August 3- Washington Nationals

When it comes to being a collector nothing really beats the feeling of a good score. The definition of “score” is not just any object; rather, it’s something that tugs at the heartstrings a bit. It’s something that will always display more value emotionally than monetarily. In my years of collecting New Era Caps I’ve had many scores. A few of them I’ve already written about (Tucson Padres, Jacksonville Expos and the Oakland Athletics) and quite a few of them I have been saving for special occasions. When it comes down to it, I could realistically argue that every single one of my caps has been a wonderful score. I think I’ve proved that over the last seven months with all of these posts, but the ones that have been discontinued, the ones that I’ve had to search high and low for and the ones that makes other collectors or even just fans of the team swoon are hands down my favorite of them all. As crazy as it may sound, especially for as new as the Washington Nationals are, this is one of those caps.

It hasn’t even been 10 years since the Montreal Expos packed up shop and relocated to Washington, D.C., but the Nationals have gone through six on-field caps and they are currently on their fourth batting practice cap. This really wouldn't be that big of a deal had it not been for the fact that the Expos only had two on-field caps in their 35-year existence, one of which I’ve already written about, and yet somehow I’ve already knocked out four of the Nationals caps (February 8, March 13th, April 17th and June 27th). Well, here’s number five. This is one that I had completely forgotten about until I randomly came across it on Ebay back in December of 2012. Like most days when I get bored I combed through every inch of Ebay using the most random of search criteria in the hopes that a lister would misspell a word or put in a lack of a description so that other hat enthusiasts would pass over rare gems and not drive the bidding price up. Not only did the lister of this “DC” cap spell Nationals “Natonals,” but they also started the bid at $4.99 with a $6.00 shipping cost. I threw in a bid of $11.27 a week before it expired and waited. When you wait for something special like this it feels like a month, especially when it comes down to the final minute of bidding. For all of you who are not savvy on Ebay, the last minute of an auction is a cyber-death match as all the other collectors come out of the woodwork and throw down bids at the only time that really matters. Somehow I escaped this process and made off with the cap for $10.99 including shipping. Hazah!!!

I know it doesn’t seem like much, but this cap has been extinct since the end of the 2008 season. It made its debut in 2006 and was paired with the alternate red “DC” jerseys the Nationals typically wore on Sundays. The cap itself was retired but the “DC” was tweaked with an added stars and stripes motif from 2009-2010. After that, the “DC” was fazed out of the Nationals uniform sets altogether. Pretty depressing when you think about it.

It bums me out way more than it should when hats vanish into legend like this cap. I realize that I sound a little overdramatic when I say that, but if you sincerely feel that way you have clearly missed the point of all of these posts. Every one of these caps tells a story about the players, the team and especially the fans who wear them. These aren’t just clothing accessories or sun shields; they’re relics of baseball history that can evoke a sense of camaraderie or rivalry in the minds of those who pass by. As much as much collecting New Era caps may seem like a “gotta catch ‘em all” game of Pokémon, the reality is that I care about preserving history in my own way. It’s nothing different than someone who collects coins, stamps or even vintage porn magazines; there’s a bond that forged ethereally and the thrill of the hunt or the telling of the stories will always keep us going… well, except for the porn magazine collection. I don’t know of many people who would have crowd pleasing stories about that. So with that I of course dropped some pretty recognizable numbers on this cap, both of which played key roles in the history/time frame of this cap. Enjoy!

#12- Soriano began his professional baseball career in Japan with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, training at their Carp Academy for Dominican players. In 1997, he was promoted to the varsity team, and, wearing number 74, he appeared in nine games, batting .118 (2 for 17) with two walks. Soriano disliked the intense Japanese practice schedule (shocker), and the Carp denied him a salary increase from $45,000 to $180,000 per year. Like Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, who had previously left Japan to play in the United States, Soriano hired Don Nomura to help his situation. After first attempting to void Soriano's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) contract by unsuccessfully arguing that the player was legally a minor when he signed it, Nomura advised him, like Nomo, to retire from NPB and pursue a career in Major League Baseball. This prompted Carp executives to file an injunction against Soriano, and to send letters to MLB teams demanding that they cease all negotiations with him. After the Nomo case, NPB officials had amended the Working Agreement without consulting any MLB officials in an attempt to prevent the situation from recurring. Since MLB had not agreed to any changes to the agreement, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declared that MLB would recognize Soriano as a free agent on July 13, 1998, and the Carp backed down.

I’m going to skip Soriano’s first run with the New York Yankees and time with the Texas Rangers and move right into the Nationals. On December 7, 2005, Soriano was traded to the Nationals in exchange for Brad Wilkerson, Terrmel Sledge, and minor league pitcher Armando Galarraga. On February 10, 2006, Soriano set a record for the highest salary ever awarded in arbitration, receiving $10 million, even though he lost his request of $12 million. The previous high had been set in 2001 by Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves when he earned $8.2 million. The Nationals offered Soriano a five-year, $50-million extension, but Soriano rejected the offer. Soriano and his agent Diego Bentz instead opted to open contract negotiations during the off-season, so that he would become a free agent.

On March 20, 2006, Nationals manager Frank Robinson inserted Soriano in the lineup as the left fielder. Soriano, who since 2001 had played exclusively at second base, refused to take the field, and the Nationals organization threatened him with disqualification, which would have meant forfeiture of his salary, and he would not have received credit for service time in fulfillment of the obligations of his contract. With his contract's service terms officially still unfulfilled, he would then have been ineligible for free agency at season's end. Two days later, Soriano relented and played in left field for the Nationals in their exhibition game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Robinson indicated that he considered Soriano's move to left field to be permanent and would not consider moving Soriano back to second base at any point during the season. In his comments following that game, Soriano indicated that he would accept his new position without further argument. As the season got underway, however, Soriano began to enjoy his new position, and by the All-Star break, he led the league in outfield assists and became one of the few players ever to start the All-Star game at two different positions. Soriano set a new career high in walks with 67 (previously 38). He also reached a career high in home runs with 46 (previously 39). On August 25, a week after reaching 30–30, he became the fastest man in baseball history to reach 200 home runs and 200 stolen bases, reaching the mark in 929 games (breaking the previous record of 1,053 games held by Eric Davis).

In September, he completed his 20th outfield assist, becoming the only player in baseball history with 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases, and 20 assists. On September 16, 2006, Soriano stole second base in the first inning to become the fourth player to join the 40–40 club, after José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez. Six days later he became the first player to reach 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases and 40 doubles in one season.

Soriano only played one season with the Nationals, his best on a whole scale throughout his time playing in the National League. Soriano is a seven-time All-Star, all of which came consecutively from 2002-2008. He is also a four-time Silver Slugger winner and a two-time World Series Champion (1999 and 2000). Five times in his career Soriano has finished in the top-20 for the MVP award for either league with his best finish coming in third place in 2002 with the Yankees.

#11- If there was ever a face of the franchise for the Nationals; it’s hard to look beyond third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman grew up in Washington, North Carolina and played his college ball at the University of Virginia where he was an All-American and made First Team All-Athletic Cost Conference. He also started at third base for the 2004 USA Baseball National Team that won the gold medal in the FISU II World University Baseball Championship where he was also named the 2004 Dick Case (real name) Athlete of the Year by USA Baseball.

Zimmerman was drafted in the first round as the fourth overall pick by the Nationals in the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft. After being signed on the day he was drafted, he was sent to the Savannah Sand Gnats, the Nationals' minor league A-level affiliate and then quickly moved up to the Harrisburg Senators, the AA affiliate. Zimmerman was called up to the majors when rosters expanded in September 2005, and shared third base duties with Vinny Castilla, taking over the position on a more permanent basis between the time the Nationals were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and the end of the season. In his first major league at bat at RFK Stadium he muscled a double to right center. Over the course of 20 games, he posted a .397 batting average, 10 doubles, and six RBI in 58 at-bats. He was the only member of the 2005 team to hit over .300 in at least 50 at-bats all while wearing #25. He remained with the Major League club to start the 2006 campaign, taking over third base duties from Castilla, who was traded to the San Diego Padres. Prior to 2006 Spring Training, Zimmerman changed his jersey number from #25 (2005) to #11, his former college number.

Zimmerman started his first full-season with a bang in 2006, hitting .287 with 20 home runs and 110 RBI. He probably would have won the Rookie of the Year Award that year had Hanley Ramirez not stolen 51 bases and scored 119 runs for the Florida Marlins. Nonetheless, Zimmerman pressed on with his career and has only taken a brief injury timeout in 2008 and 2011 where he still played in at least 101 games in each of those seasons and at least 142 games in the other six.

Zimmerman has only made one All-Star Game appearance (2009) in his nine-year career, the same year that he won his only Gold Glove Award thus far and his first of two Silver Slugger Awards. He’s a fan-favorite, a walk-off artist and a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award winner (2012). The man is Nationals baseball.

April 14- Washington Senators

I’ve always been fascinated with all of the random activities that take place during a baseball game. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to appreciate them on a much deeper level. As much as I want to include the pre-game 40 ouncer of Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor I usually polish off before every Oakland Athletics game on this list, I’ll spare the historians my one vice. The ceremonial throwing out of the first pitch is mostly the one I’m referring too actually. Throughout the season at 162 guests per team are elected to take part in one of the oldest fan-related traditions of our national pastime. That’s roughly 48600 first pitches thrown out each season (not taking into consideration the rare two or more people throwing out balls). The honor, once reserved for presidents, politicians, military officials, foreign diplomats and former players has evolved into something that we can all at some point in our lives be able to put into our pocket. I was fortunate enough to receive the honor on July 17, 2012, but I’ll spare you the details as I’ve all ready written about in my Athletics Opening Day post from April 1.

My first encounter with this tradition, like a few other nostalgic baseball-related moments in my life, came during my first viewing of the 1988 film “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad.” While I had been to professional games prior to seeing this film, I can’t honestly say that my little brain at the time was all too keen to remember that moment. The scene in the film is wonderful as Queen Elizabeth II is the guest of honor in a game between the California Angels and the Seattle Mariners during her tour of Los Angeles. Because of her status, the Angels allow her to throw out the first pitch. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw-ucaDiTME

It’s still one of those goofy moments that still makes me chuckle for multiple reasons:

1. Obviously it’s the greatest screwball ever thrown.

2. The mere fact that the catcher is the only one that seems to be blown away by the throw.

3. Dick Vitale being in the press box during a baseball game.

4. Tim McCarver before he went absolutely insane after being teamed up with Joe Buck.

5. The PA announcer nonchalantly saying, “How about that Queen ladies and gentleman!”

The Zucker Brothers know how to write a damn good comedy, that’s for sure. Anyway, as a five-year-old that pitch blew my mind. My brothers and I worked on it with our wiffle balls for hours, hoping that we would somehow be able to bend the laws of physics. Needless to say, after about three intense summer days of trying and failing, we gave up and played pickle instead.

This Washington Senators hat holds a special place in the history of the ceremonial first pitch, which leads me to the marks I opted for.

4/14/10- I should first point out the hat, as it is not exactly the accurate model for the date, so bear with me. This particular hat was used by the Senators for all of their home and road games from 1916-1925; however, the particular style of “W” featured on the front was used as a patch over the heart of their jersey only in 1910. From 1912-1925 and then again from 1929-1935 the “W” appeared as a patch on the outside sleeves of their jerseys. The Washington Nationals also used this hat for their Turn Back the Clock games in 2012. Now that I have that covered; the date I chose was Opening Day for the Senators against the New York Yankees at National Park, which was later renamed Griffith Stadium in 1920. The larger importance of this date is that it was the first time a United States President ever threw out the first pitch. Therefore, it was the first Ceremonial First Pitch. A lot of first taking place, I know.

William Howard Taft was a huge (no pun intended) baseball fan and started the tradition which took place at some time throughout the season (Opening Day, All-Star Game or World Series) on almost every year. There were a few gaps in time since 1910 on account some very important wars taking place. Another interesting tidbit from this particular day is that April 14, 1910 is also one of the three supposed moments in time when the seventh-inning-stretch first came to pass. The way the story goes is that President Taft while at the game was sore from prolonged sitting and stood up to stretch. Upon seeing the chief executive stand, the rest of the spectators in attendance felt obligated to join the president in his gestures. Whether it’s true or not, it’s still a fun little story to tell fans.

Since the tradition was started every president has thrown out at least one first pitch, and only Richard Nixon and James Sherman were the only two Vice Presidents to fill in for the President while they were occupied. Nixon in 1959 for Dwight Eisenhower and Sherman for Taft in 1912 on account of Taft being at a funeral for a friend who had died in the RMS Titanic sinking only four days prior on April 15. As for how each President stacks up: Franklin D. Roosevelt has the unbeatable record with eight Opening Day first pitches thrown while in office and Jimmy Carter has the fewest at zero as he only threw out one Opening Day first pitch at Petco Park in 2004 when the San Diego Padres first opened the stadium. Lyndon B. Johnson was the “kiss of death” for the Senators as they lost all three games in which he threw out first pitch, while Taft has the best win percentage at 100% having only thrown out first pitches in 1910 and 1911. Bill Clinton and Bush, Sr. tied for second place with a .750 win percentage as the teams won three of four in each case for various teams.

WJ- Only in a few cases do I ever mark the opposite front panel with anything; however, in this case it was very important. Due to the fact that this hat was technically used from 1916-1925 it was very important for me to write about someone who actually played under the hat, and witnessed the majority, including the very first of the Ceremonial First Pitches.

Walter Perry Johnson was born in Humboldt, Kansas in 1887 but moved to Southern California in his teen years where he attended Fullerton Union High School where he struck out 27 batters in a 15-inning game against rival Santa Anita High School. He later moved to Idaho, where he doubled as a telephone company employee and a pitcher for a Weiser-based team in the Idaho State League. Johnson was spotted by a talent scout and signed a contract with the Senators in July 1907 at the age of nineteen. Johnson won renown as the premier power pitcher of his era. Ty Cobb recalled his first encounter with the rookie fastballer:

"On August 2, 1907, I encountered the most threatening sight I ever saw in the ball field. He was a rookie, and we licked our lips as we warmed up for the first game of a doubleheader in Washington. Evidently, manager Pongo Joe Cantillon of the Nats had picked a rube out of the cornfields of the deepest bushes to pitch against us... He was a tall, shambling galoot of about twenty; with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves, and with a sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance... One of the Tigers imitated a cow mooing, and we hollered at Cantillon: 'Get the pitchfork ready, Joe-- your hayseed's on his way back to the barn.'”

“...The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup. And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him... every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park."

Although a lack of precision instruments prevented accurate measurement of his fastball, in 1917, a Bridgeport, Connecticut munitions laboratory recorded Johnson's fastball at 134 feet per second, which is equal to 91.36 miles per hour (147.03 km/h), a velocity which was virtually unique in Johnson's day, with the possible exception of Smoky Joe Wood. Johnson, moreover, pitched with a sidearm motion, whereas power pitchers are normally known for pitching with a straight-overhand delivery. Johnson's motion was especially difficult for right-handed batters to follow, as the ball seemed to be coming from third base.

Johnson played his entire career with the Senators from 1907-1927. During his tenure he won two American League MVP awards in 1913 and 1924. He never played in an All-Star Game as the first one wasn’t played until 1933. He also never won a Cy Young Award as the first ones were given out in 1956, a year after his death. He only won one World Series in 1924 against the New York Giants. Johnson does have the distinction of being one of the first five players elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. The other four: Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. Shockingly Cobb outlived them all.

Johnson has the second-most wins in MLB history with 417, only 94 behind Young. He has 3.509 strikeouts, which puts him at ninth place all-time. And he has a career ERA of 2.167, which is also the ninth best in MLB history. Throughout his career Johnson led the league in almost every positive category numerous time: Wins a total of six times at which 36 in 1936 was his career-high, ERA five times at which 1.14 in 1913 was his career-best, most innings pitched five times at which he topped out at 371 2/3 in 1914 and most strikeouts 12 times in which 313 was his career-high in 1910.

Walter Johnson retired to Germantown, Maryland. A lifelong Republican and friend of President Calvin Coolidge, Johnson was elected as a Montgomery County commissioner in 1938. His father-in-law was Rep. Edwin Roberts, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1940 Johnson ran for a congressional seat in Maryland's 6th district, but came up short against the incumbent Democrat, William D. Byron, by a total of 60,037 (53%) to 52,258 (47%).

Joseph W. Martin, Jr., before he was the Speaker of the US House of Representatives from 1947 to 1949 and 1953 to 1955, recruited Johnson to run for Congress. "He was an utterly inexperienced speaker," Martin later said. "I got some of my boys to write two master speeches for him – one for the farmers of his district and the other for the industrial areas. Alas, he got the two confused. He addressed the farmers on industrial problems, and the businessmen on farm problems."

At 11:40 pm, Tuesday, December 10, 1946 Johnson died of a brain tumor in Washington, D.C., five weeks after his 59th birthday, and was interred at Rockville Union Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland.

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?

February 18- Washington Senators

Like a lot of kids I grew up with, we all had dreams of breaking out in Major League Baseball. I recall as a youth always going to Pin Oak Park or Leo B. Hart Elementary School in Bakersfield, California to play ball with my friends almost every day after school. We all had our favorite players that we tried to mimic; mine of course was Mark McGwire. I always made sure to keep my knees bent, and do the slow wag of the bat while taking wide, open-mouthed chomps of my Big League Chew every time I was at the plate. While I didn’t have McGwire’s ropey forearms, I could still muscle a few over the chain-link fence that stood, what seemed like a mile away, 200 feet away from home plate. On the inverse of that, anytime any of my friends teed off on me and gave the Kirk Gibson fist pump while rounding the bases, I made sure to plunk them the next time they were at bat. We fought, we cussed, we spit, we got down and dirty, but most of all, we played until we couldn’t see the ball anymore. Every walk home from the ball field was taken right out of the movie “The Sandlot;” discussions of how to hit the opposite direction and knowing the proper way to play the angles off the wall if we were stuck in the outfield. We were all modern day Sparky Andersons, Tony Larussas and Earl Weavers on and off the field. Baseball was our life.

I bring up this bit of my past because it’s not all the different from any kid growing up in any city, small town or country in which baseball is a national sport. Some of us make it to the Show, while the rest of us move on with our lives; but we still make sure to visit the local stadium for a brief reminder of how precious, endearing and simple life once was when we were young.

One player in baseball history knew this all too well, but very few, and I mean very few, even have the slightest clue who he is. I’ll start with the hat though. From 1952-1960 the Washington Senators donned the navy blue and red in what would be the final nine years of the original incarnation’s existence. At the end of the 1960 season the Senators packed up and moved to greener pastures in Minnesota; a tale I wrote on February 15. Poor attendance and poor showings in the standings year-after-year, not to mention western geographical expansion (Manifest Destiny), helped aid the team in their departure. Not a lot of well-known players came from this era with the exception of Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Whitey Herzog (went in as a manager). But… as I mentioned above, one player in particular popped out and I had to pay tribute to him.

.293/0/2- Pompeyo Antonio "Yo-Yo" Davalillo Romero was born in Cabimas, Venezuela in 1931 and made his Major League debit for the Senators on August 1, 1953. Yo-Yo was the fourth Venezuelan born player to make it to the big leagues at the time, but like the others (Alex Carrasquel, Chucho Ramos and Chico Carrasquel); they only went down in the history books as a name. At 5’3’’ and 140 pounds, Yo-Yo wasn’t expected to do much other than take up space at shortstop; however, he was remarked by some to being a pretty decent defensive player despite six career errors… in only 19 career games. Yo-Yo’s career came to a close on August 23, 1953, and yes, before the season even ended. He had an average on .293, no home runs and two RBI for his career. He is one of the very rare cases of a player leaving the game under their own volition while in the prime of their career. I realize the term prime is a bit arbitrary in this case as his career never really went up or down, but for someone who was still physically able to play, it’s a pretty big deal. Yo-Yo had played Minor League ball for 11 seasons, nine of which came in AAA; however, the one thing that most guys back in those days (as well as today) will tell you is that all travel to games came via the team bus. As it turned out, Yo-Yo was deathly afraid of traveling by airplane. Therefore, he walked away from his shot on the top. Yo-Yo continued to play ball in Mexico from 1962-64, as well as back in Venezuela from 1965-66. He was inducted into the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006 and even managed in the Venezuelan League for several years after his playing career ended.

Going back to my introduction, the case of Yo-Yo Davalillo is a reminder to all of us that we’re all destined for something great, but we don’t necessarily understand what that is until we come face-to-face with our dream once it’s attained. In my case, a series of injuries kept me from playing ball, but it didn’t keep me away from the game. I merely adapted and continued to love the game as I saw fit.

February 8- Washington Nationals

5/20/2014: No matter how many times I’ve kept sending this story out via Twitter, I did it with the feeling that I was missing a lot of vital details which have confused quite a few of my followers since the first month of when I was in the MLB Fan Cave back in 2012. Due to the fact that today is in fact Jayson Werth’s (WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!) birthday AND the Washington Nationals recently came to Oakland to take on my Athletics, I figure today was just a good as any day to fill in a lot of the holes and make some important updates.

First, let’s get the barking situation out of the way. Back on March 13, 2013 I wrote about the Nationals’ “DC” alternate hat which I focused my attention on Gio Gonzalez and Bryce Harper. About a week before Ross Detwiler, Edwin Jackson and Gio stopped by the Fan Cave in early April I was given the punishment/blessing of having to bark like a dog anytime someone said Werth’s name. If I said his name, I would have to do a double set. This little gimmick became a huge hit with kids who stopped by on the weekend for a tour and especially with my good friend Robert Curtis-Hardy, a Boston Red Sox fan who lived next door. Even though this barking was only relegated for the time I was in the Fan Cave, I haven’t let that slow me down for the last two years. It’s obviously become more of an inside joke; however, it’s too fun to let up especially when I’m in random places and his name happens to come up in conversation. This takes me to May 9-11 of this year (2014).

For those of you who don’t know, I actually work for the Athletics in the special events and promotions department; however, I can’t really discuss most of what I do as it’s a bit of a surprise. One thing I can tell you is that I have on-field and behind the scenes access for every game that I work. Some of you know what I do and I would greatly appreciate it if you didn’t mention anything publicly as I would love to keep my job. Anyway, the last time I had seen the Nationals play was in April of last year (2013), when I went to go visit my girlfriend Angie in Southern Florida for a few weeks. Literally the day I flew in when headed 30 miles south to Miami to catch the last game of the series between the Nationals and the Marlins. Due to the fact that we had gotten there a little bit before the game started, I didn’t have time to run down to the dugouts to try and snag a photo with Mr. Werth; however, that didn’t keep me from having a little bit of fun when he came up to bat. 

But here we are, a year later with a much better opportunity to accomplish my goal. Well, sort of.

One of the rules of my position is that I’m not allowed to take photos or ask for autographs (I never ask for autographs) from any of the players of either team nor special guests that we may have singing the National Anthem or throwing out first pitch. I bring this up because two of the members of the band Journey happened to be in town for the Saturday game which was also a Journey-themed fireworks night. I also bring this up because I ended up appearing in photos with them before the game.

One thing that I did come to learn is that Werth always spends time in the visiting team’s batting cage right before the game starts. For those of you who don’t know, the batting cage is located right behind the wall in centerfield, which also happens to be one of the areas that I work out of. In summation, I had the greatest of all opportunities to see Werth before the game started, but unfortunately I was busy doing one job for the first two games of the series, thus preventing me from having some face time with him. Even with what I was busy doing it didn’t stop me from barking when the PA announcer Dick Callahan called out Werth’s name which also happened to be at the exact moment when he came into centerfield gate to take some more practice swings. But, as luck would have it, I had a different job to do for the final game of the series which would give me the opportunity to at least shake his hand or something.

The final game of the series fell on Mother’s Day, which is also Breast Cancer Awareness Day throughout Major League Baseball. Seeing as it’s my first year with the team I made sure to be readily available for anything as I didn’t really know what would be going on. Basically all I was asked to do was talk to some of the cancer survivors while we waited for them to be let onto the field for the pre-game ceremony and honoring. I’ll get into more details on this in a future post, but what I can tell you now is that I had a blast chatting it up with those women and the one guy who happened to contract breast cancer. My mother is a two-time breast cancer survivor so it didn’t make anything we talked about awkward.

Right around the time all of the survivors were being let onto the field Mr. Werth walked into the entrance and into the batting cage. Right after the ceremony ended we all came back inside and I hung around with my co-workers as all of the survivors headed up the ramp and into the stadium. It was within this moment that Werth was just getting done with his BP session so I figured then was the best time of any to at least tell him “good luck” or give him a fist bump before he headed out.

Now, this part of the story is going to sound like total BS, but I promise you this is exactly how it went down. Since I was somewhere near the batting cage for the first two games of the series I could hear the rhythm of when Werth was taking hacks at each pitch; after every swing there was about a two-to-three second gap in between. On the final day there was a much longer gap in between a few of his strokes, but I’ll get to that in a minute. As he stepped out of the cage I walked toward him at which he turned his head, locked eyes with me and immediately began walking toward me. Despite the fact that we didn’t personally know one another we immediately began chatting it up about how amazing each others’ beards were. “Gay” is probably an adjective that comes to most peoples’ minds, but I say there’s nothing wrong with two dudes complimenting one another over amazing facial sweaters. This also would have been a great time to take a glorious photo; but like I said, I didn’t want to get fired. Instead, we bumped fists and headed back out onto the field. A few minutes would pass before the hitting instructors that were in the cage with him came over to me to let me know that he kept stopping in between his swings to talk about how “majestic” my beard is. “Majestic,” his words, not mine.

As soon as the bottom of the sixth inning got underway Werth and I had one more encounter as I was standing in the stairwell in right field, waiting for the start of the Hall of Fame Mascot Race that the Athletics do every weekend series. Right after the Nationals got done with their warm-up tosses Werth looked right at me, stroked his beard and gave me a finger point. I of course returned the favor, because that’s what beard brothers do. One of these days I’ll be able to capture, frame and share a photo of our glorious beards together, but for now it’ll have to wait until early June when the Nationals come back to the Bay Area to take on the San Francisco Giants. I’m usually not so weird about these kinds of things, but you all know how awesome this will turn out if I’m able to accomplish my mission. Until then, Happy 35^th Birthday Jayson Werth! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!

Original post- If there was ever a team with a severe case of schizophrenia, when it comes to hats and uniforms, it might be the Washington Nationals. Since 2005 the Nationals have worn seven different style of hats and 17 variations of jerseys/uniforms. I find this incredibly funny considering that from 1969-2004 the Nationals were the Montreal Expos, and during that time the ‘Spos only had three styles of hats and six uniform/jersey variations. But, I suppose big city life will do that to a person, let alone a team. But I digress; this particular hat was worm from their humble beginning in 2005 through the end of the 2010 season. I’m still a bit confused as to why they stopped using it. To be honest, it was one of my favorite hats, as well as one of the best selling hats after it was introduced. In fact, it was one of the first few hats I scooped up when I really started putting my collection together. The one drawback I have with my cap is that it’s a size too small. Believe it or not, I used to have really short hair.

I brought the hat during the summer of 2010, and at the time I really didn’t have any intentions of ever throwing numbers on it. It was simply just a hat I enjoyed wearing from time-to-time. It was during the summer of 2011 that I really started to go to town on my hats. Only my 1969-91 Expos hat had any kind of a marking on it, but one night after I had a few friends over, I noticed that my old San Francisco Giants hat was missing. I realize as ardent of an Oakland Athletics supporter as I am, something like that wouldn’t bother me so much. My biggest issue with that was that I had owned the Giants cap since my bat boy days in Bakersfield… and it was a gift from JT Snow. So yah, I was furious. From that day forward, I started marking my hats, mostly for the purpose of knowing if someone was wearing one of my stolen hats.

Wow! I really got off topic there. I guess my point of establishing the “why” of marking my hats; it will help explain the numbers on this one. And yes, there will be a lot of barking involved.

#28- JAYSON WERTH!!! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!! Werth has always been one of the guys in the League that I love watching, especially during his time with the Philadelphia Phillies. So, when the Nats gave Werth a huge contract at the end of the 2012 season, I was ecstatic with the fact that he would be the standout player the Nats had needed since moving to D.C. Well, besides Ryan Zimmerman. I should also pint out that this was the first time I had decided to use a white out pen to mark my hats, as opposed to the silver Sharpie that I use now. Hence why it looks pretty lame. I’m not really sure if it was a blessing or a curse however, as Werth’s numbers didn’t exactly cut the mustard in his first year: .232/20/58 in 151 games. Yikes! At the time when I was marking up my caps I didn’t really put much focus on the year in which the cap was used, and the players from those teams, etc. I just wanted to pay tribute to my bearded brother from another mother.

#38- Michael Morse, on the other hand, I added when I was in the MLB Fan Cave. I had left Werth’s number solo for well over a year and needed to make a fine addition. After pulling up the numbers I had once again neglected to give Ryan Zimmerman any love. (Don’t worry, I made up for it on a different hat) 2010 proved to be the breakout year for Morse as he made appearances in 98 games. That season he went .289/15/41 in 266 at-bats. The most important thing to take from that season is that those numbers dwarfed the four years worth of sitting on the bench he had done with the Seattle Mariners. Morse had a lot of promise and the Nats knew how to utilize it in the outfield as well as on first base for the days when Adam Dunn wasn’t playing. But I think the biggest reason I threw Morse’s number down is for the sake of his totally badass nickname, .38 Special. Well, I’ll admit that I’m probably the only guy who calls him that, as BaseballReference.com has his nickname listed as “The Beast.” I don’t care, I’m totally sticking to my guns on this matter.