July 4- USA Olympic/World Baseball Classic

Happy Independence Day everyone!!! Time to drop some knowledge!

When I originally thought about doing this post I was going to focus primarily upon the United States of America’s baseball team; however, upon doing a thorough amount of research I found that “one cannot simply talk about USA Baseball” in a few paragraphs. The main reason for this is because the USA Baseball team has evolved for nearly a century. That’s right, for roughly 101 years there has been some form of a US national team in place. So I’ll do my best to keep all of this succinct and with a point, rather than just constant babbling.

If I didn’t all ready blow your mind with the 101 years part, things are going to get a bit crazy for the next page or so for you then. According to the USA Baseball Web site and Wikipedia (for the sake of argument) the US National team was formed in 1978 and has been the National Governing Body (NGB) for amateur baseball. It represents the sport in the United States as a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and internationally as a member federation of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). This is not entirely true. A lot of it is dependent upon wordage used and when other top-tier organizations complied to recognize baseball on an international level. This includes (as stated above): the IBAF, USOC, NGB, International Olympic Committee (previously), the Pan-American Games, etc. Like I said, there is a lot to cover but I’ll leave most of you to your own research as to not bore you with bureaucracy. Anyway, my whole point of the “not entirely true” dates back to 1912, the first time baseball was displayed as a demonstration sport at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

For those of you who don’t know, the definition of a “demonstration sport” is a game or event which is displayed for promotional purposes as an attempt to encourage interest in other countries. Baseball made its first appearance in the Olympics in 1912 in Sweden as an exhibition sport. A game was played between the US, the nation where the game was developed, and the host nation. The game was held on Monday, 15 July 1912 and started at 10 a.m. on the Ostermalm Athletic Grounds in Stockholm.

The Americans were represented by various members of the American Olympic track & field athletics delegation, while the Swedish team was the Vesterås Baseball Club, which had been formed in 1910 as the first baseball club in Sweden. Four of the Americans played for Sweden, as the Swedish pitchers and catchers were inexperienced. One Swede eventually relieved Adams and Nelson, the American pitchers. Six innings were played, with the Americans not batting in the sixth and allowing the Swedes to have six outs in their half of the inning. The game was umpired by George Wright, a retired American National League baseball player who also happened to be the brother of Harry Wright, the guy who pretty much invented professional sports in the US. One could argue that his Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1871 were the first professional athletes in the world, but that would be an untrue statement. Some dude named Gaius Appuleius Diocles in Rome in 146 A.D. can disprove that.

In 1936 baseball was once again displayed as a demonstration sport, but only two teams actually took the field; the US Olympic team and the World Champion team. Both teams were comprised of all members from the US. But even at that, the US kicked ass in front of Adolf Hitler. The person who pushed for baseball in Olympics was a pro ballplayer named Leslie Mann; no, not the actress whose married to Judd Apatow. Rather, the guy who played for the Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Whales (Federal league), Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants for 16 seasons. Originally Mann had organized a 20-game exhibition in Japan the year before the Olympics. In fact, a team from Japan was supposed to play in the Olympics in Germany, but backed out last minute. Mann later went on to found the International Baseball Federation which played its first international championship in 1938 in England. The English team, composed mainly of Canadian college players, won 4 out of 5 games against an amateur American team. He also organized subsequent championships in Cuba in 1939 and Puerto Rico in 1941. World War II brought Mann's efforts to an end.

Baseball was played at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, but not the kind you’re thinking of.

Traditional baseball wouldn’t rear its head in Olympic competition again until 1956 when the games were held in Melbourne, Australia. What’s interesting about these games is that baseball was considered THE “foreign” demonstration sport of the games; however, baseball had been played throughout the country since 1889 and the Australian team was the first to actually field a legitimate team against the US… with the exception that their top cricket players were not allowed to play due to the fact that they were professionals. At the time, according to IOC rules professionals were not allowed to participate in said competitions. Due to the field being set up between the running tracks, right field was only 225 feet so special ground rules were put in place, stating that a ball hit over the running track on the full will be declared a home run, where one that bounces or rolls on or over the track, shall be declared a ground rule double. This rule was put in place to stop baseball cleats damaging the track for the events after the baseball. The game was played on December 1^st (remember, Australian seasons are the opposite of ours) from 12:30pm. As the visiting team, the Americans batted first, scoring 2 runs off 3 hits. Australia did not strike back until the bottom of the 2nd inning, when Chalky White of South Australia hit a solo home run off Vane Sutton. Sutton made up for his error in the top half on the 3rd, with a grand slam to send the score out to a commanding 6-1. The Americans again put the pressure on Australia in the fifth inning as two errors led to another 2 runs to the US, putting them in a comfortable position. The game was eventually called at 2:40pm, after six completed innings and a final score 11-5, with the US batting first. Very few fans were present at the start of the game, but according to record 114,000 had arrived by the sixth inning. This was due to the finals for the 1500 meters, 4x400 meters relay and finish of the men's marathon.

The Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan in 1964 and once again only one game would be played between the Japanese and the US national team led by former USC head coach Rod Dedeaux, the greatest college baseball coach in history. Members of the team included pitchers Alan Closter, Dick Joyce, and Chuck Dobson; catchers Jim Hibbs and Ken Suarez; outfielder Shaun Fitzmaurice; first baseman Mike Epstein; and second baseman Gary Sutherland. Fitzmaurice hit a home run on the first pitch of the game and the US won 6-2 in front of 50,000 fans.

Baseball at the 1984 Summer Olympics was a demonstration sport, and the first Olympics in which the USA Baseball Team played as an internationally recognized program since the US boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. Although single exhibition games had been played in conjunction with five previous Olympics, it was the first time that the sport was officially included in the program, and also the first time that the sport was played in Olympics held in the United States. Eight teams competed in Los Angeles, California in the tournament. Games were held at Dodger Stadium. Cuba, after winning the gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games, was to participate, but did not as a result of the Soviet-led boycott (Payback). The US made it all the way to the final game where they lost to the Japanese team by the score of 6-3. Notable names from the ’84 team include Mark McGwire, Will Clark, Cory Snyder, Barry Larkin, Bobby Whitt, B.J. Surhoff and Bill Swift. The Dominican Republicteam that year featured a relatively unknown fastballer named Ramon Martinez. Due to the fact that baseball was a demonstration sport, no actual medal was awarded to the winners.

In 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, the final year as a demonstration sport, the US took home the gold (literally) as the beat Japan in the final game rematch. What’s most unusual about this final game is that actual medals were given out; however, they were not recognized by the IOC. It’s all dumb. Notable players on that year’s team include Andy Benes, Jim Abbott, Charles Nagy, Mike Fiore, Tino Martinez, Robin Ventura, Ed Sprague and Mickey Morandini.

Finally, in 1992 baseball made its debut as an official sport at the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, which is oddly enough one of the only Olympic cities to actually turn a profit off of the games. The US finished a respectable fourth, having bean beaten by Japan and Cuba in the round robin stage and once again by Cuba in the semi-finals. If it makes you feel any better Cuba won the whole thing. But from 1992-2008 baseball served as an official Olympic event in which the US took home one bronze (1996 in Atlanta, Georgia), one silver (2008 in Beijing, China) and one gold (Sydney, Australia).

I don’t know a terrible amount about the Pan-Am Games, but what I can tell you is that the US have won five bronze medals, seven silver medals and one gold medal. I didn’t go into too much research in the Baseball World Cup either as most people don’t know much about it. However, there is the IBAF-recognized World Baseball Classic which wrapped up its third year in 2013… with the US team failing to medal in all three years.  Not to be one to end things on a downer, I saved the best for last, but first… the hat.

This particular cap was first introduced during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Prior to those games all headwear consisted of “USA” being stitched across the front panels like this.

Jason Giambi

Kris Benson

So whomever designed the current “US” with a red-outlined silver star logo back in 2000 certainly did a fantastic job as it has been used prevalently ever since in all international baseball games. While the cap has appeared in other bill and panel color schemes, the classic all-nave blue has lasted all 14 years of competition, with the addition of the flag of the USA added to the side in 2006 during the first World Baseball Classic tournament.

Now, despite 101 years to focus on I was able to whittle my marks down to two numbers for one year.

#28- Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the first round (10th overall) of the 1999 draft, Ben Sheets made his professional debut with the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League. In August, against the Idaho Falls Chukars, Sheets struck out eight batters while allowing just one hit through five innings. Later in the month, he was promoted to advanced-A Stockton of the California League. In his seven minor league starts that year, Sheets averaged a strikeout ratio of 10.09 batters per nine innings.

In 2000, Sheets was on the US national team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. One of the most important things to note from this year’s Olympics is that it was the first time professionals were allowed to be on the team. Granted, none of the talent had made it to the Major League level, but they were still paid players in the minor leagues and no longer technically amateurs. Sheets pitched 22 innings, struck out 11 batters, walked one, and gave up 11 hits during the tournament, and faced off against Cuban ace Pedro Luis Lazo in the gold medal game, giving up three singles and advancing just one runner to second base for the entire game. Sheets gave up no walks and struck out five in a 4–0 complete game shutout. It is still considered one of the finest pitching performances in US international competition.

After helping the US win their first and only gold medal in Olympic competition, Sheets headed back to the minors in 2001 but quickly worked through the ranks of the Brewer farm system until making his Major League debut on April 5^th. In eight seasons with the Brewers, the last few which were hampered by injury, Sheets went 86-83 with a respectable 3.72 ERA and 1325 strikeouts. All four of his All-Star Game appearances were made with the Brewers in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2008. His best statistical season came in 2004 when he went 12-14 with a 2.70 ERA and 264 strikeouts, which were good enough for an eighth place finish for the National League Cy Young award that season. At the end of the 2008 season Sheets and the Brewers went their separate ways.

Sheets wouldn’t pitch again in the Majors until 2010 when the Oakland Athletics agreed to a one year, $10 million with an additional $2 million in incentives, contract with the Oakland Athletics. Sheets got the Opening Day start, going five innings allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out 3 and walking 4, receiving a 'no-decision'. The Athletics lost the game in the bottom of the 9th. On July 29, 2010, the Athletics announced Sheets would miss the remainder of the season due to a torn flexor in his right elbow. His season ended with Sheets going 4-9 in 20 starts.

On July 1, 2012, the Atlanta Braves announced that Sheets had signed a minor league contract with the organization in order to attempt a comeback to the major leagues. He made his first minor league start with the Mississippi Braves on July 4, 2012. On July 12, the Braves announced that they had called Sheets up from the minors. Sheets made his first start in nearly two years on July 15th against the New York Mets. He pitched six scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out five to earn the win. After his second start also resulted in no runs given up by Sheets, who pitched six innings of five-hit, six-strikeout ball, he stated, "If you asked me if I'm surprised I haven't given up a run, yeah I am. But I'm not surprised I'm getting people out. I wouldn't have come back if I didn't think I could get people out." Sheets made the final start of his career Wednesday, October 3, 2012 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

#16- Doug Mientkiewicz attended Westminster Christian School in Palmetto Bay, Florida, where he was a teammate of Alex Rodriguez. Upon graduation, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the twelfth round of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft, but chose instead to play at Florida State University. In his third season with the Seminoles, Mientkiewicz led the team with a .371 batting average, 19 home runs and 80 RBI. Florida State earned their first ACC Championship, and Mientkiewicz was named ACC Atlantic I Regional MVP. After the season, Mientkiewicz was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the fifth round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft.

In 1998, he batted .323, with a .432 OBP and .508 slugging percentage in 509 at-bats for the New Britain Rock Cats to earn Eastern League (AA) All-Star honors, and a September call-up to the Twins. He batted .200 with two RBIs in 25 at-bats for the Twins. Mientkiewicz earned a roster spot with the Twins the following spring without having previously played in Triple-A, and batted .229 with two home runs and 32 RBIs sharing playing time with Ron Coomer at first base in 1999. After a full season in the majors, Mientkiewicz spent the 2000 season with the Twins' AAA affiliate, the Salt Lake Buzz. He was the Triple-A All-Star first baseman, and Pacific Coast League All-Star designated hitter. He batted .334, with a .446 OBP and .524 slugging percentage, in 485 at-bats for Salt Lake, while both scoring and driving in 96 runs.

After the season wrapped up Mientkiewicz was named to the US team and served as the starting first baseman. Mientkiewicz was counted upon for his leadership as the oldest member of the team. He is best known for his walkoff home run against the South Korean team in the semifinals which helped carry the momentum into the gold medal game against Cuba.

In 2001 Mientkiewicz became the Twins’ full-time first baseman, posting the best numbers of his career on both sides of the ball. He won his first and only Gold Glove of his career that season and finished in 14^th place for the American League MVP award after going .306/15/74 under then-manager Tom Kelly. Mientkiewicz had another solid year with the Twins in 2003, but was traded to the Boston Red Sox near the trading deadline in 2004 where he joined a former Twins teammate David Ortiz as they shattered the “Curse of the Bambino” that season after the Red Sox won their first World Series title since 1918. Not wanting to make the same defensive gaff as in the case of Bill Buckner in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Mientkiewicz was put in a first base and recorded the final out of the Series.

Since then, Mientkiewicz became a bit of a journeyman, playing a season each with the New York Mets (2005), Kansas City Royals (2006), New York Yankees (2007), Pittsburgh Pirates (2008) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2009). He currently serves as the manager for the Fort Myers Miracle, an advanced-A affiliate of the Twins in the Florida League.

July 3- Seattle Turks

I kind of screwed myself a little bit on this post; nothing major, just a slight bit of oversight in the grand scheme of things. Back in early June my friend and co-worker Clayton Coyne (@Clayton_Coyne) informed that he and his girlfriend would be heading up to Seattle for the Saturday (June 29) game in which the Mariners were hosting the Chicago Cubs. What I didn’t know, until I looked the schedule, is that it was the Mariners’ “Turn Back the Clock Night” at Safeco Field. For those who don’t know what that means, I suggest you take a look at my post from January 23^rd to understand its importance to hat collectors. “Turn Back the Clock Night” is when the home team, and most of the time the away team, don old school uniforms from the respective teams’ history on the ball field. Leading up to this game the Mariners had pretty much rolled out all of the combinations years passed, including a rare Seattle Raniers get-up during their game with the Los Angeles Angels the year before. Going into this game I knew that both teams were reviving uniforms from 1909; however, I couldn’t really find anything for the Mariners until a few days before the game.

The Cubs uniforms were definitely made to the exact specifications of the turn-of-the-century team who had won what would be their last World Series the previous year (1908), while the Mariners dug deep and pulled something out from their storied minor league past. These.

I’m not going to get too deep into the Cubs cap as I have plans for that down the road. As for the Mariners, or Seattle Turks as they were known, it was really interesting to find that they only wore this uniform for one season. That year, 1909, happened to be their only year known as the Turks, and it was also the only year in which they won a Class-B Northwest League title under then-player manager Mike Lynch. The team played their games at Yesler Way Park, which was used for baseball from 1907-1912 as the Turks were known by their other team names: Siwashes (1903-1908) and Giants (1910-1918). For most of the league's history, there were no official playoffs following the regular season; in fact, 1915 was the only season in which a playoff was played. Therefore, the team that finished in first place was often the de facto league champion. That season the Turks went 109-58.

Now that we’ve established all of that, back to the story. Due to the fact that the hats were being unveiled during that game I had foolishly assumed that the Saturday in which the game was being played would be the only day in which the hats would be sold. Oops! To make matters worse on the subject, I had gotten a sneak peek at the Cubs cap a few days before the game, along with a few other teams’ “Turn Back the Clock” caps during the #CrewEra13 visit to New Era’s headquarters in Buffalo, New York on June 24^th. Basically I bring this up because I really should have known better in thinking that the Turks cap would only be available for one day.

The day before Clayton and his girlfriend left for Seattle I was supposed to meet up with him to give him money to get me one of the caps. Unfortunately, our meeting didn’t happen, but he did let me know that he would buy me the cap just as long as I paid him back immediately, a request I had no problem complying with. On a whim I had also asked him to pick me up the Cubs cap just in case he saw it. Based on this request he had phones ahead to one of his friends working for the team and asked if the Cubs hats would be available. His friend had told him “no” and we all just kind of left it at that.

Since I was working I watched as many little bits and highlights as I could on my break. It’s one thing to see photos of the uniforms, it’s another thing to see them in action. The game got off to a quick start as Cubs’ shortstop gave his tem an early 1-0 lead with a solo blast off of Aaron Harang in the first inning. Justin Smoak countered with a solo shot of his own off of Jeff Samardzija while Dustin Ackley plated Mike Zunino with an RBI single of his own to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead after two. In the sixth inning the Cubs added two more thanks to RBI-singles from Nate Schierholtz and Alfonso Soriano. The Mariners then tied it up in the ninth with an Endy Chavez RBI-single himself to force extra innings. Free baseball would sadly be short-lived as Soriano tagged Oliver Perez for a two-run homer in the top of the 11^th which ended up be the winning runs for the Cubs.

The next day I arrived at work without any money in my pocket as I had forgotten to stop by an ATM on the way, o when Clayton arrived to drop off the hat and pick up his money I had to run out to a random non-bank ATM in order to pay for the ware he picked up for me. In this case I had to shell out an extra $3.50 in fees on top of the $35 for the regular price cost of the cap. Therefore, I spent $38.50 for the cap. Things were just starting to go bad.

Before Clayton left to head back home I randomly stumbled across the Lids Web site to check out if there was anything new that they may have added over the last 24 hours. Sure enough, both caps were kicking it in their “TBTC” section. Not only that, the Mariners did in fact sell the Cubs’ caps at the game, thus making Clayton’s friend one of the most uninformed employees on their payroll. In other words, he works for general manager Jack Zduriencik. Kidding of course. But the point I want to make about the Lids Web site is that I could have gotten 25% off of both caps with my Lids card as well as gotten them shipped to the Lids location in the mall I work at for free. So you see, in summation, I blew it. For an extra $17.50 added on to what I paid I could have had both had I been a little more patient about things. But then again, that’s the trouble with hats that will only be used for one game during a season; they go fast. Now… I need to collect all of the other “Turn Back the Clock” caps before it’s too late.

#1909- When marking this up I decided to keep it simple in order to pay tribute to the lost championship season of yesteryear. One thing that I should point out on these caps is that the "S" logo is different than in the picture below. The ones on the modernized caps are identical to the "S" logo of the Seattle Pilots, who I will be writing about in August.

It’s a bit interesting to look around on seasonal stat sheets on BaseballRefernce.com only to find a slew of question marks next to almost every players’ name. Only six players from this team went on to have any kind of a career in the Major Leagues; they include: Emil Frisk, Pug Bennett, Mike Lynch, Lee Magee, Gus Thompson and Burt Whaling. One thing I can point out is that none of them had numbers on the back of their jerseys as that concept wouldn’t be introduced until the 1929 New York Yankees. Of all six only one had a worth-while career in the Majors while one had an interesting fact pop up on his bio sheet.

The random fact that popped up was how Bennett is buried in an “unknown” cemetery in Kirkland, Washington. Kirkland resides on the east side of Lake Washington about 21 minutes east and then north. I find this fact to be a bit eerie for the sake that I would hate to have my body missing when I die. I realize that when I’m dead it’s not going to matter, but still, it’s the principle of the matter.

As for the “stat king,” Lee Magee, born Leopold Christopher Hoernschmeyer, played in the Majors from 1911-191 for seven different ball clubs: St. Louis Cardinals (1911-1914), Brooklyn Tip-Tops (1915), Yankees (1916-1917), St. Louis Browns (1917), Cincinnati Reds (1918), Brooklyn Robins (1919) and Cubs (1919). His best season came in 1914 when he hit .284 with two home runs, 40 RBI and 36 stolen bases, which was good enough for an 11^th-place finish for the National League MVP. Johnny Evers of the Boston Braves took home the hardware that season. Aside from that, nothing else of real note. Magee finished his career going .276/12/277 with 186 stolen bases in 1015 games.

July 2- Los Angeles Dodgers

It’s very rare for me to break a promise. Sometimes I may be a little late in delivering, but I always do my best to keep the second party up to date and involved when my life takes an unusual turn to cause setbacks. In the case of visiting my friend Nick Hamilton (@NickHamiltonLA) in Los Angeles for a Dodgers game, I did everything I could to keep my word.

Nick and I met in February of 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona when we were both top-30 finalists for the MLB Fan Cave. He and I grew up abut two hours apart from one another as he was born and raised in the City of Angels and I lived most of my life in the armpit of California known as Bakersfield. One of the biggest things we had in common, outside of being huge baseball fans, was that we both went to college to perfect the art of journalism, a dream that he had started actively pursuing when he was 20-years-old and attending El Camino College in LA. I had moved to the Pacific Northwest when I was 17-years-old but still made my way south to Eugene, Oregon to enroll and attend classes at the University of Oregon where I picked up my two degrees in the field of journalism, a dream I had wanting to fulfill since I was 13. When I first met Nick he was all decked out in Dodgers gear which included a t-shirt and Premier jacket, while I had taken a more nerdish route in wearing a white dress shirt, black vest, tie and my Oakland Athletics home cap. My first words to Nick involved something to the tune of voicing my long-lived angst toward Kirk Gibson and his home run off of Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. He laughed and played along with it. It was definitely the perfect icebreaker.

In the two days that we were together we talked endlessly about the LA sports scene, as Nick can pretty much recite most major events that took place in the city, stretching back for decades. Since we were in separate groups our time spent chatting was relegated to the evenings and in between our cycles of activities. Nonetheless, it was awesome to meet someone I had a lot in common with and would have otherwise been close friends had we grown up together. When the Fan Cave interview process came to an end we made sure to get each others’ contact info and the one promise I made to him was that “no matter who moves on, I want to catch a Dodgers game with you.” It was a promise that he would make sure to hold me to my word.

Well, to make a long story short, I was chosen to go to New York and he wasn’t, a move I really didn’t understand then and still don’t to this day. While I realize that Nick is my friend, one thing that I will vouch until the end of time is that Nick is one of the finest journalists I have ever had the privilege of getting to know and seeing in action. If you get the chance during or after you read this post, please take the time to watch a few of his You Tube videos. The man is not only a fantastic interviewer, but he is relentless when it comes to getting a few moments with the cream of the crop including Robert Griffin III, Al Michaels, Brittney Griner and this collection from the 2012 Harold Pump Awards. Hell, I wish I could get the access that he has. It’s uncanny how hard he works at perfecting his craft, not letting anything get in his way. When I got the boot from the Fan Cave at the end of May, Nick was one of the first people I contacted. We didn’t so much as talk about what had happened in my final days, rather I told him to pick a date at the beginning of July and Dodgers tickets would be on me. Naturally, he was on board.

In the middle of June I started plotting out the West Coast leg of my Major League Baseball stadium road trip, making sure to kick things off in Seattle at Safeco Field with Tom Bentley (@RealTomBentley) as my Athletics were squaring off against his Mariners in a three-game series. When I got back to Portland I looked ahead at each team’s schedule as to figure out how I could maximize my trip with as many games as possible, not to mention be able to spend time with my friends, family and make it to Oakland by July 17^th in order to throw out first pitch. As my luck would have it, the Dodgers were playing the New York Mets over the first weekend of July and the Arizona Diamondbacks were playing throughout the week around and on the Fourth of July, before the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres both played a home series right after. It was almost too perfect. When I gave Nick the heads up on when I would be headed down he chose the final game of the series (Sunday) as the Dodgers’ phenom pitcher Clayton Kershaw was taking the mound for the white and blue. I had no complaints with this.

Since I was going to be gone for almost three weeks I made sure to pack as much team gear as I needed to be able to represent the home teams for every stadium I attended. When it came to the Dodgers game that Nick and I were rolling to I couldn’t think of a better hat to wear than this one, the 1999 silver logo with silver bill alternate cap. Believe it or not, the Dodgers did in fact only wear this cap for a speckle of games for one season, which is a pretty bold step considering the fact that they’ve only worn a total of three caps (including this one) since they played their first game at Memorial Coliseum back in 1958. So, do to its rarity, and it being the first time I would wear it, it was a natural choice.

Because I’m apparently borderline psychotic, I made the trek to LA from Eugene the morning of the game. For those of you who don’t know, Eugene is roughly 14 hours away from LA, just as long as there isn’t any traffic. If you’ve ever been to LA, you’d know exactly how funny that statement is. The one thing working in my favor that night was that the game didn’t start until 5:00 PM Pacific due to the fact that it was the game being broadcast for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (July 1). Even with that, I still made the decision to leave around 11:00 PM the night before. Contrary to what you might believe, it was actually one of the easier drives that I’ve pulled off whenever I make my long pilgrimages to California. Aside from packing nothing but a gallon of water, Clif Bars and a pack of smokes, I timed my drive perfectly so that I would hit the vast wasteland of dried up farmland that stretched from just south of the Bay Area all the way to Bakersfield at the hottest part of the day. One of my techniques for staying awake involves the temperature to top 100 degrees and I continue to drive without the window rolled down and the air conditioning off. Not only does it serve as an endurance test, it helps motivate me to stay on course and get to my destination before I burst into flames. Basically, you would hate to be riding shotgun at that moment.

Around 2 PM I pulled off of I-5 and onto 7^th Standard Road to make a stop at my parents’ house to take a much needed shower before I made the final stretch to LA. With about 10 miles to go until I hung a right onto Coffee Road I received a flurry of text messages and tweets from my friends and followers from all over the country. What I had forgotten was that the first-ever All-Star Game Selection Show was taking place for the 2012 All-Star Game and apparently the commercial I’m featured in was aired during a break; kind of my last hurrah from my time at the Fan Cave. Due to the fact that I was driving I waited until the next day to respond to everyone who hit me up.

After a quick shower and wardrobe change I made the push for the last leg of my tour… which I miraculously survived without hitting a wall of traffic. I pulled up to Nick’s house, knocked on the door and was greeted with a friendly hug. Nick was in the middle of getting ready so he took me into his room and showed off all of his LA sports memorabilia he had been collecting since he was a kid. It was pretty much how I imagined it would be, Dodgers, Lakers and USC gear all over the place, mocking me with all of the championships those teams had collected throughout their history. I gave him some grief about the USC stuff, but only because I had to because of my Oregon and UCLA basketball fan ties. He had a pretty good laugh. After he geared up we jumped into my car and headed down Jefferson Street in an attempt to save time in making our way to Chavez Ravine.

On the way we ran into a bit of a skirmish, rather, I ran into a bit of a skirmish. I can’t remember which intersection it was but I had the right of way when a black gentleman decided to make a left-hand turn as I was coming upon the streetlight. Just as I hit the brakes the man in the car slowed down and yelled, “Yah! I know I fucked up!” before hitting his accelerator as I swerved a little bit to avoid a collision. I kept driving. Nick then leaned to me and said, “Yah, it was probably for the best that you kept going.” I laughed for a solid three blocks after he said that. As we continued down Jefferson we both noticed that traffic was starting to build, which was a bit odd for that area on a Sunday. As we got closer we both noticed the slew of limousines and the giant sign on the front of the Shrine Auditorium which read, “2012 BET Awards.” I pulled my traditional smirk face and made my way through the lines, not realizing that the BET Awards would make an appearance later in this story.

I took about 40 minutes in total to get there, on top of the ridiculous jam of cars we had to sift through just to be able to park at Dodger Stadium, but we made it with an hour to spare. Even though it was a nationally televised game neither of us had any clue that it was Japanese Heritage Night at the game. Basically this meant that the game was sold out on account of the Hello Kitty bobbleheads they were giving out at the gate. It was chaos. I hadn’t been to Dodger Stadium since 1998, which I cataloged in my post from June17th, and of all the things that had noticeably changed since my last visit was the abundance of armed guards waiting to pat everyone down as they entered the gates. It was interesting to say the least, but we got through… with our Hello Kitty bobbleheads in tow. We made a quick stop in the team store just at the edge of the left field bleachers before we made our way to our seats which sat just a few rows back on first base side.

The walk through the corridor to our seats was a “comforting” reminder of all the traffic that I had somehow missed on my way to, and driving around LA. For some reason it felt like everyone decided to be in one another’s way all at the same time. After braving the gauntlet of flesh, beer and shirseys we made it to our seats.

I hate beach balls at baseball games.

I have to say, they weren’t that bad. As the game got underway we went back-and-forth on everything that had happened on the season, including my time in the Fan Cave. I did my best to not come off as bitter about it, especially since he was in the running for the same job. So, we stuck to baseball primarily as it was a good happy-medium. Around the third inning the hunger started to build so we headed up to the concession stands at the top of our section. With all of our recently acquired gear under our arms we trekked upward to get our Dodger Dog on, which still blows my mind that you can get a 10-inch hot dog for $5, probably one of the best food-related values of any ballpark. On top of that, Dodger Stadium serves Coca-Cola, not Pepsi, which always constitutes that the largest possible serving of such product is mandatory as well. So needless to say, I was sitting pretty in the snack department. While we were in line a woman came up to me and asked if she could have my Hello Kitty bobblehead to give to her daughter. I was in an especially good mood so I didn’t really see any problem with this. Plus, I really had no use for it and didn’t really want to carry it around anymore. All I asked in return was that she take a photo of Nick and me while we waited for our turn to order.

With our bellies full of ballpark nourishment we kicked back and watched Kershaw deal to the hapless Mets. He went seven solid innings, only allowing one earned run while striking out nine (typical Kershaw). Somewhere around the sixth inning a random bit of news popped up on Nick’s Twitter timeline. I could sense in his face that it was something big. He replied with, “Chris Brown got arrested at the BET Awards for carrying a gun.” For those of you who don’t remember this or why it happened, it all stemmed from an altercation at a nightclub between his and rapper Drake’s entourage. Brown apparently felt the need to go “Plaxico Burress” in case he had another run-in with the kid from Toronto and his crew. Clearly the LAPD were on top of things a wee-bit faster than Brown. Aside from us having a good laugh about the incident, the news gave Nick a bit more material to discuss on his radio show “The Nick Hamilton Experience” the following day.

After the Dodgers finished trouncing the Mets to the tune of 8-3 Nick and I took a few pictures before heading back to the car, only to wait it out a bit until traffic cleared up. From then and on the drive home we talked about what the future held for both of us. I did and still continue to praise Nick for all that he has accomplished and know that he will be a household name in the not too distant future of sport journalism. We both share the same tenacity to make it in our respective fields and I know that one day it will all become a reality for the both us.

Up until this moment I hadn’t chosen any numbers to mark this cap up with as there really wasn’t much that had gone on during the 1999 season to really praise. However, there is one bit of confusion with the statistics for two players that I feel should be mentioned and given more praise than they received. Soooooooo…

#10- Gary Sheffield is arguably one of the greatest players in MLB history; however, steroid speculation over the last bit of his career has clouded much of his legacy. In my book though, ability and talent reign supreme.

Sheffield’s Major League potential was seen at a very early age (11) when he and other former Major Leaguers, including Derek Bell, were members of the Belmont Height Little League All-Stars team who made it to the final of the Little League World Series in 1979, only to lose in the final game to Taiwan by the score of 4-3. That year Sheffield set the all-time doubles record in the LLWS before it was finally broken in 2012.

Sheffield, the nephew of Dwight Gooden, tore it up through high school, batting .500 with 15 home runs in 62 at-bats in 1983, the year he won the Gatorade National Player of the Year award. In 1986 he was selected sixth overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in the draft and continued his mashing pace all the way through the minors. The first time I ever saw him play was in 1987 when I was four-years-old and he was with the Class-A Stockton Ports of the California League. That season he hit .277 with 17 home runs.

He made his MLB debut on September 3, 1988 and recorded his first Major League hit on September 9^th, a home run off of Seattle Mariners pitcher Mark Langston. Sheffield’s time in Milwaukee came to a close right before the start of the 1992 season as he was traded to the San Diego Padres for Ricky Bones, Jose Valentin and Matt Mieske. That season he came two home runs and nine RBI shy of winning the National League Triple Crown while batting .330, becoming the only member of the Padres not named Tony Gwynn to win a batting title. Gwynn has eight of the nine. Sheffield finished in third place for the NL MVP and made his first All-Star Game appearance that season as well; however, the following season he was dealt to the 1993 expansion Florida Marlins along with Rich Rodriguez for Andres Berumen, Jose Martinez and a kid named Trevor Hoffman.

At first Sheffield didn’t want to play with the Marlins; however, after the ’93 season the team signed him to a four-year deal making him the highest-paid third baseman in the Majors… only to move him into the outfield midway through the 1994 season. During his time in Florida Sheffield hit 112 home runs, including 42 in 1996 and even won a World Series ring in 1997. But despite being a fan favorite and a two-time All-Star with the team, he was shipped out to the Dodgers right before the 1998 trade deadline along with Bobby Bonilla, Manuel Barrios, Jim Eisenreich and Charles Johnson for Todd Zeile and Mike Piazza because the Marlins “couldn’t afford” to give him a contract extension, plus the Dodgers then-owners, News Corp., were trying to secure a TV deal which involved getting rid of Piazza. In short, the business side of baseball is really f---ing stupid sometimes.

But alas, we’ve reached the point about this cap. In 3½ seasons with the Dodgers, he hit 129 home runs and drove in 367 runs. He made three All-Star games while playing with the Dodgers and had become one of the best outfielders in the game. Collectively his time in LA was the best of his career, and in 1999 he went .301/24/101, yet didn’t even cause a blip on the NL MVP radar. The following year he did when he went .325 with 43 home runs (most of his career in a season) and 109 RBI and finished ninth in the NL MVP vote. But even after a great run in LA the Dodgers shipped him off to the Atlanta Braves due to his constant bickering about the management. Sheffield lasted two seasons in Atlanta before signing as a free agent with the New York Yankees only to be traded to the Detroit Tigers after three years and then signed as a free agent by the Mets after a two-year stint in Detroit. Sheffield retired in 2011, finishing his career with a .292 average, 2689 hits, 509 home runs and 1976 RBI. He also hit the 250,000^th regular season home run in MLN history on September 8, 2008 off of Gio Gonzalez of the Athletics. Not exactly a milestone I prefer to remember. He made nine All-Star games in total and won five Silver Slugger awards. His NL batting title in 1992 was the only one of his career in which he also won Comeback Player of the Year to boot. What exactly he came back from is a mystery to me.

#23- Eric Karros was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 1988 Amateur Draft. He made his Major League debut as a pinch runner on September 1, 1991 against the Chicago Cubs. He made his first start, at first base, on September 4, 1991 against the St. Louis Cardinals, when he was 0-3 with two strikeouts. Karros recorded his first Major League hit as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 12th inning against the Cincinnati Reds Ted Power on September 16, 1991. The hit was a two-RBI double to left field. In 14 appearances during the 1991 season, he only had the one hit in 14 at-bats.

In his first at-bat of the 1992 season, on April 9th against the Padres, Karros hit a two-run home run to deep left field off of Craig Lefferts for his first career home run. He became a full-time starter for the Dodgers that season, appearing in 149 games and hitting 20 home runs while driving in 88 runs. He was named the 1992 NL Rookie of the Year, the first of five straight that the Dodgers would win from 1992-1996. Karros put up consistent numbers throughout his career with the Dodgers, with a batting average just under .270 and an average of almost 25 home runs a year. 1999 was his best year with the Dodgers, a batting average of .304 with 34 home runs and 112 RBI. His 270 home runs as a Dodger remains the third most in Dodgers history.

Like Sheffield, Karros was hosed on any votes for the NL MVP that season despite the fact that both of them put up better numbers than most of the guys in the top-25. Apparently a 77-85 record that season under then first-year manager Davey Johnson would halt such accomplishments.

July 1- New York Yankees

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a huge fan of talking about the stories from a team’s past that don’t quite get remembered except in passing moments and at the countertop during a bar room discussion by the most avid of baseball fans and historians. In the case of the New York Yankees, most long-lasting tales focus heavily upon the dominant teams featuring yesteryear’s stars like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford all the way up through the 1970s with Thurman Munson, Chris Chambliss and Reggie Jackson and on into the 1990s and 2000s with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill. These are the teams of our grandfathers, fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers and extended relatives that we all laugh and smile about. But like any fairy tale story, there is always that moment of struggle and conflict that we can’t look beyond.

Unlike most of my other posts I have elected to start with a bit of history about the cap first so that I can wind up and lead into the heart of the story. Despite what most of you have seen through film and photos of the last 80 years or so on Yankees baseball, the team has actually gone through a surprising number of uniform and logo changes in their 113-year history. So far I’ve touched on one of the former caps that the Yankees reintroduced in 2012 in my post from February 9^th when they were still known as the Highlanders. It wouldn’t be until 1913 that the team would officially become the Yankees and begin play with the navy blue cap with the white “NY” logo that we’ve all become familiar with. Over the years the “NY” went through a few style modifications (all of which I’ll detail with individual posts) until they finally settled down on this particular style in 1992, right around the time that this scrappy no-namer was taken with the sixth overall pick in that year’s amateur draft.  

Now, some of you might be saying, “Hey Benjamin! Are you high? The Yankees have been using the same logo since the 1960s at least.” My response to that is, “WRONG!!!” It’s very close, and I used to think the same thing; however, years of baseball card collecting and a vested interest in authentic baseball caps has certainly made me the wiser man in this category. If you look closely in the Jeter photo above you’ll notice that the tips on the “N” and the “Y” curve up and outward and are almost sanded down to a fine 45 degree edge. Here’s a closer look.

Now, if you take a look at the logo on the cap used through the 1991 season, you’ll see that the tips of the “N” and the “Y” shoot out at the tips a little bit more, plus the shape of the “N” has a bit more of an off-kilter curve to it, making the “Y” appear to be a little bit tighter in closeness to the left arm of the “N.” 

I know this all sounds crazy, but it’s true. The main reason I bring all of this up is because at some point in time down the road when I write about the fraternal doppelganger of this cap, I don’t want any of you to think I’m cheating you by writing about the exact same cap. Even weirder, now that I have time stamped this cap that I’m wearing as a 1992-present cap, I’m now about to spin you a story or two from Yankees’ history from the era of the second cap. Yes, I realize none of this makes sense as I try to stay within the era of the cap and its use. The only problem is that I am saving an even better story for the second cap for October, and since this one straddles the end date of the second cap, I figure what the hell? Almost all of us witnessed the Yankees of the 1990s and 2000s so there’s really no sense in dragging anyone down that road again. Nothing personal against the Yankees or their fans; I just feel that there’s no sense in trying to rehash upon what so many others have all ready talked about for the last decade. That would be kind of like going out an making a film about World War II, hoping that your interpretation was somehow better than the dozens that have come before it. Once again, as well all should know by now, Quentin Tarantino pretty much put that baby to bed.

7/1/90: On the morning of July 1, 1990 the Yankees found themselves dead last (seventh place) in the American League Eastern Division with a record of 28-44. The Yankees had been in that position since May 26^th after a loss to the Kansas City Royals by the score of 4-9. Then-manager Bucky Dent, who I’ll be writing about down the road, was relieved of his managerial duties on June 5^th and replaced by Stump Merrill for the remainder of the season. Even with Merrill at the helm, the Yankees struggled to register a number in the win column despite the level of talent on the team which included Don Mattingly, Steve Balboni, Steve Sax, Jesse Barfield and a fresh-faced rookie by the name of Jim Leyritz. Andy Hawkins was on the mound for the Yankees that sunny afternoon in Chicago along with his 1-4 record in 13 starts on the season. Hawkins’s win came on May 6^th against the California Angels, but it was up to him to do battle against the White Sox in old Comiskey Park this day.

Through the first four innings Hawkins and White Sox pitcher Greg Hibbard had themselves a little bit of a pitchers’ duel at hand. Each had 12 batters come to the plate, and in each case both men sent the batters back to the dugout with their tail between their legs. In the top of the fifth inning Hibbard continued his pace, getting Balboni, Barfield and Leyritz out consecutively. Now, it was time to switch sides. Hawkins made short work of both Dan Pasqua and Ron Kittle with a flyout and popout respectively; however, he walked catcher Ron Karkovice after running him up to a full count. Hawkins then had a passed ball get by against second baseman Scott Fletcher, allowing Karkovice advance to second base. Hawkins then proceeded to walk Fletcher before getting Sammy Sosa to flyout to left field.

Hibbard’s perfect game was broken up by Yankees catcher and former-Oakland Athletics skipper Bob Geren in the top of the sixth inning with one out on a single to third baseman and current White Sox manager Robin Ventura. Hibbard would go seven innings and only allow four hits while striking out four throughout the game. As for Hawkins, his day was just getting started. Hawkins got through the sixth on three straight batters, but once again allowed a walk in the top of the seventh inning to designated hitter Ivan Calderon. Hawkins then took down Pasqua again, Calderon got caught stealing by Geren and Kittle went down watching the strikes go by.

If you couldn’t tell by now, the Yankees offense was pretty much non-existent. Hawkins was a lone-man on the mound with a no-hitter in tact through seven innings. In the eight, the wheels came off. Actually, that’s a poor analogy. It’s more like, the wheels came off, rolled down the street along with the car and somehow found themselves back on the hubs. Karkovice and Fletcher both succumbed to popflys to second baseman Sax, but on the next play third baseman Mike Blowers botched a routine ground ball hit by Sosa which allowed a baserunner via error on behalf of Blowers. Sosa then stole second as Ozzie Guillen was in the process of walking, which ultimately led to Lance Johnson receiving a free pass to first base himself, thus loading the bases with two outs for Ventura. At this point I should probably remind you that Hawkins’s no-hitter was still in tact. On the first pitch from Hawkins, Ventura swung for the fences but got under it, sending a deep fly ball to an eagerly awaiting Leyritz out in left field. On most days, this play would have been routine, but on a day like today with a non-no in tact and the wind blowing like crazy in the outfield, Leyritz made a rookie mistake and lost the ball at the last second as it careened off of his glove and onto the grass, allowing all three runner on base to score as Ventura pulled into second. Leyritz was charged with an error, but the White Sox now held a 3-0 lead despite the fact that they were still getting no-hit by Hawkins. Calderon was up next for the Sox, getting himself into a bit of a jam as Hawkins quickly developed a 1-2 count on him. With nothing really to lose, Calderon lifted a ball into deep right field where the sun and the wind played havoc with a slightly careless Barfield waiting under it. Like Leyritz, the ball was being acted upon by the elements, and the same result occurred. Barfield lost the ball in the sun which allowed Ventura to score from second, kicking the score up to 4-0 in favor of the South Siders. Pasqua came to the plate again, working himself into a full count before popping it up to Yankees shortstop Alvaro Espinosa to end the inning.

In the ninth, the Yankees offense didn’t stray too far from their original game plan. That plan being that they weren’t intending on scoring any runs. After getting closed out by Scott Radinsky, the Yankees lost the game by the final score of 0-4 and Hawkins’s no-hitter was still in tact. Well, for a year and two months it was recognized as such. As it would later come to pass, on September 4, 1991 the Committee for Statistical Accuracy, appointed by Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, changed the definition of a no-hitter to require that a pitcher throw at least nine full innings and a complete game. Since Hawkins (who never gave up a hit during a game against Chicago, despite the Sox winning the game 4-0) played for the visiting team, the Sox never batted in the ninth inning and Hawkins lost the credit for a no-hitter. Pretty stupid, eh? One could argue that this is one of Vincent’s stupider moves during his reign as commissioner; however, this same committee also ruled that Roger Maris is the one and only single season home run record holder, overturning the 1961 decision of former commissioner Ford Frick that Maris and Ruth's home run totals should be listed side-by-side for 154 and 162 game seasons (contrary to popular belief, Frick never mentioned using an asterisk). Sooooooooo… he redeemed himself significantly on that one.

Despite only being commissioner for four years (1989-1992), Vincent’s legacy will forever be tied to directly with the Yankees. Aside from the aforementioned tidbits above, it was Vincent who expelled Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner III just 29 days after Hawkins’s no-hitter after “The Boss” paid Howie Spira, a small-time gambler, $40,000 for "dirt" on his outfielder Dave Winfield after Winfield sued Steinbrenner for failing to pay his foundation the $300,000 guaranteed in his contract. Steinbrenner was eventually reinstated in 1993 (one year after Vincent left office).

Per Fay Vincent's interview on WFAN (NY) on July 14, 2010 (the day after Steinbrenner died), Vincent had wanted to suspend Steinbrenner for only two years. It was Steinbrenner who asked for a lifetime ban as he was tired of baseball and wanted to help run the US Olympic effort. Steinbrenner knew he could not run the Olympic effort if he was suspended, so he asked for a lifetime ban, which he received. Steinbrenner then applied for (and received) reinstatement after two years.

Other highlights in Vincent’s career include the indefinite suspension of World Series champion, and repeated drug offended Steve Howe in 1992, who became the second player to be given a lifetime ban for drug-related issues. The first player was Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins in case you were wondering. Vincent was also the only man who had the balls to slap the MLB owners with a $280 million bill after the orchestration of collusion to prevent any free agents to be signed from 1985-1987, a topic I will get to later in the year as well. All in all, not too shabby of a four-year stretch for a guy who was paralyzed from the waist down after falling from a four story ledge in college.

#19- Going back to my earlier statement about bar room conversation, there is probably one topic that comes up more often than most people would think when it comes to sports banter. That topic; worst #1 draft picks of all-time. This conversation is usually relegated to NBA or NFL conversation, as they’re the only two leagues truly at the forefront of polarizing the draft; however, there are some analysts and critics who carry out this same discussion with MLB picks. If you ever find yourself deep in the midst of this conversation, always remember to bring up Brien Taylor.

Taylor was born in Beaufort, North Carolina, to parents Willie Ray, who worked as a mason, and Bettie, who was a crab picker at the local seafood plant. He was the second of four children, named for the lead character in the movie Brian's Song. Taylor attended East Carteret High School. In his senior season, Taylor threw 88 innings, striking out 213 hitters while walking 28. His fastball often hit 98 and 99 mph. In 2006, MLB super agent Scott Boras claimed that Taylor was the best high school pitcher he had seen in his life.

The Yankees selected Taylor with the first overall selection in the 1991 Major League Baseball Draft, and offered him $300,000 to sign a minor league contract, the typical amount given to the first overall draft choice at that time. However, Boras, acting as an advisor, advised the Taylor family that the previous year's top-rated high school pitcher, Todd Van Poppel, was given more than $1.2 million to sign with the Oakland Athletics, giving up a scholarship to the University of Miami in the process. The Taylors held out for a three-year $1.2 million contract, "Van Poppel money," even though they had less leverage because Brien's poor grades in high school prevented him from getting a major college scholarship offer. They threatened the Yankees that Taylor would not sign and instead attend Louisburg College, a local junior college, as leverage to get the Yankees to agree to their terms. The Yankees were without the official services of owner George Steinbrenner, who was serving his lifetime banishment at the time, but through the media, Steinbrenner said that if the Yankees let Taylor get away, they should be "shot." Taylor signed for $1.55 million the day before his classes were set to begin. Further delay would have meant the deal could not be signed until after the school year ended, which coincided with the following year's draft.

Initially, the Yankees had hoped that like Dwight Gooden, Taylor would be ready for the big leagues at the age of 19. However they found he needed a better move to first base to hold base runners. In 1992 he was 6-8 for the Class-A Advanced Fort Lauderdale Yankees, but with a 2.57 ERA and with 187 strikeouts in 161 innings. The next year as a 21-year-old with the AA Albany-Colonie Yankees, Taylor went 13-7 with a 3.48 ERA and with 150 strikeouts in 163 innings. He also led the Eastern League with 102 walks. Nonetheless, Baseball America named him the game's best prospect and he was expected to pitch for the AAA Columbus Clippers of the International League in 1994, and start for the Yankees in 1995. The Yankees had asked Taylor to report to an instructional league so he could spend the winter of 1993-94 working on fundamentals. However Taylor declined the Yankees' request, claiming he was tired from the pressure of the season. He said he needed the rest and chose to remain near his North Carolina home.

On December 18, 1993 the normally mild-mannered Taylor suffered a dislocated left shoulder and torn labrum while defending his brother Brenden in a fistfight. The New York Times reported that Brenden confronted a man named Ron Wilson, who he had fought with in Harlowe, North Carolina. Brenden suffered head lacerations. Once Brien found out his brother had been hurt, he and a cousin went to Wilson's trailer home to confront him. There, Taylor got into an altercation with Jamie Morris, Wilson's friend, and Taylor fell on his shoulder. According to Wilson, Taylor attempted to throw a “haymaker” at Morris, and missed, which caused the injury.

In the hours following the altercation Boras told reporters the injury was a bruise. However when the Yankees had Taylor visit Dr. Frank Jobe, a well-known orthopedic surgeon, who called the injury one of the worst he'd seen. Jobe repaired a torn capsule and a torn labrum in Taylor's shoulder. Initially Jobe told Taylor that he would throw again with similar velocity and that his shoulder might even be more durable. However, he was never the same pitcher again. When he returned after surgery, he had lost 8 mph off his fastball and was unable to throw a curveball for a strike. He was at AA before the incident but spent the bulk of the remainder of his professional baseball career struggling in A-ball.

Taylor was able to get his fastball back into the low to mid 90's, and he had also filled out, gaining 35 pounds from when he first signed. However, he had control problems. In 1995 he pitched for the Yankees Gulf Coast League team, and walked 54 batters in 40 innings. In 1996 he pitched for the single-A Greensboro Bats, and walked 43 batters in 16 ¹⁄₃ innings, going 0-5 with an 18.73 ERA. At Greensboro again in 1997, he walked 52 batters in 27 innings, going 1-4 with a 14.33 ERA. He was released by the Yankees at the end of the 1998 season, and pitched for minor league affiliates of the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians until retiring in 2000. In his final stint with the Indians' Columbus affiliate in 2000, he gave up 5 hits, 9 walks, and 11 runs (8 earned) in 2 ²⁄₃ innings.

After baseball, Taylor moved back to North Carolina and picked up a job with UPS as a package handler and later a beer distributor. His life never mirrored his potential as he bounced around from job to job, fathering five daughters and having brushes with the law. In March 2012, Taylor was charged with cocaine trafficking after undercover narcotics agents purchased a large quantity of cocaine and crack cocaine from him over a period of several months. He was federally indicted on cocaine trafficking charges in June 2012. Taylor plead guilty in August 2012 and was sentenced to 38 months in prison, followed by three years' supervised release. Taylor, inmate #56437-056, is currently serving his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix. 

So much talent gone to waste as a result of a bad decision to some, but the definition of a protector of his family to others. It’s hard to watch sometimes, but it’s all part of the cycle of fame and fortune. Hopefully more kids trying to reach stardom latch onto and learn from this story.

June 30- Texas Rangers

If there’s anything I’ve learned over the last year when it comes to uniforms, I think one of the top three moments of clarity is when I learned not once, but twice that ESPN uniform “analyst” Paul Lukas (Uni Watch) really has no sense of style and appreciation for change. I realize how much of an odd comment it is for me to say this when considering how much of a purist I’ve become when it comes to just buying hats; however, I do appreciate it when a designer comes up with something new, even if it is a bit unorthodox.

Baseball is a game that some take for granted and heavily undervalue. While some want to complain about how slow it moves or whatever bit of dribble that translates into my head as “clearly you’re not smart enough to appreciate it,” the one thing that very few grasp is that it’s one of the few games that hasn’t undergone any dramatic changes in over 120 years. I’d say adding the designated hitter rule in the American League in 1973 is most notable. Regardless of that, my point about Lukas arose the first time this last autumn after the unveiling of the new Diamond Era batting practice/Spring Training caps and he felt the Atlanta Braves Chief Noc-A-Homa logoed cap was worthy of a F grade, the only one to receive it. Lukas, for one, opposes any use of the old Native American symbols and names as stated in an article he wrote for ESPN back in September of 2012. While I have always respected other peoples’ opinions on this particular matter, I can’t help but find the humor in white people making this argument, while on the other side of the coin there are a fair number of Native American tribes who respect it and are honored by the use, but this is a matter I’ll get into way down the road in another post.  The second strike against Lukas came on March 27^th when he unveiled the 2013 Memorial Day Stars & Stripes caps in a picture tweet which said, “All 30 teams to wear these really ugly camo caps on Memorial Day.” I just can’t side with that.

I for one am a fan of them. Hell, I am a huge fan of the ones from last season. You know; the ones I wrote about back in May which featured the game style-colored caps with the digital camouflage interior logos. The ones I’m still trying to find the last few teams that I need. Like baseball uniforms, the United States military has undergone a similar change by updating their camouflage patterns and colors. In years passed, New Era had stared with variations of red, white and blue pattern hats with actual stars and stripes integrated into the logos which ended up pleasing some and disappointing others as well. Even though I personally didn’t purchase any of those caps, as a fan of the game and a fan of caps, I can still stay that it was a clever series of designs. When it came to last season’s models I felt that it was a way more fitting tribute to the troops on top of the proceeds that were, and are still being donated to Welcome Back Veterans. I will admit I was a little disappointed to see that last year’s models weren’t brought back for a second tour, but I got over it once I saw these. Even more important, I as incredibly impressed with the fact that Majestic Apparel collaborated with New Era and came out with matching camouflage-logo jerseys and shirts for the players to wear and fans to purchase which were met with positive responses from both. My point in all of this is that as a uniform critic, using “ugly” as an adjective is rather juvenile. Even more so, to be so quickly dismissive shows no sign constructive intelligence, kind of like when CBS baseball writer Jon Heyman bashed the Oakland Coliseum so harshly in one tweet. As journalists, they know and could do a lot better.

Now that I’m off of my soapbox, I’ll move onto the hat. I snagged this and two others on June 24^th during my trip to Buffalo, New York for the New Era Fan Appreciation event. In my Buffalo Bisons post from that date I explained how at the end of the New Era factory tour we were allowed to take a few “defective” Texas Rangers Stars & Stripes caps home with us. Not wanting to be greedy, I only took as many as my means told me; one for my friend Taylor (@TaylorAKSmith), one for my friend Mark (@TheTXGonzo) and one for myself. I probably could have snagged more, but I didn’t want to overstep the hospitality. If you couldn’t tell from the photo above, the defect in these caps was that the “T” logo was supposed to be made in red with a blue trim, not white with a blue trim.

To be perfectly honest, I dig the white “T” a lot more than the red, but that’s just me.

Now, unlike last year’s Stars & Stripes caps, I don’t have any intention to purchase one of for every team; however, at some point down the road I will snag the Oakland Athletics for my collection because, you know… Athletics.

When marking up this cap I couldn’t help but post the same date as the Arizona Diamondbacks cap I wrote about on May 14^th due to its significance, but also because it makes a lot of sense (in my mind) on account of the logo. I’ll explain…

5/27/13: If you didn’t click on the link for the Diamondbacks post, I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version. Back when the schedule was written up and first posted, the Diamondbacks were so thrilled with the success of a doubleheader which had taken place the previous season that they opted to schedule one for the upcoming season. Being the smart guys that they are, they came up with the best date to hold the games and host the Rangers at the same time, Memorial Day. Since it’s a National holiday, and typically a day when people tend to go out and partake in family events, it proved to be a perfect match for everyone involved… except the Rangers.

If you haven’t noticed with my other posts, I like to find patterns and discover weird stories which all took place underneath these caps. In the case of this one, I thought it would be an amusing fit to mark a date I’ve all ready used on a hat that was made incorrectly for a team that ended up losing both games of the doubleheader they agreed to play in on the road. That’s right; the Rangers dropped both ends of the double dip by the final scores of 5-3 and 5-4. Unfortunately for the Rangers they couldn’t get anything really going offensively with the exception of Adrian Beltre who went 3-9 with three RBI for both games.