12/8/10 Hat of the Day

1994 Seattle Mariners Alternate Cap

 The 90s were good for a whole lot of stuff. Music (I don't know about you, but New Jack Swing was the greatest offshoot genre of music of all time, OF ALL TIME), technology (Everybody has a cell phone now, that's nothing. But if you had the Zack Morris Cell Phone, you had to beat the ladies away with a stick.), and the introduction of TEAL into the sports world. The first pro sports team in North America to jump on the Teal Train were the NBA's then-expansion club, the Charlotte Hornets back around '88-'89. It then spread like wildfire amongst the sports world. Then, it hit the Seattle Mariners in 1993. Go figure, the hottest new color to hit the sports world, and the team with arguably the hottest commodity in pro sports not named Michael Jordan (I'm talking about Ken Griffey Jr.) In 1994, Baseball's top talent also wore the coolest hat, which is the gem that you see, both above and below this paragraph.

Credit: sportslogos.net

This is one of my favorite baseball uniforms of all time, and not just because of the hat. But I digress, this is all about the hat. Although this may be a bit of teal overload, I think it's perfect, as far as the 90s is concerned. Hell, that cap is the 90s personified. Modern logo, hot colors, experimental execution. Really a shame that we only got to see this combo for one year, and finding pictures of the Mariners in this hat is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It's crazy. HOWEVER, if what you read in this article (& in the quotation below) this is true, maybe it won't be as hard to find pictures of the Mariners donning this hat in the future...

I'm very excited the Mariners are bringing back the Northwest green uniforms next season, but it looks silly with the all-blue cap. Any reason why the green-brim cap isn't making a comeback, too?
-- Patrick S., Tacoma, Wash.

According to Mariners marketing director Kevin Martinez, when the NW green (or teal, as we used to call it) jerseys were introduced in 1994, the club wore them with a navy blue cap on the road and the green visor at home. So it's been done both ways.

When the Mariners trotted the green jersey back out for a Throwback Uniform night this past season, there was such a positive buzz from fans and players that the team made a last-minute application with MLB to approve the jerseys for use in '11. They didn't include the green cap in that proposal so, indeed, the new/old jerseys will only be worn with the blue cap this coming season when the alternate uniforms are used for Monday and Friday home games.

However, Martinez says if there is an outcry for the return of the green caps as well, the Mariners could certainly apply with MLB to add those caps the following season. So if you have a zeal for teal, let 'em know.

You hear that? Unlike yesterday's Hat of the Day that is still active but probably has no chance of returning to the field, THIS ONE MAY COME BACK. So heed their word, and 'Let 'em know,' Mariners fans! It's an awesome cap, it deserves to be back out there! It deserves to be on the heads of the players, as well as the fans. The Mariners would probably make a killing selling that hat on the nostalgia factor along. It's a great cap, and it will live forever on this blog as December 8th's hat of the Day. In the meantime, do you want more '90s awesomeness from Ken Griffey Jr & Nike? Sure you do.