January 26- New York Giants

Back when I was in the MLB Fan Cave a buddy of mine (@ThatBabyIsGone) had told me about a hat Web site that I had somehow never heard about called HatClub.com. Even after Brandon told me about the site it still took me another seven months before I bothered checking it out. A few days after the shooting at the Clackamas Town Center mall I was feeling a little down and decided to do some hat shopping to help me feel better. Rather than stick to the normal Web sites I was regularly purchasing from, I opted to specifically look for a few hats that were driving me crazy to find. In all three cases the photos directed me to Hat Club. Needless to say, I snooped around for a bit. Also needless to say, I wish I had checked it out prior. By the end of my search I walked away with eight new hats, including this one.

In early April (2012) I saw the Boston Red Sox wear their old 1912 style cap against the New York Yankees for their 100 year anniversary of Fenway Park game. Just seeing the all white hat kind of turned me off because there was nothing really to indicate the team. It wasn’t until I ran across this that I regretted not buying the Red Sox one when I had a chance at the New Era Flagship Store in New York. Had I actually picked it up and turned it around I would have noticed the specific colored MLB logo patch on the back of the hat. Luckily the Hat Club site had a 360 degree turn option so I could see the patch on this bad boy; a 1912 New York Giants cap. Since I picked it up it’s certainly grown on me. I just really wish I had gotten that Sox hat too. (Funny coincidence, the Red Sox beat the Giants in seven games in he World Series in 1912)

In a previous post I had mentioned how numbers weren’t tagged onto jerseys until the mid-1920s, so it made it a bit of a challenge to figure out something clever to throw on this cap. I had contemplated stats and dates, but ultimately ended up with just using initials. SOOOOOO ORIGINAL!!! I know.

#RM- Rube Marquard is a Hall of Fame pitcher who played for the Giants from 1908- the middle of 1915. During the 1912 season he led the league with 26 wins, and had a decent number of strikeouts (175) and an ERA of 2.57. The previous season he led the league in strikeouts with 237. But even with his 1912 numbers he was still only good enough to finished eighth in the MVP voting. His teammate, Larry Doyle, took it home that season. Marquard is one of only two Hall of Famers from the 1912 team, with the exception of manager John McGraw. The other member is below…

#CM- This one is pretty obvious. Christy Mathewson threw for the Giants from 1900 through halfway into the 1916 season when he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds and retired after the season ended. Definitely a dick move on the Giants behalf; of which would definitely be repeated throughout their franchise’s history. In 1912 Matty went 23-12 with a 2.12 ERA and 134 strikeouts, which by his standards was a pretty dismal season. The most important reason I posted Mathewson is because he was one of the original five players inducted into the Hall of Fame. The most surprisingly thing about Mathewson is that he was the first one to die of the five. He was clearly the most physically fit of the group (Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson), but he died of consumption (tuberculosis) in 1925 at the age of 45. Now, if you’ve never read Mathewson’s biography, I highly recommend it. Here’s a brief summary: Christy was one of four brothers, all of whom died (one in infancy, one killed himself at 19 and the third died of tuberculosis). Christy contracted his tuberculosis in 1918 during World War I while he and Ty Cobb were members of the Chemical Service program. Christy was inadvertently gassed during a training exercise in France and contracted TB. Poor guy.