrew from Kinston following the 1974 season. With no major league sponsor and very little fan support, Kinston likewise withdrew from the league.

Former airline pilot Ray Kuhlman brought minor league baseball back to Kinston by investing in a Carolina League franchise in the late seventies. The renamed Kinston Eagles flew unaffiliated their first season back in the circuit in 1978. By the next campaign, they were associated with the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto stayed with Kinston for seven years, and the team eventually took on the Blue Jay name. Kinston did not win any championships during the Blue Jays years. Kuhlman and his wife ran the team themselves and saw steady annual increases in attendance each year. The couple brought a string of marketing ideas to the team that have taken hold and remain to this day. These include increasing promotional days, fireworks displays, the introduction of Kinston baseball cards, an increase in branded souvenir merchandise, the establishment of the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, and the hiring of a team mascot. Another fan attraction was a collection of future major league stars including Tony Fernández, Fred McGriff and Cecil Fielder.

Following the 1985 season, the Blue Jays dropped Kinston as a franchise, and professional baseball in the city seemed to be in doubt once again. There was talk of moving the franchise to Charles County, Maryland, but the city remained in the Carolina League with an independent ball club that took on the Eagles name. 1986 proved to be disappointing in the standings and at the gate, and talk of a move was renewed, but ownership secured an affiliation with the Cleveland Indians during the off season. For twenty-five years, Cleveland and the K-Tribe enjoyed a successful partnership which produced seventeen playoff appearances and five Carolina League championships (1988, 1991, 1995, 2004 and 2006). The value of the team has risen along with its on-field success. In 1983, Kuhlman sold the team for $100,000. The franchise was sold again in 1985 for $225,000, and changed hands again in 1989 for $750,000. The team's value in 1992 was estimated at $1.5 million.

Six figure attendance totals became the norm throughout the 1990s and into the new century. General Manager North Johnson fostered closer bonds with the mayor's office and helped create the Mayor's Committee for Professional Baseball in 1987. Dedicated to increasing season ticket sales and promoting ties with businesses, the committee accomplished much in a short span of time. Attendance increased by nearly twenty thousand in 1987 and by more than twelve thousand the following year. By 1991, the number of fans through the turnstiles topped 100,000 for the first time since 1964. Although a new ownership group purchased the franchise in 1994, continuity in day-to-day operations was maintained through general manager North Johnson, and front office mainstay Shari Massengill who took over the reins in 2006. The local government's dedication to keeping baseball in Kinston is evidenced by extensive renovations.

The Kinston Indians were last managed by Aaron Holbert, a former major league infielder. Their General Manager through the 2010 season, Massengill, and former Assistant General Manager, Jessie Hays, made up the only all-female General Manager/Assistant General Manager team in the Minor Leagues. When Hays departed for the 2008 season, her replacement, Janell Bullock, was also female. The final GM was Benjamin Jones, who was previously employed by the Wilson Tobs.

In 2007, the Indians won the Southern Division crown for both halves of the year, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the wild card team, the Salem Avalanche. It was the seventh season in a row that the Indians made the post season, which was a Carolina League record formerly held by the Burlington Bees (1945–1950). It was the second time a Kinston team had accomplished this feat. The Kinston Eagles of the Coastal Plain League also made it to seven post seasons in a row (1946–1952). Kinston's player development contract with Cleveland ended following the 2011 season and in 2012 the Carolina League franchise moved to Zebulon, North Carolina to become the new Carolina Mudcats.

When it came to marking up the cap I decided to keep it with the confines of the time and era.

#11- Somehow I actually screwed up on this one. I wrote the numbers with good intentions a few months ago, but made a mistake or saw a wrong a photo and wrote the wrong jersey number down. In any case, #11 belonged to Tyler Cannon, a catcher/third baseman who batted .246 with six home runs and 39 RBI for the Indians in their final season. But that’s not who I was interested in. I meant to write the jersey number of Drew Pomeranz, the fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft out of the University of Mississippi. His jersey number with the Indians happened to be #51, which I must have misread based on the fact that I was looking off of baseball cards and got one with him in his pitching motion which distorted the number. Oh well! This isn’t a perfect system. Pomeranz went 3-2 with a 1.87 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 15 starts in 2011 before moving on to Akron with the Aeors, only to be traded to the Colorado Rockies not too long after that as a centerpiece in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade. Pomeranz has since had a few starts in the Majors, the first of which came against the Cincinnati Reds on September 11, 2011. In that game he three five scoreless innings and picked up the win. On May 7, 2012 Pomeranz hit his first career home run off of Edinson Volquez of the San Diego Padres in the third inning of the Rockies’ 2-3 loss.

#’11- I think the saddest part about the Indians playing their final season in 2011 is the fact that they finished the season with a 76-62 record, winning the division title, but lost in the finals against the Baltimore Orioles affiliate the Frederick Keys in four games of a five-game series thanks in part to the Finals MVP, some “no-namer” who goes by Manny Machado. Had the Indians won the title that season it would have made for a wonderful send-off.

June 24- Buffalo Bisons

This is the second part of the #CrewEra13 trip to the New Era Cap headquarters in Buffalo, New York. For part 1, please click Jacksonville Expos. Otherwise, enjoy!

The next morning came much faster than I had anticipated, and made all the worse by the fact that my brain and body were still on Pacific Standard Time. I was only a little bit hung-over from the five or six Miller High Lifes I crushed merely hours prior as I was smart enough to slug at least a liter of water and some aspirin before I fell asleep. After a quick shower and the putting on of pants I headed down to the lobby to meet up with the rest of the crew. Katherine and Eric were slated to pick us up around 8:30 AM so I nuzzled up into one of the couches and chatted it up with Alex (@Type1SXC), Andrew (@AMitchel_416), Van (@VanLe23), Chris (@ccornolo), Ricky (@RickyRuby) and Leif (@Permabox) while Derick (@LeKid26) and John (@Interstate19) were a few blocks away picking up some coffee and a doughnut or two from the local Tim Horton’s. John, a huge hockey fan, had always wanted to give Tim Horton’s a try, so Derick, a Canadian very familiar with Tim Horton’s, showed him the ropes.

Our two hosts arrived at 8:30 on the nose and we were whisked away in the same SUVs as the day before, headed to breakfast. What none of us knew is that we would be having breakfast at New Era’s headquarters in downtown Buffalo off of Delaware Avenue. All of the other guys made sure to snag photos from the outside before we headed in. I all ready had a few from when I stopped by in 2012 so I took this one photo just for the sake of the utility truck that was inconveniently blocking any hopes of actually having a decent shot.

Before we stepped inside Erin had a manila envelope under her arm and handed us each one of these before we walked inside.

Not only did each of these badges come with our names and hat size on them, they also worked when walking through the special access points and elevators. On top of that, this was awaiting us in the main corridor door between the lobby to the offices and the entrance to the Flagship Store.

It’s the little details like these which go to show how much a company cares about their customers. Amazing.

Breakfast was nice, just a buffet-style gathering in one of the meeting rooms. For me at least when it comes to breakfast, if there’s bacon AND sausage patties available, I’ll be a happy camper for days. As we were shoveling food upon our plates we were greeted by several members of the higher chain of command of New Era including the Chief Marketing Officer and another member of the marketing team of whom I became acquainted with in 2012 while I was working in the MLB Fan Cave. In fact, he was the person who gave me the tour of New Era’s headquarters while I was doing my continent-wide Major League Baseball stadium tour, so it was especially nice to see and shake his hand and thank him again for his hospitality. We started with introductions which included where we were from, how long we had been collecting New Era Caps and what we did with our spare time. By the time they got to me the discussion turned more toward how my experience with the Fan Cave was and how it could have been better. I pretty much just threw up my arms after a solid five minutes. Other than that, everyone was very appreciative of how we had gone from just being collectors to being spokespeople for the company in a sense, always engaging and sharing our collections with other collectors and providing an overall sense of comradely amongst one another, which was essentially why we were chose out of so many people. It was also in this moment that we were told what to expect over the rest of the day: a tour of the New Era factory in Derby, a tour of building which used to be the Federal Reserve Bank, a tour of the newly renovated penthouse and a sit-down session with a designer so we could design our own New Era Cap. At this moment I could feel a little bit of drool dribble out of the side of my lips as idea after idea raced through my head. But first, it was off to Derby.

The drive took about 25 minutes or so we swapped stories with Erin which she started with why most of downtown Buffalo smells like breakfast cereal most of the time. As it turns out there’s a General Mills plant located not too far away and anytime they make cereal the wind will pick up the scent and carry it into the city. I’m a huge cereal connoisseur, mush in the same sense that Jerry Seinfeld is, so walking around town with the scent of Golden Grahams on my shirt would almost be a heavenly experience. The conversation then turned to the band Guns n’ Roses, who had played Buffalo just a few nights before. Erin was quick to comment on how much Axel Rose has changed (for the worse) over the years, something we all agreed upon, but also a show that we all wanted to see deep down. With about 10 miles to go the conversation somehow swayed to how and why “The Shark” was created and became so popular throughout MLB in lieu of the shark fin accessories the San Francisco Giants started producing for Gregor Blanco. What’s funny about this whole thing I that there really isn’t much of a story.

Flashback

In 2011 my roommate, Jared Clark, at the University of Oregon and I were watching whatever random NFL games happened to be on TV as we were playing fantasy football against one another that week. It was around week six and we were tuned into the Green Bay Packers game as I had Jordy Nelson and he had Greg Jennings on his team. Somehow the conversation of Aaron Rodgers’ photobombs came up and we went to the Web site dedicated to it. For those of you who don’t know, ever since Rodgers came into the league he’s made a habit out of photobombing the captains’ photo before every game as long as he was not one of the captains. During week four of that season against the Denver Broncos Rodgers pulled this little number off before the game.

Jared and I thought that was incredibly funny so he and I started doing it to one another anytime we posed for family and friendly photos. Thus, “The Shark” was born. When I got to the Fan Cave I pulled “The Shark” on all eight of the other Cave Dwellers within the first few days of being in New York City as we walked the streets and did some sightseeing. Needless to say, “The Shark” also made appearances in other random folks’ photos as we shuttled through Times and Union Square. It wasn’t until we got back to the apartment that night that the other eight looked at their photos and noticed me in the background. This is when they all asked what I was doing. To which my response was, “That “The Shark.” And you just got bitten bitches!”

Now, contrary to popular belief, I rarely ever have photos taken with me in them; however, anytime I took an important photo in the Fan Cave “The Shark” by one of the other eight was not too far behind.

It had transitioned from a little thing I did with my good friend to becoming one of the unofficial trademarks of the Fan Cave. When the Minnesota Twins stopped by in April Lindsay Guentzel, the Twins’ representative, showed Matt Capps and Brian Duensing the ropes and asked them to do it on the mound if they had a chance during a game. Sure enough, they did.

I was a little pissed off at first, as this was our thing, but over time as more and more players rolled through, learned it and started pulling it on the field, I became a little bit more relaxed about it. It really took seeing Eric Byrnes do it on “MLB Tonight” on MLB Network on a night when all of the executives were in the house that I felt really good about it.

A few days before I got kicked out of the Fane Cave the production crew started filming interviews with all of us about how I started “The Shark” and a full scale (five minute) documentary was in the works; however, all of that came to a halt once I was let go. Despite his best efforts to highjack it, Cardinals’ representative Kyle Thompson tried to keep it going after my departure. Here’s one instance when all of the interns from MLB happened to stop by. What’s upsetting about this photo is that it was taken while I was on the airplane flying back to Oregon, one of many reasons why I hate the way I was treated by the Fan Cave.

From there I did my stadium tour, taking and posting photos of me doing “The Shark” at every stadium and event I went to, making sure to give each one a clever name. I never in my life would have expected so many people to embrace it and share their versions of “The Shark” with me. Even more, I never in my life would have expected players on the Oakland Athletics, as well as other teams throughout the league, to pop it in homage to me.

Actually, in the case of the Athletics, it turns out that Kurt Suzuki and Jonny Gomes had started doing it before they saw me as their home run celebration which they called “Mahi Mahi;” however, as the season progressed and more and more players started interacting with me, it became our version of saying hello, which still continues into this season.

I never would have expected something so dumb to become so popular and synonymous with my name. Crazy.

Back to reality

We pulled into the parking lot of New Era some time around 10:30 and shuffled about, taking photos outside of the facility which used to be original headquarters.

Left to right: Van, Leif, John, Derick, Alex, Andrew, Me, Ricky and Chris

As we got inside I made a B-line over to a few posters of all the on-field and Diamond Era caps for the 2013 season. Basically it was like the foldout section inside of an issue of Playboy; hat porn in my eyes. Before we started the tour we were all given a pair of goggles, for the sake of safety, and we were given instructions as far as what we could and could not take a picture of. I of course jumped the gun in hallway and took a photo of what Derick was wearing. I was soooooooooo jealous of that beautiful Montreal Expos jersey.

Then I opted for the “Reservoir Dogs”-esque slow motion walking shot from the rear as we hit the factory floor.

From there, Showtime!

There’s 22 steps to making a New Era Cap, most of which I don’t remember by name, but I assure you that a lot of heart, time and dedication goes into the process of every cap. We all did our best to find our teams’ caps being made. I struck gold a few times, but nothing with the logo showing. Bummer.

Andrew found a few Toronto Blue Jays logos being sewn on, while Alex was all about admiring his Chicago Blackhawks caps getting assembled.

Ricky had a few hits when we came across this guy clipping all the extra strings and fibers off of a load of Atlanta Braves caps. You may not be able to tell by the photos, but the guy was in the zone, listening to music on headphones and jamming out while he worked. Truly admirable.

One thing that had me cracking up was how all of the employees loved to interact with anyone taking a tour. Here’s Alex after he came across someone doing some stitch work on Team Mexico World Baseball Classic caps.

Everyone was incredibly friendly and open to talking about the experience with New Era, at which no one had a single negative thing to say. This was very reflective upon something very important that I learned during my experience, which I’ll get to in my conclusion.

Our next stop on the tour landed us in the “A-Team” department.

The “A-Team” is made up of small group of ladies who make individual hats for special orders, such as: player specific headwear, celebrities, special events, samples, etc. Of the many special items they had on display, the one that received the most attention was this oversized Military Day cap made especially for Jolly Roger, the Pittsburgh Pirates parrot mascot. I had actually written about this cap on May 5^th. Here’s Andrew trying it on.

One of the perks of this bit of the tour is that it came with our own handmade caps for our teams.

At this point I thought New Era had done more than enough, yet the tour continued. The last stop was in one of the on-site board rooms where we unwound, chatted with a few of the reps and came with an open invitation to take as many “defective” 2013 Texas Rangers Stars and Stripes caps as we wanted. If you can’t tell by looking at it, the defect on this cap is that they were made with white “T” logos with blue trim as opposed to the red “T” with blue trim that the players wore. I was perfectly cool with this. They didn’t have any 7 3/8s, so I snagged a 7 ¼ for myself as well as two 7 1/2s for my friends Taylor (@tayloraksmith) and Mark (@gonzotx88) as they’re both die hard Rangers fans. I probably could have gotten a few more, but I didn’t want to overstep my bounds. In retrospect, it would have been nice to grab a few more to pass out to other Rangers fans I know through Twitter and my trip to Texas. Sorry guys. As the tour wrapped up we all headed back out to the parking lot, got in the cars and headed back to HQ for lunch and what awaited us next.

On the way back “You Can Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac came up on the radio, at which John and I got into an intense discussion about music. It started with, “Who’s the one band you’d love to see live, living or dead?” I’ve held pretty strong on this answer for about 15 years, but I have to go with The Ramones. They’re one of the few bands whose music has transitioned through the decades and always finds a wide-scale audience. If my memory serves me correct, John said The Cure, but in their early years, which I totally understand. Then The Beatles versus Rolling Stone debate came up, at which we both agreed upon the Rolling Stones… so there really wasn’t much of a debate. It then transitioned into which Stones album was our favorite and which song was our top selection. Naturally I rolled G7 (“Dirty Work” reference), “Street Fightin’ Man” while John went with “Miss You,” an equally awesome selection. This drug on the entire way back to HQ, including other genres, styles and artists; probably one of the better music-related talks I’ve had in a while.

When we got back to HQ we all crammed into the elevator and headed up to the penthouse for lunch and some additional surprises. Upon making the first turn into the penthouse the first thing that you see is the old New Era padded wall from the outfield at Shea Stadium, which always reminds me of Endy Chavez’s spectacular home run robbing catch in the 2006 National League Championship Series.

Then, it was like walking into heaven.

The joint is equipped with a bar, several TVs, lounge chairs and an array of office space all done up like a showroom. Who ever the designers and architects are really went above and beyond it setting this space up. When we stepped into the design/showroom we each had a little section dedicated to us with an assortment of our team’s hats in custom designs and colors affixed to personal hat pedestals, all of which would be getting sent home with us.

I was so blown away by these gifts that I didn’t even notice the $200 New Era gift card that was sitting underneath a small group of hats on a bar stool. At this point I really needed a drink. Not beer, but just something to calm me down because it was all incredibly overwhelming.

For lunch we crushed some square-cut pizza with Buffalo wings, naturally, while we met each of our designers. Derick and I had the same designer, Eric. I guess the word on the street is that all of the designers had done research on all of us and our collections and fought (amicably, not Thunderdome-style) over who would be whose designer. After hearing that I got a little nervous; so, I did what anyone else in position would do… let Derick go first while I went downstairs to go shopping.

If I remember correctly it was John, Leif, Chris, Ricky and I who went down first, while the others toiled away with their designers. My first priority was to scoop up a New Era t-shirt for that night, as I inadvertently forgotten to pack a black t-shirt for the trip. Next, I hat the hat racks, pretty much quaking as there were so many hats to choose from, which I also knew that it would take me very long to go through the $200 gift card. The feeling was pretty much mutual amongst the rest of the group. I had rounded up about four hats (Philadelphia A’s, Atlanta Braves, Midland Rock Hounds and a Toledo Mud Hens) by the time Derick came rolling down. Derick had an idea what he wanted to do for hat well before he came out to Buffalo, so his session didn’t last too long. I on the other hand tried to hurry up so I didn’t keep Eric waiting. Chris was the first person to check out, which meant he was the first person to find out that we were getting employee pricing on everything we bought. I just froze for a second. I just couldn’t believe how things continued to get better and better. Realizing now that I only had about half of my card spent, I went back to the hat racks. The clerk who was helping quickly realized he had been in a similar situation before. When I visited HQ in 2012 I picked up a few hats that I had been looking for for quite a while (Australian World Baseball Classic cap and a Tucson Padres cap). It then dawned on him that he was the one who had been helping me the previous year. I guess I just have one of those faces. All in all, I picked up about 11 hats including National and American League Diamond Era caps, a Kansas City Athletics and quite a few minor league caps before I raced back upstairs to not keep Eric waiting anymore. As I walked out of the store I overheard the clerk ask Eric to hold aside one of the hats I designed for him. Whether I misheard that or not, the pressure was definitely on for me to not design something that sucked.

The first thing that struck me about Eric was that he physically reminded me of one of my really good friends back in Eugene. The second thing I noticed is that the man knows his way around design software. There had been one design idea that had been stewing in my brain for the last two years and I was quite surprised I had yet to come across one on any Web site or in any store. It’s probably one of the most plain ideas I could ever have for a cap, but the logo that’s featured is really the selling point.

Ever since I was a kid I have been infatuated with this particular Pittsburgh Pirates logo, and have been really bummed out in not being able to find just a basic black cap with that logo. Because I like to keep things old school, I made sure to give it a green under brim and made all of the accents (earring, bandana, trim, eyelets and New Era logo in gold. The last thing I wanted to do, but didn’t, was add a comic book-style quote bubble coming out of the logo’s mouth saying, “AAAARRR!!!” It would have been fantastic and quite the conversation piece at galas and other fancy gatherings… but something didn’t feel right. Being the long-time Athletics fan that I am I felt it would have been a bit of a disservice to not do something Athletics-related. So, I popped my thinking cap back on and Eric and I cranked out this bad boy.

Of all the hats I really wanted from 2012 the Athletics Turn Back the Clock Oakland Oaks cap is the one that always comes to mind. In this case I decided to go with the Oaks “O” logo, but make them in the current Athletics colors. Alex pointed out later in the evening that it could have easily doubled for a University of Oregon hat as well. Very clever. I asked Eric if it would be ok to sit on it for a night, which he gladly said yes. I ended up going back downstairs into the shop to pick a few more things up with money out of my own pocket when the hat I ended up going with came to mind. This one.

A few weeks back when I was getting my Eugene Emeralds tattoo I came across a hat on Hat Club.com featuring the Emeralds’ alternate logo, which wasn’t supposed to appear on any caps. The only problem with the cap featured is that all of the colors were wrong. Wanting to fix this mistake, Eric and I tracked down the alternate logo and designed it based on the Emeralds colors from the last 20 years (navy/forest/gold). If you can’t tell, the trunk, eyes and mouth of Sasquatch are all done in gold, as is the batter in the Minor League Baseball logo on the back. I showed all three designs to the others guys and all eight of them unanimously chose the Emeralds cap over the other two. It also helped them come to this decision knowing that we would all get one of each others’ designs. Money!

After we said our goodbyes to the designers we headed to a floor for a meeting with a few of the members of the new release crew. We got a sneak preview of a few of the new fall line collection, none of which I want to spoil the surprise, as well as a few of the Turn Back the Clock caps that are set to be released throughout the 2013 season. Rather than tell about which ones they are, I’m currently on the hunt for all of them so I can share them with y’all. Here's a sneak preview though.

We then headed into another group marketing session about a few of the new ad campaigns and a few other surprises has for the upcoming months. Once again, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. One thing I can tell you is that one of the most epic “war of words” and “smack talk” sessions I’ve ever seen took place before the meeting started. One of the members of the marketing team was born and raised in Chicago just like Alex; however, while Alex loved all Chicago teams (except the White Sox), this guy was an ardent White Sox fan, sporting a cap featuring this logo, but in a custom style. As soon as Alex walked into the room, the gloves were off. It really came out to be more of a philosophical debate than anything, but it was the kind of city-based rivalry that’s worth paying for in a pay per view showdown. To make a long story short, the market executive ended the discussion by asking, “what color socks are you wearing?” I’d say nine times out of ten it would almost be a guarantee that the person being asked that question would be wearing white socks, as he was expecting. Instead, Alex pulled up his pant legs to show off his socks featuring Michael Jordan’s free throw dunk in the 1988 Slam Dunk competition. And no, I don’t mean just the Jordan logo; I mean an entire mural plastered all over his socks. A raucous “OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!” escaped all of our mouths, and a friendly handshake between the two competitors sealed the deal. It was the stuff that legends are made of.

Our last stop before heading back to the hotel was back down in the lobby for a group photo in front of the banner that New Era had presented to us in the morning. The amount of space we had inside the room was pretty narrow, so I did what I could help bodies fill in by hitting the deck, coming up from the bottom.

Erin and Katherine had one last surprise for us though… a trip to the Buffalo Bisons game that night against the Durham Bulls. Not a bad way to unwind after a day jam-packed with action. We headed back to the hotel for about 30 minutes to decompress, change shower, etc., but I went straight for my Bisons cap and computer so I could mark it up before we walked down to Coca-Cola Field. The only sad part about this is that Van and Andrew had to head home as their flights were set for the evening, as opposed to in the morning on the 25^th like most of us. We gave one another our hugs and goodbyes and made sure to swap social media and contact info before they headed to the airport.

The game was pretty wild for a variety of reasons. First, we got to kick it in New Era’s suite which not only provided a variety of snacks and endless supply of Coca-Cola (no this is not a marketing plug. I really love Coca-Cola), a solid view of the game and some awesome company, it also had a TV inside so we could pop in-and-out of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. The game also featured a lot of Major League talent on each team. For the Bisons, Rickey Romero was on the hill while Jose Reyes was playing in his last rehab game before headlining back to Toronto and Anthony Gose. For the Bulls, Shelley Duncan and Ryan Roberts were both in the house, which is funny when considering the fact that they were two contributors in why the Tampa Bay Rays swept the Athletics when I was in Tampa with my girlfriend Angie (@sconnieangie) in April. Mike Fontenot and Jason Bourgeois were also playing for the Bulls. The other crazy surprise is that one of my friends from Toronto was at the game too.

Brad (@LeftOffBase) is a sound engineer for a lot of Canadian artists and bands who happened to make a stop in Portland a few weeks back, as he was working with an artist called Lights. This came during the time that Angie was in town visiting me so we both paid a visit to the Aladdin Theater and caught up with one another as we hadn’t seen each other since we went to a Boston red Sox game at Fenway Park back in August of 2012.

Out of general curiosity I had asked if he was going to be anywhere near Buffalo on June 24^th at which he said he was going to the Bisons game (this one) that night with his girlfriend. Long story short, I felt like a bit of a jerk for breaking away from the New Era group for a few innings, but had to go visit my friend as I rarely ever make it up to Canada, let alone the East Coast. It also gave me an opportunity to take a few action shots closer to the field; one of which almost resulted in my getting tagged in the face with a foul ball. Luckily I went over my head, but unfortunately it got the lady behind me in the back of the head after it deflected off the wall. She was ok afterward.

When I got back to the suite I entered an intense discussion on what song we would use as our walk-up music if we played baseball. This is a question that has plagued me for a long time as there are restrictions to what you can and cannot use. You only have a few seconds to make a point so you have to go with something that will really fire people up in a shirt time frame, which is why I went with “When the Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin. Another great one to look up is “Don’t Speak (I Came to Make a Bang)” by Eagles of Death Metal. Anyway, the rest of the game moved along and the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins were tied 1-1 around the time the game was winding down. We took a few more pictures, one of which came with the Bisons mascot, before we headed back to the hotel to watch the rest of Game 6 as the Bisons fell to the Bulls by the score of 7-1. One random factoid I need to throw in is that on the Major League side of things the Rays and Blue Jays were playing one another, one of those weird moments when the parent clubs and the farm teams play against one another at the same time.

We got back to the hotel just in time for the start of the third period. Alex was going crazy, wearing his finest Blackhawks New Era cap and gear. Well all paid pretty close attention, but chatted amongst one another as we toasted our last nightcap together. As you all know, the Bruins struck first in the third period with about 12 minutes left on the clock and then the Blackhawks tied it back up with less than a minute-and-a-half. I think it was Chris who had said, “looks like we’re going to overtime;” to which I replied, “Well, if there’s one thing I learned from “The Mighty Ducks” trilogy it’s that it only takes one second to score a goal.” Literally, just as I finished that statement Dave Bolland shot and made the eventual game-winning, series-winning goal for the Blackhawks. Alex went ballistic, in the best way possible, of course.

With the game wrapped up so did our time with Erin, Katherine and the great folks at New Era. It was an intense two days of non-stop fun, but all good things must come to an end. But not this post yet. I still have to talk about that hat before I wrap things up. Ha!

Due to the fact that the AAA Bisons switched their Major League affiliate this season from the New York Mets to the Blue Jays, there isn’t a lot to be said about this cap. The Bisons opted for something new for the 2013 season and came up with this gem to wear as their game cap. They do have an alternate style, but I’ll get to that one down the road. The logo of the swinging Bison is a revived logo the team originally used from 1985-1997 while they were an affiliate of the White Sox, Pirates and Cleveland Indians. As far as the marking process is concerned I did it pretty quick, based on which players were doing the best at the time. Therefore…

#20- Josh Thole was an offseason acquisition for the Blue Jays from the original Bisons’ parent affiliate, the Mets, as part of the RA Dickey deal. Thole was a 13^th round draft pick in 2005 and has become a pretty solid base-hitter since he started playing professional. Not a bad skill to have as a catcher. Thole had been called up to Toronto during the time we were there; however, his numbers before leaving: .322/7/31 in 41 games. I don’t think he’ll stick around Toronto for very long, unless of course the Jays decide to get rid of JP Arencibia, but definitely expect big things out of T-Hole (as TSN radio personality Jeff Sammut calls him) in the future.

#53- Signed originally by the Athletics in 1999, Luis Jimenez has become quite the minor league journeyman, having played for the Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Washington National, Seattle Mariners and now the Blue Jays. Before the game he was batting a solid .331, but went 0-4 on the night. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with me.

By now you’re probably as exhausted reading this as it was for me to write it. Fair enough, so I’ll leave you with this. New Era started as and has continued to be a family-owned, family-run business. I had known this for a number of years, but I didn’t really understand the emotional feeling of that until I was invited to Buffalo this time around. All nine of us were treated as such, as part of the family. We’ve done our best to do go for them by building or collections and sharing it with the world, while they continue to put out a terrific product for us to continue what we love to do. It’s very few and far between when a company rolls out the red carpet to give thanks who have helped support them, and that is what truly made this trip. Thank you again Erin, Katherine, Seth, Eric and the rest of the crew from New Era for helping make this possible and showing that there are still people in the world who care about the opinions and the happiness of others. And last, thank you to Van, Alex, Chris, John, Andrew, Derick, Leif, Ricky and Gary for all the crazy stories and good times we have ahead of us. #CrewEra13