March 14- Baltimore Orioles

To start this post off I first have to thank everyone for following me through this journey. These posts are not just about the hats I love to collect and wear, but a celebration of the people who have enriched my life through baseball. Last night’s post was not only the most viewed post in a 24 hour time frame, but the most of any that I have written altogether. Over 1000 views to be exact; in which I mostly have Gio Gonzalez to thank for retweeting it this morning. Every day is a new challenge; but most of all, every day is a new treat to be able to share these stories with everyone. Without your support, this mission wouldn’t mean as much. Thank you all!

For the last five years or so I’ve slowly gotten back into collecting baseball cards on a more regular basis. When I was three-years-old I was for introduced to the hobby by my older brothers Matt and Adam. Adam is four years older than me and Matt is five years older, but even as young as I was, they both hooked me up with a few of their doubles since I wasn’t old enough to have any means of being able to go out and buy any packs on my own. The first card they gave me? 1986 Topps Jose Canseco rookie card. My father and Adam grew up San Francisco Giants fans, but Matt made sure I got a firm education in being an Oakland Athletics fan; hence the card choice. From that day I was hooked; not just on the A’s, but also starting my own extensive baseball card collection. From ’86 until 1993 I bought packs with whatever birthday and Christmas money I garnered. During those days I ran the gamut, buying Donruss, Upper Deck, Topps, etc., but as I got into my teenage years I maintained my focus on Topps. There was always something nostalgic about it, which I think played heavily on the Canseco card my brother gave me. Today I buy a pack or two whenever I have a few extra bucks in my pocket after picking up my monthly necessities at Target. I’m not particularly focused on getting a complete set; hell, I’m not even that psyched on pulling the inserts. I do it because I love the feeling of opening a pack of cards. It brings back the feeling of opening presents on Christmas, even for just a few moments.

As a youngling the highlight of opening a pack was being able to admire all of the logos printed on the front. I knew who a few of the players I was getting were, but for the most part I critiqued whether I had a good pack or a bad pack based on the variety of teams I got, especially the A’s ones. From what I recall I always enjoyed getting Montreal Expos, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, and most importantly, Baltimore Orioles cards. Their logos throughout the 1980s are still iconic pieces of art throughout the history of baseball. The Orioles smiling bird logo always made me laugh because it reminded me of something I would find in a comic book. As I got older and started seeing it less and less until it was finally gone, it made me a little sad inside. It felt as if a small piece of the best years of my youth had been temporarily dispatched from the planet and placed in a time capsule, waiting to be unearthed when I was old enough to appreciate it more. That day finally came in July of 2011.

For years I had seen this hat at almost every sports shop I walked through, especially the one I worked at, Just Sports (@JustSportspdx). For some stupid reason I kept putting it off, and off, and off until the wheels in my head finally kicked on and I dropped the cash down fast than you can say Brooks Robinson. Of all the Orioles hats to collect, this one was the most important as it told tales from years past that will forever live in the infamy of baseball.

It served as the Orioles game cap from 1975-1988. Under its awesomeness the Orioles fielded many greats such as Brooks Robinson, Lee May, Reggie Jackson (one season), Eddie Murray and of course, the Ironman, Cal Ripken, Jr. In the 14 years the O’s rocked this cap they only won World Series in 1983, the same year that Cal won his first American league MVP. But to be honest, as great as their accomplishments were, there was only one specific thing that I always come back whenever I wear or see this cap/logo.

#616- Some of you may have all ready known where I was going with this story from the start, but for those of you who don’t, you’re in for a treat. As I mentioned above, I had always been an avid collector of Topps baseball cards, but there was one year of Fleer that will always be #1 in my book. 1989 was a great year for me; the Oakland A’s dominated the Giants in extreme fashion in the World Series, I had a productive first grade year, and most importantly, I got my first Billy Ripken card. What was originally supposed to be a $.05 common card turned out to be one of the most sought after cards in the history of the hobby. Here it is if you haven’t had the honor of gazing upon it…

That’s right! The infamous “Fuck Face” card. When the cards were first released in 1989 very few people gave it much thought. After all, it’s just Billy Rip with a bat on his shoulder, doing the classic profile pose. Not to mention, the writing on the bat is rather small and hardly noticeable at first, but once people took notice, its popularity soared.

What ensued was absolute chaos and—as the "error" card's price rose to nearly $500—there were some amazing stories. A kid, who happened to be a fan of Ripken, had purchased a huge lot of No. 616's from a dealer for $50. When the curse was found, the new worth of the cards was closer to $20,000. There was the story of one kid who sued another kid for convincing him to sell his Billy Ripken for $1, without knowing the curse was on the bat. And the tale of the Geraldo show entitled "Men who write bad things in public places," when an audience member claimed it was he who wrote the obscenity on Ripken's bat. – CNBC December 9, 2008

I was one of the lucky kids who found an original; however, I was also one of the unlucky kids who grew up in a Mormon house where such words were not allowed. Not too long after my father found out that I had the card he gave me two options:

1. Throw the card in the trash. (Wasn’t happening)

2. Trade it. (Damn you Gevon Gardner!!!) <----- The kid I traded it to for Ryne Sandberg.

I feel bad for any other kid who had to go through the same “punishment” as I did, but looking back on it I find the whole ordeal quite hilarious. I mean, can you imagine something like this going down in professional sports? A trade going down after a player’s parents got involved! Oh my garden! That would be SOOOOOOOO ridiculous. Wait a minute…

Sorry. Had to do it. Anyway, if there was ever any piece of Orioles history that I needed back in my life, it was definitely this card… or at least something like it. When I came up with my baseball mascot/logo tattoo designs I made sure every one of them had an important, historical value to them. For the Orioles I probably could have picked out something more “important,” but that’s really all in the eye of the beholder.

I’ll never regret this decision.

March 13- Washington Nationals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 12- Arizona Diamondbacks

My original post today was going to consist of a Chicago White Sox hat used from 1976-1981; however, there was one specific moment in the history of that hat that prevented me from writing about it tonight. Instead, you’ll have to way until July. Sorry. Needing a new hat to write about, I had to jump on the bus back to my house on the south side of Eugene; a process which took way longer than it should have. After that I had what felt like a million other things to do on account that all of my finals are taking place this week. Hence the late post. So, without any further issues, here we go.

I wore this cap a few times throughout 2012; the most notable day coming on February 20th when I was featured in the University of Oregon campus newspaper The Daily Emerald because of my MLB Fan Cave campaign. The actual interview itself was kind of interesting, mostly because the writer conducting it was someone I was taking a Feature Writing class with at the time. Even though we had been talking on a near-daily basis for almost a month about the Fan Cave process, it still took him and the newspaper that long to care about the story. I mean, I’m a journalist at the school and a bunch of other student journalists didn’t really see the news value in my story. OK? Anyway, the interview was done over the phone; another thing I thought was weird because, as I said, we had class together. What was really funny about the interview, at least in my opinion, is that I was in the bathroom the entire time, throwing up in between each question because of a wicked stomach flu I was fighting. The questions varied around the lines of who I am, why I did this and then ended with a slew of baseball trivia questions. Despite my health, I answered all but one question correctly. That question? Who won the World Series in 1974? I had said the Cincinnati Reds, who did in fact win the Series in 1975 and 1976, but somehow I had spaced out on my team, the Oakland Athletics, taking it in ’74. It happens. Personally I blame the lack of electrolytes in my body. Meh! With the interview over I went to bed, but was interrupted by another call from him asking if it was cool if they took a few photos the next day. I obliged and passed out. The next day I met with the photographer and he took a series of photos of me with my shirt off. In keeping with the theme of heading to Arizona for the Top 30 a few days from then, I decided to roll with this hat to the photo shoot.

For those of you who didn’t all ready know; yes, I’m totally that dude with all the MLB tattoos you may have read about on Yahoo or Deadspin. I was also featured in an MLB tickets commercial which ran quite regularly throughout the season, but I’ll get to that in a different post.

The Arizona Diamondbacks only used this hat for one season in 1998, their inaugural year. They rarely wore it as it only served as their alternate road cap and therefore didn’t really build a long historical standing within the franchise. Which is a  shame considering the fact that it’s a pretty sweet hat. When the article ran on the 20^th the physical copy of the Emerald was printed in black and white; however, the online copy was printed in color (as seen above). I didn’t think much of it at the time. I was just happy that my school finally took the time to help me out with a bit of publicity.

When I moved back to Eugene at the start of 2013, I immediately started school on January 7th. As the days moved on I started to take notice at all the new faces around campus, as I had been gone for almost a full year. One thing about me is that , when I saw someone wearing a New Era cap I always look to see what team they’re wearing. I suppose that has mostly to do with being such an avid fan of the company and the game itself. For me, it’s a good conversation starter; however, as I walked around campus I started to notice a common hat amongst the sea of faces. This hat.

Back on February 2st1 I wrote about the Montgomery Biscuits alternate cap, and within it I mentioned that a lot of kids started rocking the cap not too long after they saw me sporting it. Prior to the interview I did with the Emerald I never saw anyone on campus wearing this cap. Today, and for the last two and a half months, I’ve noticed five to six people wearing it every single day. And not necessarily the same people each day. Am I missing something? Does this cap carry a secret meaning amongst the kids that I’m not aware of? Or did I start a new hat trend…again? These are serious questions. I mean, I don’t really mind being a trend setter, but I’m just confused why this hat seems to be the “ish” in Eugene; especially considering that it had such a short shelf life in the Show.

This, and many other New Era related unsolved mysteries, are things that I will hopefully be able to get to the bottom of by asking these questions. Hell, it worked for the Monte Irvin Los Angeles Angels post I had. So if you have any insight, please feel free to hit me up. Because until I hear or discover any other logical explanation, I can only assume that the kids of Eugene were inspired by my shirtless photo in the paper. Which is kind of cool, I guess.

Like a few other posts I’ve written, this Diamondbacks cap was the only one I ever had intentions on buying. Therefore, when I marked it up I used numbers which were personal to me, not necessarily about the era in which the cap was used.

#9- Matt Williams oddly enough was on the 1998 team, so I totally lucked out with that one. Williams was drafted by the San Francisco Giants with the third overall pick in 1986 and made his debut with the club in 1987. Despite my loyalty to the A’s, I always liked watching Williams play. From ’87-’89 Williams peaked right around the Mendoza line (.200) and was sent back to their AAA affiliate in Phoenix repeatedly. In 1990 it all came together. Williams hit .277 with 33 home runs and 122 RBI, which gave him a respectable sixth place finish for the National League MVP vote. In 1993 he finished sixth again, but in 1994 he finished in second place behind Jeff Bagwell despite having crushed 43 home runs before the players strike ended the season. At the end of the 1996 season the Giants opted night to resign their consistent-hitting third baseman and instead spent 1997 in Cleveland with the Indians on a one-year deal. In ’98 Williams found himself on a brand new team, literally, as the Diamondbacks were assembling a team with as much veteran talent as possible. For third base, Williams was their guy. He spent his final six seasons with the organization, going .278/99/381 in 595 games. During his tenure Williams set the single-season franchise RBI record of 142 in 1999, but most importantly, he helped the team win their one and only World Series in 2001. He finished his career making five All-Star teams, four Silver Sluggers awards, four Gold Gloves and one World Series title. Not too shabby.

#20- Gonzo. This is where I screwed up on my numbering. Luis Gonzalez spent the 1998 season in Detroit in his one and only year with the Tigers after spending eight years with the Houston Astros and two years with the Chicago Cubs. In 1999 the Diamondbacks rolled the dice and traded Karim Garcia to the Tigers for Gonzo; and the rest, as they say, is history. History’s sake consisted of Gonzo tying Williams’ 142 RBI record in 2001, the same year he crushed a career high 57 home runs and won a World Series ring. And not just any World Series ring, a ring against the New York Yankees. And not just any Yankees team, a team with Mariano Rivera closing the game out. And of course when I say closing the game out, I mean Gonzo tagged a Series-winning single up the middle practically off of his wrist. That hit alone can pretty much get him a free table and steak anywhere in Phoenix. Gonzo spent eight solid years in the desert going .298/224/774 during that stretch. A decent story I have about him came during our time in Arizona for the Top 30 interviews.

One of our assignments was to interview a player “randomly” selected by the executives. The person I was paired up with was Ryan “Tatman” Roberts. Shocker. I’ll get to that story another time though. As we were walking around Salt River Fields at Talking Stick I noticed a familiar face roaming around in a golf cart throughout a few of our interviews. He was wearing glasses and had a little bit less hair than I had remembered, but I could still spot that it was Gonzo. After we wrapped up our interviews we headed up to the perimeter of the executive offices for lunch. I was talking to a few of the other finalists when I noticed Gonzo out of the corner of my eye. He was about 50 yards away from me, asking Kyle Thompson if he was plying pool on either of the two tables in front of him. Kyle had elected to eat lunch by himself, and I could tell from the distance I was at he had no clue who he was talking to. Gonzo had merely gone over to ask about the pool tables because the covers were off. Kyle told him he wasn’t playing and proceeded to help him put the covers back on. It was at this time I started walking over to go strike up a conversation with him. It was also at this time that everyone noticed where I was going, and then noticed who I was going to talk to, at which they all decided it might be a good idea to follow. I introduced myself and one-by-one so did everyone else. He spent a good 20 minutes chatting with all of us; telling jokes, answering questions and just being an all-around good guy. He then said he had to head back inside to work at which I told him about the tattoo I had which is a tribute to his 2001 team winning the World Series (which is true and why I went with their classic colors). Gonzo took a quick peek and asked me to wait a minute before he walked back inside. About 15 seconds later he emerged with his phone and asked if it was cool if he could take a picture. That was by far one of the coolest moments of my life to have a big leaguer ask for a picture of me, even if it was just one of my tattoos. He then asked about the history behind it and when I got everything done before he finally headed back inside to more than likely sit around the office and continue being an awesome dude.

March 11- Toledo Mud Hens

In all the years that I’ve been collecting New Era Caps I’ll never really begin to understand why it took me so long to scoop this cap up. Every time I jumped on the Lids Web site I’d run across it whenever I was in the mood for buying from the Minor Leagues. I think there was a part of me that always assumed that its popularity would always keep it in stock, much like a New York Yankees cap; it was always be there. It wasn’t until the Christmas Day that I finally pulled the trigger and bought this, as well as a few other random caps that caught my eye. Until today I hadn’t removed the tags, nor had I even tried it on. Both of those are very unbecoming of me as trying the hat on is primarily the first thing I do when I get a shipment. I don’t know; something always felt kind of distant whenever I looked at this hat in person, like something subconscious was at play. It took me a while to really put my finger on it, but even now it’s become a bit of struggle to try and put the words together to not screw this up.

This Toledo Mud Hens hat was first used in 1987; however, the current incarnation of the logo was actually created in 1984. From ’84-’86 the Mud Hens wore a similar hat which featured a red bill. In 1987 the all-navy blue hat was introduced. Prior to the “T” logo with the Mud Hen over the top the team just used hats featuring only the “T,” which dates back to the 1950s before the original AAA version of the Mud Hens packed up shop and relocated to Wichita, Kansas at the end of the 1955 season. For those of you who happen to be old enough to really remember the show MASH, the Mud Hens were the favorite team of Corporal Max Klinger played by Jamie Farr, a Toledo native. The most important things to note from this are that…

1. The hat he wore occasional featured the “T” logo.

2. MASH took place during the Korean War, which was fought from 1950-1953.

Upon doing photo-based research I was able to conclude that the cap Farr wore on the show was historically accurate. The current incarnation of the Mud Hens resurfaced in 1965 when the Yankees moved the former Richmond Virginians there prior to that season. From 1966-1987 the Mud Hens changed affiliations three times; going to the Detroit Tigers to the Philadelphia Phillies, to the Cleveland Indians to the Minnesota Twins and then back to the Tigers which still stands today. Another important historical note about the Mud Hens is that in 1884; when the team was know as the Blue Stockings, they were the only team operating at the Major League level with black players on the team. More specific, Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Welday, the first and last black athletes allowed to play professional baseball until Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers debut in 1947. But none of these facts listed played a real part in my hesitance.

To really clarify things I have to go back to 1999, the first year I was bat boy for the Bakersfield Blaze. For the first half of the season my primary duties had nothing to do with being a bat boy. I was primarily a ball shagger. By that I mean I had to run around behind the fence to scoop up all the home run balls hit during batting practice so that they could be used again. See, things aren’t like the Major League level. The budgets aren’t as hefty, and when you’re playing Class-A ball expenses are kept at a minimal. About half way into the season the regular bat boy was growing tired of his job, so I was tapped to be his replacement. At first I thought it was going to be awesome, but that was all before I went through the hazing process from the players. I was 16-years-old at the time, and for the most part the average age of the guys on the team hovered around 22-years-old. At the same time I was dealing with professional ball players, a bunch of guys who had larger than life attitudes and weren’t too keen on some new kid coming into the clubhouse to screw everything up. The first few games were Hell. None of the players bothered to talk to me, but I kept my head up and concentrated on not screwing anything up. As the season wore on a few of the players opened up to me to let me know that I was doing a great job. One of those players in particular was a Venezuelan-born kid named Guillermo Rodriguez.

#7- (Of all the photos I could find, of course I find the one where he's getting plunked) Guillermo  was born in 1978, the same year as my older brother Adam, and was signed as an amateur by the San Francisco Giants in 1995. Throughout ’99 he moved up and down between Bakersfield and Salem-Keizer with the Volcanoes, the short season-A club in Oregon. At the tale end of my sophomore year in high school Guillermo gave me a hand with my Spanish homework on occasion, other times he would purposely give me wrong answers to help me learn it on my own. Every time I came into the clubhouse he would greet me with a hug, sometimes without pants on, and then whip me with the towel he had around his waist before he took a pre-practice shower. This sort of tomfoolery continued into the 2000 season as well. Yah, it was pretty weird, but it was all part of being accepted amongst the gang. When I made the decision to move to Vancouver, Washington to live with my mom for my senior year of high school I decided to leave after the California League All-Star break to make it easier on my schedule. I told the team that I was leaving with two home stands to go. All of them were surprisingly saddened by the news, but none as much as Guillermo. We kept in contact through emails every now-and-then, but both of our schedules got way too crazy to keep it going. I was; however, able to see him and a few of the other guys in 2002 and 2003 when they came up to Portland as members of the Fresno Grizzlies, the AAA-affiliate of the Giants. I was still too young to hit the town with them, but we talked smack before and after the games as if things had never changed. Finally, in 2004, Guillermo was dealt to the Tigers as they were in desperate need of a new catcher. Things were looking rather promising that he was going to finally get his break to play in the Show on a daily basis, but… two days after the deal the Tigers picked up Ivan Rodriguez. Guillermo spent the entire season in Toledo and had one of the worst years of his career. Guillermo did play a few games in the Majors: 39 for the Giants in 2007 and 7 for the Baltimore Orioles in 2009, but that was it. He went back down to the Minors by the end of the 2009 and disappeared from the game. Or so I thought. In 2012 he popped back up on the radar down in Mexico, playing for the Pericos de Puebla, a team managed by former Major League journeyman, and old guy Julio Franco. I haven’t talked to Guillermo since the summer of 2003, and to be honest, I kind of miss the guy. I’d take another awkward hug and towel whip from him any day.

#31- Collin Balester and I met in the MLB Fan Cave on April 27 of this last year. The only reason I remember the date is because I had to look it up. The cool thing about Collin is that he had a pretty sweet beard that rivaled mine quite well. One of the first things that I had remarked to him is that he reminded me of Arik Thaughbaer (yes, I had to check spelling) from the movie Willow. This guy to be exact…

In between takes for the Miggy Poco sketch Collin, Gar “Batting Stance Guy” Ryness and I goofed around and chatted while everyone else shot their scenes. At the end of filming he and I gave each other a manly handshake; you know, the only kind that can be brought together by the mightiest of beards. Well, I guess if you don’t have a beard, then you wouldn’t know, but I assure you, the Gods were smiling down that day. (I’ll stop being retarded for the rest of this) Over the next few weeks we continued our Shenanigans over Twitter, with Collin getting the Rambo (First Blood) Award for this gem, poking fun at the massive Samsung Galaxy Note that I had gotten in the Fan Cave…

After that my jokes paled in comparison, but we still tossed a few out when we had free time.

On May 23^rd, everything changed. The Tigers designated Collin for assignment to Toledo almost immediately after the Tigers suffered a 5-3 loss at the hands of the Indians. I was crushed. I had known guys to get moved around the Minors, but I had never really known anyone to be playing in the Show to then get demoted.

If you read my post from February 23, a lot of this will sound familiar. After Collin got the news I stayed silent. I really didn’t know what to say. We didn’t know each other all that well, and I didn’t know if my words would have given any bit of encouragement or made things worse, so I kept quiet. Little did I know, my world was about to take a swift detour as well.

On May 30^th I was given my walking papers from the Fan Cave. Not a demotion, just an all-out “thanks for coming, have a safe flight home.” To make things worse I was promised by two executives (Jacqueline Parkes and Jeff Heckelman) that I would get assistance for a job in the near future, but I had to keep quiet about things until they made a formal announcement on the 31^st. So I did. I was out and about when the news broke and came home to a flurry of tweets and messages asking what happened. I did my best to reply in as politically correct fashion as I could, that is, until I saw Collin’s direct message. I had kept pretty calm up until that moment, but I couldn’t hold it back as I responded to him. I think it was a slight feeling that I hadn’t been there to support him when he may have needed it that brought the emotional wave on, but I think most of it was because a Big League ball player took the time to help me out when I needed it most. My parents and friends couldn’t really say anything to comfort me, but Collin’s words did. In the weeks and months to follow we’d chat through Instagram or Twitter, depending on which one of us has the best joke going.

(Read my post from February 23 to get caught up to this point) On September 18^th Collin, his father-in-law and I met up at Tropicana Field for a Tampa Bay Rays game against the Boston Red Sox. Collin had gotten a hook-up on tickets, so all I had to do was get to the stadium. I rented a 2011 Ford Mustang and hauled ass to the Trop as I was running just a wee bit late. With about 20 minutes before first pitch I got inside and met up with the guys.

For the first time since we had really known each other, it was the first time I didn’t look at him as a ball player. I’ve always done my best to not look at a person based on their job or their status, but in New York, and especially in the Fan Cave, it made things difficult. Now that we were both kind of out of our element we could watch the game as friends. At times, I’ll admit, it felt a little weird, but only because I knew that he should have been in Detroit, gearing up for the playoffs. Even though we were at a game, I managed to not bring that up. Instead, we crushed some beers, popped some sharks

and hung out with sting rays. One of which I accidentally pissed off.

After nearly having my hand bitten off by a sting ray, Collin’s father-in-law convinced the both of us to make a music video for Collin’s daughter, but I made a promise to not ever mention it, so I’ll just leave it at that. We bummed around the stadium, catching the game from every angle we could, and then we parted ways. The next day I met my girlfriend Angie Kinderman; something that would have never happened without Collin inviting me out to the game.

To this day we still chat every now-and-then, but a bit more limited on account of Spring Training. On November 28^th the Texas Rangers signed Collin to a Minor League deal with a spring invite. When I pulled this hat out this morning the first thing I noticed was the “T” logo, which happens to be the same logo the Rangers used from their first year in 1972-1993. The “T” logo is one of the rare cases in which a Major League team borrows from a Minor League for something as iconic as their logo. I take this as a good sign. At 26-years-old I know he has a lot of solid years left in him, especially considering the fact that he’s the last draft pick in the history of the Montreal Expos to have an impact at the Major League level.

I felt compelled to mark my hat up with the two guys who I knew to play for the Mud Hens to have a profound impact on my life. To Collin and Guillermo- I thank both of you, from the bottom of my heart, for everything you have done.

March 10- San Diego Padres

I can honestly say that of all the 260 hats that I own, this is my least favorite. I feel like kind of a scumbag saying that considering the fact that the San Diego Padres have been wearing this hat every Sunday since the 2011 season as part of their “support the military” days. I really have nothing against the military, nor do I have anything against supporting the troops… I just really hate the color of this hat. Which is also why of all the regular game worn on-field caps from 2012, this was the last one I scooped up.

Over the years teams have reconstructed and introduced a variety of caps which have made me question how certain people are able to keep their jobs. While I completely understand the desert sand color on this hat matches with the color combination of the camouflage jerseys the Padres wear, I just feel that there are many ways the Padres could have been supportive of the military presence in San Diego with a bit more flair and style. Because honestly, it looks like somebody spilled a jar of butternut squash baby food all over it and called it a day.

*It’s at this moment I would like to point out that not every one of these blog posts are winners.

**I should also point out that sometimes when one critiques something on a daily basis, whether it be food, films, music, etc. some of the final products aren’t up to snuff.

Anyway, the concept behind why the Padres opted to roll with this is truly noble. San Diego houses a large portion of the United States military, primarily the Navy and Marines on account of the more than perfect weather conditions, but most importantly because of the location it provides for deployment, training and first line of defense for an east to westward attack (Yes, I know a lot more about the world than just baseball). From 2006-2010 the Padres had done a different color variation on this tribute, but I’ll get to that post later this year. The biggest difference between this uniform style, other than color, and the '06-'10 set is the use of the digital camouflage style similar to what was used in the Stars and Stripes hat released by all the teams for Memorial Day. Like this…

Since this hat was introduced in 2011 I figured it would be best to stick with that year when marking up my hat. Keeping with the Sunday theme I decided to roll with only key numbers from those “Military Day” games… and somehow, even as meticulous as I am, I still managed to screw it up. I blame the color of the hat.

#21- This part is accurate. In 2011 Heath Bell was probably the most redeeming quality of the Padres’ 71-91 season. The most home runs any one player had was 11 by Ryan Ludwick who also led the team in RBI with 64. Clearly things were not going well. Bell saved 43 games that season on top of a 3-4 record with a team leading 2.44 ERA for all pitchers who threw 60 or more innings; which means that Bell contributed to 65% of their wins. For his service Bell made his third straight All-Star appearance as the lone member of the Padres. You might remember his sprint out of the bullpen and slide into the pitchers mound. Classic!

16-10(7-5)- I totally blew it on this, but at the same time not really. If you couldn’t tell by the season record I posted above, the Padres had a less than optimal season in 2011. How bad you say? Well, they won the first game of the season on March 31, which meant that March was the only month in which the Padres finished with a win percentage for a month greater than .500. In May the Padres went 14-14 which was the only full month they finished with a .500 or better record; however, based on the season splits, Sunday proved to be a very successful day for them. Now, here is where I screwed up: when breaking down the day-by-day numbers I accounted for ALL of the Sunday matchups, in which they finished with a 16-10 record with a win percentage of .615; pretty good. I thought that was their Home record; you know, the days in which they wore this cap. Without double checking my numbers, which is not something that happens often, I pulled out my black Sharpie and marked it up. After about 25 minutes of shaking the stupid out of my brain, I finally realized my mistake and went back threw the numbers; hence the (7-5), their actual Home Sunday record. A .538 win percentage on that day is still pretty solid; however, Bell only accounted for two saves, one win and one loss in that stretch. What gives bro!?

March 9- Stockton Ports

It’s quite amazing the friends I’ve made this season, and I truly have the MLB Fan Cave to thank for it no matter how sarcastic they may think I am to say that. It’s really the truth. Before last season I went to an average of seven Oakland Athletics games a season, and for every game I attended I either sat with the friends I came with or the few people that sat around me. Without the MLB Fan Cave I wouldn’t have known or met the most passionate, dedicated fan base in Major League Baseball, the right field crew. You know who they are, the bunch of raucous die hards who wave their flags, Bernie Lean, Bacon Tuesday and Balfour Rage for every home game on the A’s schedule. For the past few seasons I had seen them at work anytime I made my way south for a game, and every time I saw them I would sit and admire their craft. But I never walked over and sat with them.

During my time in New York I was finally able to establish a dialogue with the most of the crew trough Twitter. Since I was watching every A’s game I’d always see them on TV; and every time I saw them on the screen I couldn’t help but think about how much I wanted to be there with them. The Fan Cave was great and all, but the craving to be at a live game, watching my team was always at the forefront of my mind. I don’t want to go into too much detail right now, as I have a more explicit tribute to my friends in the future. But I will say, without them, my summer, and my baseball experience would not have been the same.

This hat was a gift from my friend Will MacNeil, a long-time member of the right field crew at the Oakland A’s Fan Fest which was held on January 27^th of this year. For a while Will had promised me a Stockton Ports hat as he had a friend who worked in the front office for the team. As it turned out, Will gave me their red game style AND this one. The amount of generosity I had received over the past few months from everyone in the crew was absolutely endearing, but this act went beyond that. As an avid hat collector I had always turned down the offer of freebies, especially when member of the executive staff of MLB had offered them to me in the Fan Cave. My response to them was always on the lines of, “if I didn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it.” Not once in the Fan Cave did I ever ask for something for free. I suppose I have my upbringing to blame for that one. So when Will offered me a free hat it took quite a bit of convincing on his part to get me to accept it. When we met in the parking lot at the end of Fan Fest I didn’t really have the words to express how I felt. I was truly moved that someone would do something so important, out of the kindness of their heart for me. I’ll never be able to say it enough, but seriously, thank you so much Will.

Doing research on this hat proved to be a bit of a challenge. I didn’t know much of it, other than the fact that the Ports had obviously worn for at least one game over the last few years. I hit up Will and asked as good of questions as I could to help get to the bottom of it. When was it worn? Who wore it? Did anything significant happen while the team wore it? I didn’t have an internet connection on my bus back to Eugene this afternoon so our conversation was broken up quite a bit throughout the day. By the time I got to Max’s Tavern to start my shift at 4:00 PM, Will had the answers. This hat was only worn once on June 20, 2009 in an unfortunate 6-5 losing effort against the San Jose Giants on their “Go Green” day at Banner Island Ballpark. As a kid I had seen quite a few Ports games when I lived in Stockton in 1986-1988, but that was when they were playing their games at Billy Hebert Field as an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Since they became an affiliate of the A’s in 2005 I have yet to see them play. I really need to change that by this next season.

Since the team only wore it the one time I had to revolve my numbers around that day.

#3- Jemile Weeks was the up-and-coming star for the Ports during those days. A first round draft pick (12^th overall) in the 2008 amateur draft, Weeks played in 50 games that season, going .299/7/31. His most notable accomplishment during the season was an impressive 22-game hit streak he had amassed in his first 22 games as a member of the club. During that stretch he batted .400 with five doubles, a triple, all seven of his home runs and 23 RBI. With numbers like that it wasn’t much of a mystery that he only hung around for 50 games. By halfway through the 2011 season Weeks was called up to the Majors where he continued to eviscerate pitchers with a .303 average and 22 stolen bases.

#19- Scott Mitchinson was the starter who received the no decision for the Go Green game. That day he got tagged for two runs off of three hits and no strikeouts. Despite making five starts previous to the 20^th Mitchinson’s record was a dismal 0-1 with a 4.29 ERA. I don’t mean to knock the guy or anything, but these are certainly the breaks of playing in the pros. You take your lumps and move on to play another day. As I mentioned before, this hat was worn only one day, so I had to give it up for Australian-born right hander. His most notable moment in his career was as a member of the 2009 Australian World Baseball Classic team as a replacement for Ryan Rowland-Smith after he opted out. Unless you’re an avid A’s or Ports fan, you probably had never heard of him, which is the most important reason I added him to my hat.

Everyone has their day, and so with that, I tip my cap to you Scott.

March 8- Cincinnati Reds

It’s kind of ridiculous of exhausted I am. Somehow I am continuing to forge ahead, writing this post despite having been awake for the last 40 hours. I assure you I feel like a bucket of yuck at the moment, but it will certainly be interesting to see how well I can string words together when writing tonight’s post.

It still comes at a bit of mystery as to why I purchased this hat on a random day in November of 2011. I was splitting time on my hat orders between Mickey’s Place and Lids when I came to a bit of a crossroad on one specific hat, the 1956 Cincinnati Reds. Now, the really interesting things about both Web sites offering this hat are…

• Each site featured a hat with a different logo
• Neither of them was the correct style.
• Both were interesting, but neither really impressed me.

Yet, for some strange reason I ended up rolling with the one on the Lids site because I thought it was “interesting.” When it arrived in the mail I had roughly the same feeling I do know; the feeling of, “what the hell was I thinking?” Don’t get me wrong, I could have done a lot worse, but it’s still a highly questionable combination of the all red with this particular, crazy-eyed logo.

The logo, while accurate to the era was featured on the sleeves of the jerseys from 1954-1959 and went through slight alterations in 1960 (twice) on through 1967. In 2007 the team brought it, as well as the original Johnny Redlegs, who this logo represents, for their batting practice and spring training collection. In fact, Yahoo!’s Big League Stew writer Dave Brown and I have been jibber-jabbing over which hat is in fact worse looking. This one I’m wearing or the newly released 2013 spring training hat with the black panels.

I think the one part of the story that takes an even more interesting turn is the number selection I opted to roll with: 4256, the number of hits Pete Rose amassed over his 24-year career.

I think at the time I was able to justify it on account of the fact that the Reds had been using this logo during the time when he made his Major League debut on April 8, 1963. Much like the Nolan Ryan career strikeout total on the least significant hat, I decided to roll the dice on one of the most prestigious statistics in MLB history on a hat which most people never knew existed. But, I did. Today is only the third time I’ve ever put it on because, let’s face it; it looks rather goofy on my head. I know I keep blasting this hat, but there are visual traits about it which prove my argument. Most specifically, look at the logo and where it sits on the hat; it’s upright and somewhat misshaped, which makes it appear as if it’s sitting too high in between the front panels. Therefore, for anyone who wears it, the hat is given the appearance that it’s sitting much taller on the person’s head. Second, it’s all red; which in my opinion is a color that has never looked good on me.

One of the most interesting stories about this cap took place about a week before I went to New York for the MLB Fan Cave. The other eight Cave Dwellers and I had all ready been selected, so I was in the process of packing up everything I owned to either move it into storage, or take it to New York with me. Every clothing item I owned which had to do with baseball found their way into my suitcase except for three items. I had developed a hunch one day and decided to email Jeff Heckelman, one of the heads of public relations for MLB, and more specifically one of the guys who was in constant contact with us throughout the application process. I wasn’t really sure how MLB would feel if I ever rolled into the Fan Cave all decked out in Peter Rose Reds gear, so I asked his thoughts on the matter before I made a huge mistake. It only took him about 10 minutes to respond with an ardent “NO!” So, not wanting to be the first on the chopping block (irony) I left my Pete Rose shirt, jersey and of course, this hat behind. It was the only New Era hat not to make the 3000 mile journey with me... and this awesome shirt.