July 6- Eugene Emeralds

March 7^th was a pretty spectacular day. It was the day when the Eugene Emeralds were selling all of their brand new 2013 caps for $20 outside of the bar (@TheWebfootBar) my friend Justin owns. Having all ready scored the alternate cap back in January, and seeing how $20 is too good of a price to pass up, I bought the remaining two I needed to round out my collection. It’s days like this that cap collectors like myself love and hate as we all love to get new caps, but hate how quickly the money evaporates from our pockets. No matter. Down the road we are all happy for our purchase when we don our newly purchased caps and hear the ever-familiar, “Hey! Where did you get that cap? It’s awesome!” In the case of this cap, the fine folks at Brandiose in San Diego deserve the most credit.

For those of you who don’t know, Brandiose, or Plan B. Branding as they were formerly known, have been at the forefront of team logo design for the better part of the last decade based out of San Diego, California. The founders, Jason & Casey, started out in their college dorm room designing logos for high school teams and eventually were given their big break by the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx as they were the only team to respond to the 150 letters they sent out to every minor league team. After their first success, many more followed. They are responsible for many of the logos I have all ready written about for teams such as the: Everett AquaSox, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Stockton Ports, Lakeland Flying Tigers, Casper Ghosts and even revision for the oldest team in Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds. In 2012 Jason & Casey were tapped by Emeralds General Manager Allan Benavides.

"When we started this process, we wanted to end up with something fun that fans could really associate with," said Ems General Manager Allan Benavides. "Sasquatch gives the Emeralds a face for the first time in our long history." Sasquatch biting the tree will be the emblem on the home hat while the foot-shaped "E" will serve as an alternate. The road uniforms will feature the "Eugene" script with feet on each end. Home, away and alternate uniforms will be released in the spring.

The new identity pays tribute to America's greatest urban legend, the legend of Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest. The primary logo features a Sasquatch unearthing trees behind "Emeralds" lettering. Fans will also enjoy the iconic "E" Sasquatch foot logo, and several other Sasquatch and foot related marks. A number of different options were considered including themes that involved forests, trees and various woodland creatures. "Ultimately, we felt that sasquatch was the best fit to represent the mystique of the Northwest woodlands," said Benavides.

The development process began last June when Jason and Casey met in Eugene with fans, staff and community members to learn about the stories, history, and personality of the Emeralds and Eugene. Brandiose developed the logos, uniforms and is dreaming up enhancements for the 2013 fan experience. "Eugene is a hotbed of countercultural ideas," said Brandiose's Jason Klein. "From Sasquatch sightings to hippy culture, the Ems are honoring Eugene's eccentricities with a few of their own." – MiLB.com

Back in November of 2012 when the Ems unveiled their new logos I was stuck in Portland for the holidays and working as was unable to attend the event. But that didn’t stop Benavides from hitting me up asking me if I wanted any of the new caps later that night. I of course said yes and they made sure to hold the alternate cap aside for me until I moved back to Eugene to finish up school this last winter. As I’ve mentioned in my previous Ems articles, they run a pretty solid program and I’m always happy to share the love in my blog posts. Kudos!

Now, as I’ve mentioned in a lot of my other “new to 2013” posts it’s hard to tell a story about a hat or player who wore that if it hasn’t been used on the field. In this case I figured it would be a cool time to share a random, but true story about Eugene that only a few people know about in keeping with the theme of Eugene’s oddball history. Since this cap is the team’s road cap, it kind of makes for an appropriate discussion piece as most of my 2012 was spent on the road; only a few weeks were actually spent in or around Eugene.

So… it was July, only a few days after I had returned to Oregon after the West Coast leg of my MLB road trip. I still had until the end of the month until my roommate and my lease expired on our apartment in Eugene so I made as much use of that as I possibly could on any random nights when I felt like going back home to visit and catch up with friends. Since my apartment was only about five blocks from the campus of the University of Oregon and about a 9-iron shot away from the bar I worked at (Max’s Tavern), I rarely ever strayed far from that area. It was some time around 9:30 PM when a few of my friends who worked at the tattoo parlor across the street rolled in and saw me drinking a few beers and enjoying whatever game was on MLB Network that night. None of them knew I was in town so they were all especially excited to see me, as I was excited to see them. Everyone had questions about my experience in New York and why I was home so early, all of which eventually was made worse by the fact that the MLB tickets commercial I was featured in was blaring on the television in the background. Most of the people I knew from the tattoo parlor weren’t fans of baseball, but all of them had grown a particular interest on account of me. At the same time, most of them didn’t have MLB Network so seeing me on TV as I sat in front of them blew most of their minds. To me, it was really uncomfortable as more people around the bar started taking notice to the fact that “the guy from the commercial” was sitting in their midst. Luckily my friends quickly realized how embarrassed I was to be “that guy from the MLB Fan Cave” and they all suggested that we head somewhere else for a few drinks and to catch up. This was something I was more than happy to oblige.

The bar they chose was a bit of a metal/punk rock/anything goes type bar called John Henry’s, which also serves as the 80s night hotspot for all of Eugene on Thursdays and a burlesque house on Sundays. In other words, the place is pretty rad. The only problem that I ever had with it is that it sits in the “Barmuda Triangle,” an area in downtown Eugene where to larger hub of popular bars reside. I’ve never been a huge fan of going to ridiculously jammed up bars, so this was definitely a pole vault out of my comfort zone. My friend Brendan got me a 32 ounce bottle of Miller High Life; yes, they serve those there, and it’s awesome. The group of five us shot the breeze, talked about what we had all been up to and I made sure not to be the centerpiece of the conversation. I just wanted to have a normal night back in the reality I was used to before I left for New York. As my MHL emptied I headed back to the bar for a refill, but ended up staying for a little bit longer than expected due to a conversation I got myself into with someone who seemed really out of place.

When I got to the bar I could see the bartender was busy so I took a seat on the only open stool and waited until I could flag them down. Just as I sat down I felt a hand upon my right shoulder and a voice ring out, “Excuse me, but you’re in my seat.” Not being the jerk who takes seemingly open seats, I got up and said I was sorry. I then followed it up with the routine, “I didn’t know it was taken, I’m just waiting to get a drink.” In all of this time I still didn’t look over my shoulder to really see who I was talking to, a constant theme in my life as I’ve always been the kind of person who does reasonable things on command like duck when someone shouts it, as opposed to looking to see what’s about to blast me in the face right before it happens. Just as I finished my comment the stranger replied, “No worries young man… what are you having? It’s on me.” At this point I chuckled and was about to say, “No worries, I got it,” but all that came out was “Nnnnn…” as I finally looked to see who I was talking to.

Dave Chappelle.

At this point I just froze and laughed some more, but then muttered out what I was originally trying to say. He then said, “No really, I’m buying.” I half-expected him to follow that up with yelling, “It’s a celebration!” in his Rick James voice, but he didn’t. Not wanting to be rude I told him what I was drinking and sure enough he put it on his tab… after he made fun of me for drinking a “32 ounce bottle of urine.” To which I replied, “You know, kids are going hard these days. And when I drink piss, I make sure it’s the finest the great city of Milwaukee has to offer.” He laughed and said, “I’ll have to remember to think of that if I find myself passed out in a bathroom stall in Milwaukee.” We then shook hands, said goodbye and I walked back over to my friends. I never bothered to find out why he was in town, but for that moment, it made me feel better about everything. I figured that at the end of the day, if I can make one of the best comedians in the game laugh, life isn’t so bad.

#50- When I marked this cap up I did under the guise that I was writing down the number on the roster for the 2013 season. Nope! It ended up being someone from 2012; however, the name alone is well worth the acknowledgement.

Goose Kallunki was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 27^th round of the 2012 amateur draft out of Utah Valley State University in Orem, Utah. The son of collegiate athletes, Goose prepped at Orem High School and helped the team make it to the Region Championship in 2006 and a fifth place finish at State Championship in 2008 as a four-year starter for the Tigers. He was also a three-time All-Region and two-time All-State selection. He also played basketball and golf at Orem, earning All-Valley, All-Region and All-State honors in basketball.

At UVSU he played first and third base, becoming the first player from the school to receive All-America honors during his senior year by Louisville Slugger, National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and CollegeBaseballInsider.com. He was also named third-team All-America by Baseball America and Perfect Game, was one of three finalists for 2012 Dick Howser Trophy, honor nation's top collegiate player, a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to top amateur baseball player, District VIII Player of the Year (NCBWA), ABCA First-Team All-Region selection, Great West Conference Player of the Year and First-Team All-Great West Conference Selection. He was quite the busy boy.

Goose’s time with the Emeralds only lasted one season for 53 games. He hit .254 with two home runs and 13 RBI in which 51/53 of those games came as the team’s first baseman. This year Goose has been moving around to various Independent League teams such as the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings, the Joliet Slammers and the Roswell Invaders (minor league teams always have the best names). Between all three teams he is batting .286 with two home runs and 32 RBI.

June 18- Eugene Emeralds

Three days and a year prior is when things really started to kick ass for me. After getting kicked to the curb by Major League Baseball, more specifically the MLB Fan Cave, I was feeling pretty low and did my best for a few days to step away from baseball. That process was not exactly an easy one to accomplish, especially when considering that for two-and-a-half months I did nothing but watch baseball every day. As much as I love baseball, I never want to take it to the extreme of what I had to do in New York City every again. More specifically I mean that I would much rather be out in the elements, watching a baseball in person, rather than having my corneas fried by watching every game on 15 TVs.

I flew back to Oregon on June 8^th, and my timing couldn’t have been any worse. The one thing I can pride myself on is that I watched every no-hitter and perfect game from the 2012 season from first to last pitch… except one. I suppose it’s my fault really. I had postponed my flight back to the West Coast for a few days so I could actually spend time doing things in New York as opposed to be voluntarily locked in a glass zoo for the world to watch us watch TV. Kind of sick (literal meaning) when you really think about it. MLB was at least kind enough to send me back first class, something I guess I should have paid more attention to on the ticket as I still waiting in line at JFK to check my bags. It was after the hour-and-a-half wait that this fact was finally brought to my attention by the woman working at the counter. From that point on, I streamlined… or tried to at least. Once I checked my bags and walked to the next terminal to go through security the woman in charge of the lines stopped me as I was going into the express line and asked, “Are you supposed to be going that way?” Keep in mind; this is when I still looked like an understudy for ZZ-Top tribute band. I handed her my ticket, she looked it over and he eyes immediately darted back at mine, realizing she had made a mistake. As she was about to open her mouth to say something I said, “I know, right!” gave her a cheesy smile and grabbed my ticket out of her hand. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s people judging others based on appearance; it’s a constant theme in my life. I got through security, boarded the plane, had a few beers (on MLB's dime), had a decent meal, watched "We Bought a Zoo," and touched down in Portland late in the evening.

As I was walking through PDX to retrieve my bags I noticed the tail end of the Seattle Mariners game was on in one of the bars. What I didn’t realize until I got home was that Tom Wilhemsen was closing out the final three batters in route to a team no-hitter. In the end, based on what I had been through over the previous week, it made sense that something as awesome as that would happen at a time when I couldn’t watch it.

Trying to get things back on a positive, I drove down to Eugene the next day to catch the first game of my Oregon Ducks’ Super Regional matchup against the Kent State Golden Flashes. I was only able to stay for a few innings in the Ducks 6-7 loss in Game 1 due to a TV interview I had to give later that night. I highly recommend watching it if you want to see me at my most-candid. I made it back the next day for Game 2, but once again had to get back to Portland in the evening for something, but the Ducks took that match up 3-2. Finally, I went back for the final, deciding game without any interruptions, but alas, the Ducks fell in the final out 2-3 and were eliminated just one win away from going to Omaha.

Two things happened to improve moral a bit though:

1. The Eugene Emeralds had hit me up on Facebook offering up to four free tickets for Opening Day on June 15^th.

2. The Oakland Athletics hit me up asking if I wanted to participate in a project they had in mind. The project turned out to be them wanting me to throw out first pitch, which I gladly accepted.

With my Ducks out of the College World Series and four Emeralds tickets in tow, I called up my friends Chris (@MooseandBear69), Scott (@ScottCLandis) and Leif (he doesn’t have Twitter). Another good friend of my, Taylor (@TaylorGelbrich) was in attendance, but he was busy working. Since the Emeralds are a short season-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, I had to roll deep in Padres gear.

Around the second inning the team’s mascot, Sluggo, spotted me in the crowd, came over and gave me a huge hug. I thanked him for everything as he was the person who had messaged me about the tickets. Being a mascot, he didn’t have much to say other than a shake of the head, which I totally understood. As I turned around to go back to my seat the gentleman sitting next to me tapped me on the shoulder and told me to turn back around. As I did, I saw this…

Sluggo had taken the t-shirt graphic my friend Adam Tamarkin and I had made for my Fan Cave campaign and turned it into a tattoo. I was smiling widely on the outside, but underneath my skin I was in tears. Aside from the Athletics, no one had done so much for me since I was let go from New York. I thanked him again and did my best not tremble as I took the photo on account of being of the verge of losing it emotionally on the exterior. Around the fourth inning the Emeralds had one more surprise for me. I looked over to the right and saw my face on the jumbotron in right-center field as they made an announcement that I was at the game. The public address announcer then went on to explain who I was and what I had done, at which the crowd gave me a round of applause. I was even more floored by the fact that my tattoos artist, Felix the Tat, was sitting three rows behind me. Without Felix doing such and amazing job with my tattoos, I doubt very many of you would know who I am. By the time the game had ended I was emotionally deflated. I don’t mean this in a bad way. It had been such a long time since I had felt so appreciated that all I could do was crash… but not before a walk-off RBI single by Clark Murphy, as seen here… WalkOff!!!

The Emeralds rocked this cap from the start of the 2010 season until the end of 2012 when they switched up their colors and logos for 2013 in the thematic-style of Bigfoot. In 2010 the team went 32-44 under then-manager Greg Riddoch who managed his final year with the team that season despite having been at the helm since 2007. In 2011 and 2012 the Emeralds went 46-30 and 47-29 respectively under manager Pat Murphy, who in 2011 led the Emerald to their first Northwest League division title 2008. The other think of note from this hat lies within the stadium. 2010 was the first season in which the Emeralds called PK Park home as they had occupied Civic Stadium, one of the last remaining wooden ballparks in the country from 1969 through the end of the 2009 season. As for marks…

#3- A three-year time frame isn’t much to work with, especially when we’re talking about short season-A baseball; however, there was one name that quickly jumped out: Jedd Gyorko. Gyorko was a second round draft pick by the Padres out of West Virginia University in the 2010 amateur draft. His first stop as a professional came with Emeralds that year, but he only managed to play in 26 with the club on account that he was just a little bit too much of a badass. In 106 at-bats he had 35 hits, good enough for a .330 average. Five of those hits happened to be home runs and he also made sure to knock in 18 runs as well as score 16 himself. Yup! Talent like his is only destined to move fast through the rankings and proved to be true when he made his Major League on Opening Day this season.

#14- This one was a little bit tougher as I could have gone two ways with this. My first option was to roll with Australian-born pitcher Josh Spence, but he’s now a members of the New York Yankees despite playing in multiple games over two seasons in the Majors with the Padres. Buuuuuuuut I decided to go with my second option, up-and-coming pitcher Justin Hancock.

Hancock was taken in the ninth round by the Padres in the 2011 amateur draft out of Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Illinois. Hancock spent his first year in the Rookie League with the AZL Padres, but found himself moved up to the Emeralds for the start of the 2012 season. In the 15 games he played in he started 14 of them, going 5-2 with a 1.61 ERA and 66 strikeouts before getting promoted to Class-A Fort Wayne on the play with the TinCaps. As far us “under the radar” prospects go, Hancock is looking to be the real deal as he is 7-1 with a 1.15 ERA so thus far in 2013 between the TinCaps and the advanced-A Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League.

June 5- San Diego Padres

Tonight I have given myself an inadvertent challenge all because my friend Bryan Mapes (@IAmMapes) suggested that I write about the San Diego Padres tonight. The way this whole decision came about had to do with a lack of historical events in Major League Baseball history occurring on June 4^th and June 5^th. I’ve touched on this in prior posts, but I always do my best to stay up to date with “this day in baseball” Web sites in order to find truly interesting or forgotten stories of MLB’s past. Having found nothing of real note I decided to take my campaign to Twitter and ask for suggestions from my followers as to which team to write about next. Mapes gave me two teams: the Padres and the Kansas City Royals. My biggest issue with the Royals is that, outside of their Stars and Stripes and batting practice caps, they’ve only had four caps they’ve worn on the field throughout their history. Somehow I’ve managed to burn through three (February 4^th, February 24^th and March 26^th) of the four all ready and we’re not even close to the All-Star break yet. Hell, I wrote about all three of those before the season even started. WHYYYYYYY!?!? So, rather than finish one team off for the rest of the year, I opted to go with the Padres.

Like the Royals, I’ve managed to write about three of the team’s caps thus far (February 1^st, March 10^th and April12th). Unlike the Royals, the Padres actually have quite the assortment of hats in their catalog, which is quite impressive considering the fact that they’ve only been around in the Majors since 1969. What I am still trying to track down; however, is their 1936 cap from their old Pacific Coast League days when Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams played for the team. This particular cap, as I said above, gave me a bit of a headache when trying to pinpoint an exact year in which it was first used. Because I’m a huge sucker for details, I always make sure to consult two specific Web sites before writing down any of the dates in stone on any of the caps I write about, because after all, some one may be doing the same research I’ve been conducting and the last thing I want to do is give someone shoddy information. The two sites I use are Sportslogos.net and BaseballHallOfFame.org. Oddly enough, they gave contradictory information about this cap, a huge problem I’ve been dealing with since I started on this mission. According to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Web site the Padres didn’t start using this cap until 2004 in which they have been using it as their home come through the present. According to Sportslogos.net this cap was first used in 1998 and then went through a slight color variation from 1999-2003 until becoming the cap the Padres where during all of their home games. So, for those of you playing at home, the cap is definitely the home cap and it for sure has been used since 2004 through the present. But what about the previous six years? This is where things get a pit tricky and I had to put on my detective cap to verify a few details.

The 1998 part is the most confusing of all because I remember vividly watching the Padres playing in and losing the World Series to the New York Yankees wear this cap...

the white and orange interlocking “SD” logo. I don’t really recall the white “SD” at all. Oh, and side note, the way Steve Finley looks in this card is ridiculously amazing. Even when combing through pages and pages of photos from ’98 I still couldn’t find anyone wearing it with the exception of former pitch Brian Boehringer who played with the Padres from 1998 until 2000.

My only beef with this card is that I came cross it when I looked under “1999 San Diego Padres cards.” So, 1998 still remains a mystery. The only thing I can come up with is that the Padres wore the caps and a specific uniform set during Spring Training; however, no matter which Web site I use there is nothing to provide this detail.

Moving on to 1999; yes, this cap was definitely used then as the Boehringer card obviously proves. The other note from 1999 is that it was the first year New Era started making specific batting practice caps, which happened to feature the white “SD,” which the Padres used until the end of the 2003 season where they replaced the “SD” for the white slanted “P” logo and changed the cap from a mesh 59/50 into the low profile 39/30. Upon my research I was able to find photographic evidence to prove that the cap was used on the field for home games from 2000-2003, one of which being the final game of the 2001 season which was a truly historic day as Tony Gwynn played his final home game of his career AND Rickey Henderson recorded his 3,000^th career hit with a double off of Colorado Rockies pitch John Thomson.

Alas, the mystery has been solved, well, except for 1998, which I leave to any of you who read this post to try finding evidence so I can add it to the story and give you full credit for. That is, unless I find it first.

In retrospect of my research I probably should have waited until the end of the season to write about this cap in regard to the final day of the 2001 season. I mean, Gwynn retiring and Rickey getting #3000 are two pretty extraordinary events in MLB history. Not to mention the fact that during that season Rickey also broke Babe Ruth’s all-time walks record (2062*), Ty Cobb’s runs scored record (2246*) and Zack Wheat’s all-time record of games started in left field (2328*). However, I marked this cap up with a few guys who are still currently wearing this cap as I actually wrote the numbers I have back in March of 2012 while I was in the MLB Fan Cave. No worries though. I’m happy with the choices I made, but more important, now all of those facts I just listed will be more in the open, and that’s what’s most important.

*numbers listed indicate previous records.

#24- One of the few guys from the Padres organization I had the fortune of meeting in the Fan Cave, Cameron Maybin was the 10^th overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft by the Detroit Tigers out of high school in North Carolina. Maybin played in 24 games with the Tigers in 2007, but was traded to the Florida Marlins during the offseason as part of a blockbuster trade in which the Marlins sent Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera to Detroit. Maybin played in 144 games for the Marlins from 2008 until the end of the 2010 season in which he hit .257/12/43 during his days playing at Joe Robbie Stadium, or whatever the hell it’s called.

AT the end of the 2010 season Maybin was traded once again, this time to the Padres for Ryan Webb and Edward Mujica. The benefit of Maybin going to the Padres was that he quickly became and every day guy. Maybin played in 137 games, batting .264 with nine home runs and 40 RBI. Maybin also stole 40 bases that season, becoming the ninth player in Padres history to do so. In 2012 Maybin had a little bit of a drop in his numbers, but he was still one of the best offensive producers on the team hitting .243 with eight home runs and 45 RBI, as well as 26 stolen bases.

When Maybin came to the Fan Cave last season he was all smiles. He and I talked about surfing a bit as I have still yet to surf at any beach south of Huntington Beach… which really isn’t that far from San Diego. Maybin didn’t come alone though, Yonder Alonso and current Oakland Athletic Andy Parrino dropped by as well. One of the more interesting moments came when MLB.com writer Mark Newman pulled me aside and asked me if I knew of anything of note off the top of my head about Maybin. Naturally I brought up the 40 stolen bases in 2011; something I thought was really weird of him not to research before he came in. Then again, most people sought my knowledge more times than you can imagine as opposed to looking it up themselves during my time there. During Newman’s interview with Maybin I made sure to pop “the shark” and photobomb him; however, those bits were edited out. But, the video still lives on, and if you look quick enough you can see the tail end of me teaching all three guys how to do it. Also, the link for the Eric Byrnes shark is right next to it.

#7- Another member of the 2005 amateur draft class, Chase Headley was selected by the Padres in the second round out of the University of Tennessee, but after transferring from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Headley made his MLB debut on June 15, 2007 but only played for eight games as a fill-in for Kevin Kouzmanoff. Headley played for the Eugene Emeralds the year he was drafted, two years before I moved there. Rats!

In 2008, after playing batting .305 and playing in 65 games with the AAA Portland Beavers, Headley was brought back up to the Majors where he has been ever since, with the exception of a four-game rehab stint with the Lake Elsinore Storm this season. From 2008-2011 Headley put up decent numbers, but nothing extraordinary. His average hung around .271 those three seasons and he only hit 27 home runs and 166 RBI. Headley proved he had the potential throughout his Minor League days; however, something just wasn’t clicking for him in the Majors. But, if there’s one things hitters do, it’s stay patient and keep swinging away… which Headley did very well in 2012.

Something clicked around the All-Star break. At the end of the day on July 8^th Headley was batting .267 with eight home runs and 42 RBI. For the rest of the season (75 games) Headley would boost his batting average to .286, but crank out 23 more home runs and 73 RBI, the most productive of any player in the National League during that stretch besides San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey. Headley’s surge would land him in fifth place for the NL MVP award as well as give him his first Silver Slugger award. Headley also played stellar defense last year as well, winning his first Gold Glove at third base.

April 12- San Diego Padres

I’ve developed a bit of a bad habit over the last two weeks to work on my New Era Cap blog posts after the final game had ended. I suppose I could justify my reasoning around the slight chance that something extraordinary might happen at which I could quickly switch up the hat I’m going to write about and center it around whatever event took place. Alas, this was not the case tonight as I had chosen to write about this particular San Diego Padres hat earlier in the day. What can I say? I’m just a huge sucker for Oakland Athletics games.

On March 10 I wrote about the Padres military appreciation day hat the team has been wearing every Sunday since 2011; however, it was not the first hat to be used for such occasion. In fact, Sunday wasn’t even the original day in which the team used it. The actual first day sates back to… well… April 12, today. On a Wednesday back in 2000 the Padres took to the field wearing dark green and khaki jerseys with the team name and numbers stitched on in white complimented with the hat being adorned on the top of my head, as well as Sterling Hitchcock’s below.

Believe it or not it took three hours to track down this photo, and I wasn’t even the one to find it. I got a lot of help from the Twitterverse, but it was Matthew Young (@mjoven1975) who tweeted me the photo. One would think that something so trivial might be easy to find. Well, I have news for you; it isn’t.

The biggest indicators, as far as trying to date this photo are concerned, lie within, not only the player, but the particular fonts and color schemes being used by the Padres at the time, as well as the surroundings. The first thing to note is that Hitchcock played for the Padres from 1997- halfway into the 2001 season and again in 2004, his final year. Nowhere in any of my research did I find anything about the team using camouflage jerseys prior to 2000. The next thing to look at is what’s behind him: a navy blue wall with orange horizontal strips. This would indicate that the team was playing at home at Qualcomm Stadium after looking at other photos. The Padres played at Qualcomm (a.k.a. San Diego Stadium/Jack Murphy Stadium) from 1969-2003; therefore, the 2004 season is scratched. The only other piece of evidence is the typeface in which the “Padres” and the number are written. That particular font was used from 1985-2003, which still leaves it up in the air whether this photo was taken from 2000 or 2001. Based on the intel I received from Matthew, I’m pretty positive all signs point to 2000. Another really interesting fact about this hat is that of all the caps the Padres wore on the field, this one had the longest shelf-life. Every other hat in the 44-year history of the team lasted roughly 5-7 years.

There’s a particular Web site (Sportslogos.net) that I frequent run by a Canadian gentleman names Chris Creamer, who catalogs all the logos, jerseys and hat styles worn by each teams throughout their existence. Whenever I get hung up about a particular year in which a hat is used I call upon it to verify my research. Unfortunately in this case, the Web site let me down. On his site it says that the Padres used this hat from 2006-2010. I suppose in some way that bit is true; they did use it during those years; however, the entire timeframe between 2000 and 2005 is missing. Another unfortunate wrong turn I was led down was by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and their uniform database. Once again, only at times when I need to verify something do I use this site, but once again I was shut down. The Hall of Fame’s database doesn’t even have this hat listed, along with a lot of other hats used by various teams throughout the last 25 years. Even Wikipedia was a complete was today as the team photo they had listed saying “Padres players in their first camouflage uniforms” is incorrect. See?

Upon first glance you might think I’m crazy as a lot of the usual suspects from the 2000 team including then manager Bruce Bochy are present; however, the one giveaway is the presence of David Wells who only played in San Diego in 2006. I think I’ve mentioned this several time before, especially during the American League umpires cap post I did on February 19; a lot of time, work and research go into these little posts I do every single day. Not because I want to prove of my intelligence, because I don’t want to let any of you down. I don’t want any of you to go down the same paths of seemingly wasted hours to find this information. I also do it because I love telling stories. While someone else telling a story of discovery might be boring to others, I try to pep it up a little bit. And honestly, I really want to do great by everyone who reads these because I sincerely do care and value your opinions.

I bought this cap on Ebay back in July of 2011 since I couldn’t find it in any stores... I’ve always been a huge fan of this shade of green and felt it would be an excellent addition to my collection, not to mention something really awesome to wear. Most importantly though, I bought it because of my best friend Ronnie Forrest, a naval vet stationed in San Diego, who went to several Padres games before he was killed shortly after deployment to Iraq during Operation: Iraqi Freedom back in 2003. I still miss him every single day.

There really wasn’t much a patter, from what I recall, when I marked this cap up. Mainly just player on the Padres during this era that I felt didn’t get enough credit for their careers.

#22- There’s an interesting little game that could be played here as I picked two every interesting, ambiguous numbers to roll with. Since this hat was used from 2000-2010 there were four guys who wore #22, but only two of them were for more than a season: Xavier Nady (2000-2005) and David Eckstein (2009-2010). As much as I love Eckstein and his abilities to win at life, I have a greater personal attachment to Nady.

Nady was a second round draft pick by the padres out of the University of California-Berkeley in the 2000 amateur draft. He is also one of the few guys to play in a Major League game in the same year he was drafted. On the second to last day of the season (September 30) Nady made his MLB debut as a pinch hitter for pitcher Todd Erdos against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With one swing of the bat Nady got a base hit, which he later turned into a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Nady didn’t see another second of action in the Show until 2003; however, at the end of that day and season, his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage were 1.000.

In 2001 and a bit of 2002 he started out with the Lake Elsinore Storm in the California League, batting .289 with 39 home runs and 137 RBI before moving up to the AAA affiliate, the Portland Beavers. From 2002-2004 I watched Nady and company for the few games he was with the team at PGE Park. Hands down those were some of the best summers I ever had in Portland just being able to relax with a cold beer in my hand, watching the future stars of tomorrow trying to make it to the big leagues. His best season in Portland was in 2004 when he hit .330 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI in 74 games. Amazing! I remember one game specifically when he hit a home run so hard and so far that it tagged the light rail train as it crept passed the stadium. His time in the majors has been a bit checkered, by which I mean he’s become a bit of a journeyman. Eight teams he’s played for in his 13 year career in baseball, the longest of which came with the Padres. During his time in the majors he hit .263/25/91 in 269 games.

#23- This is another one I bit the pickle on as two guys wore this number for pretty long stretched between 2000 and 2010. From 2006-2010 Adrian Gonzalez was a first base masher for the Padres before moving on to the Boston Red Sox and now the Dodgers. Currently Yonder Alonso wear #23, but he never played under this cap. Nope, the biggest name from 1999-2005 was Phil Nevin.

Most people don’t really recall Nevin’s playing career, even though he did have a decent 12-year career with seven different teams. No, most people remember his for being the first overall pick in the 1992 amateur draft by the Houston Astros out of Cal State Fullerton. Now, the best version of this story I’ve heard was by New York Yankees die-hard fan and fellow 2012 MLB Fan Cave Dweller Eddie Mata during our time in New York City. At the time I knew all the info behind this, but it was very entertaining to watch and listen to him tell it with his thick Brooklyn accent.

So, the story goes that there was a scout within the Astros system (Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser) who told then-general manager Bill Wood that the team HAS to take this kid out of Kalamazoo, Michigan with the first overall pick as he would “anchor a winning team.” Fearing that it would cost the Astros a cool $1 million signing bonus to sway this kid away from the University of Michigan, Wood passed and took Nevin instead. With the sixth overall pick in that year’s draft the Yankees took the kid, DEREK JETER, on the advice from scout Dick Groch who told the Yankees brass, after their concerns with Jeter going to college, “the only place Derek Jeter’s going is Cooperstown.” Plus, it only cost them $800,000. The best part of the story is how every year after Jeter and the Yankees won their first World Series in 1996, Newhouser would give them a call asking “how that Jeter kid is working out for the Yankees.” Poor Nevin. He did his best.

The only part of the story that’s a bit questionable is whether or not Newhouser actually made the calls beyond 1996. I only say this because he passed away in 1998.

Nevin’s time with the Padres was the longest of his career. He hit .288 with 156 home runs and 573 RBI. His best year came in 2001 when he made his one, and only All-Star Game appearance and finished 21^st in the National League MVP vote going .306/41/126-every stat that year including runs (97), hits (167) and walks (71) was a career-high.

Nevin’s career ended with the Minnesota Twins at the end of the 2006 season, but he’ll sadly be remembered as the guy who got taken over Derek Jeter. Also, he’ll be known to you as the guy who first wore the Padres camouflage jersey back in 2000. See!

It all came back around again. Scott G (@JustBaseball25) found this 2000 Fleer Showcase card for me, thus ending the search. Excellent work Scott!

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!?

February 12- Lake Elsinore Storm

I’m slightly rusty on when this hat came out, but I know for a fact that it was after the 2000 season. The reason for my confusion is that the only difference from the original hat and this one is that the bill is red on the original. To clarify even more; there’s a particular Web site that I sue from time-to-time that helps me date a few hats, but they only give a date range on the logo, not the actual hat itself. Sooooooo… since I can only see the logo and not the bill I’m in a bit of a state of confusion. Now, the reason why I know it’s post-2000 is because the Lake Elsinore Storm are a class-A California League club, and from 1999-2000 I saw their hats 10-12 times a season while doing my bat boy duties for the Bakersfield Blaze. For both of those years the team wore the red-billed caps, which I also own. Not to brag or anything.

Keeping with the theme I have decided to roll with the time frame of 2001-present, as that has been the time that the club has been the affiliate of the San Diego Padres; not to mention my post-bat boy days with the Blaze when they were still an affiliate of the Anaheim Angles.

I’ve been a huge fan of this hat since the first time I saw it in 1999. If you grew up in the 1990s you night remember a clothing brand called No Fear, which had a very similar logo. Like Stussy and Billabong, No Fear was pretty much the coolest thing you could wear outside of a “BO KNOWS” Nike t-shirt. But to be honest, I don’t really like to wear it that often. Nothing personal, it’s just an odd-looking hat when you put it on and look at yourself in the mirror. So, I wear it rarely and prefer the look of it on my wall with all of my other hats.

#15- You can pretty much chalk this one up under the “biggest mistakes in franchise history” list. Back in 2006 the Padres drafted a solid third baseman in the ninth round from the University of Alabama. In 2007 this kid made the 2007 All-Star team with the Storm and was the second ranked prospect in the Padres organization; however, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals before the 2008 in exchange for Jim Edmonds. Yes, David Freese suited up for the Storm for one season and did a pretty stellar job for them going .302/17/96 in 128 games. Needless to say, Freese jumped to AAA in 2008 and then made his MLB debut for the Cards in 2009. But before he was the 2011 World Series hero as he’s known as today, he was merely little Davey in Lake Elsinore, California. I made the “little Davey” part up.

#22- This cat was so awesome that the Storm retired his jersey at the start of the 2008 season, despite only playing one season for them in 2001. It’s kind of funny to compare Jake Peavy’s numbers in 2007 for the Padres with his numbers with the Storm back in ’01. 2007- Peavy won the NL Cy Young and the pitching Triple Crown with 19 wins, a 2.54 ERA and 240 strikeouts. He also led the League with a 1.061 WHIP. 2001- Peavy wasn’t even the best pitcher on the team by a long shot. He went 7-5 with a 3.08 ERA and 144 strikeouts. Pitchers Andy Shibilo and Chris Rojas both won 10 games for the Storm that season; however, both players never made it past AAA. It’s kind of amazing to look at. Both of those pitchers were ranked at least 40 places higher on the prospect chart than Peavy, but it just goes to show that some guys have the stuff while others don’t. I tip my cap to you Peavy… but I really hate seeing you with the White Sox. (Sad face)

February 1- San Diego Padres

For any baseball fan born before let’s saaaaaayyyy… 1988, clearly 1994 was by far the worst year we can recall. I put the marker at 1988 because who really cares about anything intently before the age of six? I was 11-years-old at the time, and while I wasn’t exactly the most savvy when it came to multi-million dollar negotiations and Collective Bargaining Agreements, I was at least old enough to understand that was happening to my favorite sport really sucked balls (11-year-old Benjamin talking). August 12 not only served as a dark day in my youth in regard to my favorite sport, it also served as a three weeks to go marker for when I had to go back to school. And even though I didn’t know it at the time, exactly one month later my mother would relinquish custody of my brothers and me and give my father full custody rights. Needless to say, it was a really shitty time in my youth (29-year-old Benjamin talking). Now, as an adult, the 1994 season doesn’t upset me as much as it leaves me, and other baseball fans, in a state of confusion and intense discussion. So many unanswered questions: Could the Montreal Expos have really won the World Series? Was Matt Williams going to break the single-season home run record? Would Michael Jordan really make it up to the Majors? But I think the most important and most forgotten question is: Could Tony Gwynn have been the first person to hit .400 on the season since Ted Williams in 1941?

Having been born and raised in the Bay Area my older brothers and I were taught to hate the Southern California teams at a very young age. This of course included the San Diego Padres. I never really bought too much into that as the late 1980s/early 1990s really confused my when I saw highlights of the Padres and San Francisco Giants and thought they were the same team. Go back and look at each team’s road uniforms and you’ll totally understand my previous sentence. But, there was always that one guy who played for the Padres that I just couldn’t have ill will toward; and no, it’s not Benito Santiago.

’94 - .394: (This is the first appearance of stats on my hat posts) Tony Gwynn played 20 brilliant seasons, all of which came as a loyal member of the Padres from 1982-2001. His career stats are .338/135/1138; however, the 3141 career hits (and of course batting average) were a dead lock for the Hall of Fame, but it was the 1994 season that gives me the most issue. Gwynn had missed on 6 of the 116 games that had been played, which put him 65 at-bats behind the season leader Dante Bichette. However, even with those missed games Gwynn still led the League in hits with 165. What’s even more impressive is that Gwynn was on the upswing with his .394 average. In what turned out to be the final six games of the season Gwynn went 12-27 and hit safely in all six. In two of those games Gwynn went 3-5. With only 42 games left in the season, who knows what could have happened? Even more of a cliffhanger, would that have affected the MVP voting that year? Gwynn finished in seventh place as Jeff Bagwell won the award with all 28 first place votes. I don’t blame him; dude pal went .368/39/116, but still!!! .400!? At least Gwynn has 15 All-Star appearance, 5 Gold Gloves and 7 Silver Slugger awards to keep him company. Oh! And that spot in the Hall of Fame.

Maybe next year Bagwell.

January 5- Tucson Padres

Believe it or not this hat turned out to be one of the hardest hats to track down over the last year. Even more unusual was where I ended up buying it. The story really dates back to 2008, long before the Tucson Padres were even a glint in anyone’s eye. I was a regular attendee of the then Portland Beavers, the AAA franchise of the San Diego Padres, while at the same time I was a season ticket holder for the then-USL Portland Timbers. Having moved to Eugene the previous year to attend the University of Oregon full time, it became a bit difficult to make the trip north to a lot of games. Yes, I realize we’re talking about summer sports; however, I was taking summer classes, so in your face! 2008 proved to be the last year I attended either team’s games at a high frequency as the hit my wallet was taking due to gas prices was becoming a bit crazy. It was also around this time that the Timbers were being considered for a call-up to Major League Soccer, something I really didn’t think would have such a major impact on the baseball market in Portland.

The AAA All-Star game in 2009 was the last time I attended a game at, then-PGE Park. Something that big was pretty hard to resist. The most notable part of that game was that Oklahoma City RedHawks infielder Esteban German was named one of the “Top Stars” of the game. This was personally amusing to me as I had a brief encounter with him back in 2000 when he was playing for the Modesto A’s and I was the bat boy for the Bakersfield Blaze. (That story will come in another post.) The really interesting thing about the game being played in Portland; however, was that it was supposed to be THE large stepping stone to keep the team in Portland and prove how big of a baseball town Portland actually was. Well, a year after that, the team played its final season as the stadium was now going to be renovated to a soccer-specific park for the Timbers as their promotion was approved.

Since October 19, 2010 the Beavers/Padres have been in a weird state of limbo. The team was supposed to move to Escondido, CA in 2013, thus making their home in Tucson temporary; however, as of May 2011 the plans for said move were put on indefinite hold. On July 30, 2012, after a large legal battle, the team was purchased by a group in El Paso, Texas which will move the team there by the start of the 2014 season once a new stadium has been constructed.

Now, as far as acquiring and marking the hat: I was a bit stewed after the team was sold and moved out of Portland, but not terribly upset as I still had the Eugene Emeralds to visit anytime I wanted only 2 miles away from my house. One night toward the end of the 2011 season I combed through the assortment of Minor League caps that Lids had to offer and came across the Tucson Padres. Needless to say, I was impressed. I’ve always loved the swinging Padre logo, hence why I hat it tattooed on my body. Also, I the color scheme was quite impressive so I put it on my “to get list.” I had all ready placed a 6 hat order a few days earlier so I was in no rush to scoop it up. My size (7 3/8) was available to so I didn’t worry too much about it. About 2 weeks later when I was ready to final get it, my size was gone. Seeing how the season had just ended, I was a bit screwed in hoping that there would be a restock in the near future. So I waited…. an entire year!

Almost everyday I checked Lids’ inventory for a restock with no success. The only other time I came across one was when I went to San Diego to catch a Padres/Reds game with my fellow MLB Fan Cave Top 50 finalist and friend Andy Bishop, at which the stadium store was asking $45 for the hat. Hell no! Months would pass, and still no restock available. I kind of figured the hat would be popular, but not like this. It wasn’t until late August when I was traveling between Pittsburgh, PA, Cleveland, OH and Buffalo, NY that I finally came across it. Having met and made a few friends with New Era, I was invited to their home office in Buffalo for a tour by retail marketing coordinator Seth Ehrenberg and events marketing manager Jim Wannemacher. At the end of the tour I took a peek inside the Flagship store they had set up. I spent a good 20 minutes canvassing the joint when I finally came across the “holy grail.” I was especially shocked when they had my size in stock. I tried it on and quickly threw it up on the counter. There was no way I was letting that bad boy go.

I really didn’t have any plans on marking my Minor League caps as players come and go too quickly to really add something of note; however, in this case, adding 2011 (their first year) seemed like a good fit. I put a – next to that to mark their final year played, but won’t put the exact date until their move to El Paso becomes a reality. The significance of this also marks one of the shortest stints for an AAA team in any location; something that really surprised me as Arizona is a hot bed for MLB talent. I guess it really shows what I know about the business of baseball.