12/7/10 Hat of the Day

2004-? Colorado Rockies Alternate Cap

Today's Hat of the Day at The Fitted Cap Fiend is, basically, one of the more elusive hats in Major League Baseball today...at least on the field. You can still buy this hat at any store that sells authentic MLB hats, and it even has the authentic labeling on it and everything  (if you're one of those guys that still likes to wear the sticker on the cap. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You can wear your hat however you want. But bruh...). But, according to Darth Brett over at the Chris Creamer Sports Logos Community (the absolute best forum for intelligent discussion of sports logos & anything else pertaining to sports), this hat was worn VERY briefly in 2004 and hasn't been seen since. In fact, here's a photo of one of the rare times the Rockies wore this hat.

That being said, as far as I know, it's still an option for the Rockies to wear. How do I know this? Wikipedia says so, and Wikipedia NEVER LIES.

Seeing the purple jersey is a rare occurrence nowadays. Seeing the purple hat? Even rarer. This look has become my white whale because of the fact that, well, it looks AWESOME. The Rockies, IMO, aren't one of the better looking teams in the big leagues, but they could be if they embraced purple. I mean, does the phrase "Purple Mountain Majesty" ring a bell? They have a chance to OWN purple in baseball, yet they marginalize it in favor of black. They could be a team that really stands out in baseball. Now? They're just another team that wears dark colors, which the MLB already has too much of. The Rockies do use purple though...just in the wrong way.

Yuck. So yeah, Colorado Rockies, I am politely telling you to USE THE PURPLE HAT, YOU FASHION BLIND DUMMIES. IT'S AWESOME. IT LOOKS GREAT. IT FITS YOUR IDENTITY TO A T. IT'S PATRIOTIC. IT WOULD MAKE THE NATIONAL PASTIME'S COLORADO TEAM LOOK BETTER. USA. USA. USA.

12/6/10 Hat of the Moment

1914 Chicago Cubs Hat

 

Maybe they'll win something again if they go back to this look. That Cub came to play. 

(Kidding, of course. The Cubs may never change from their current iconic identity, especially the home pinstripes...but I definitely wouldn't mind if they went the throwback route.)

12/6/10 Hat of the Day

1993-1998 Cincinnati Reds Home Cap

(First of all, allow me to introduce myself: I'm the Fitted Cap Fiend. I'm a hat savant, and this blog's mission is to share the love of the most iconic piece of equipment on a baseball field, something that everybody from the fans, to the managers, to the players wears whenever they decide to spend a day at the ballpark: The baseball cap. So, kick back & enjoy the show. If you want more action, follow me on twitter @FittedCapFiend, and/or subscribe to my tumblr at tumblr.com/fittedcapfiend if you want some random pictures of caps and people in those caps.)

Now, today's Hat of the Day is a somewhat forgotten classic in my opinion, the 1993-1998 Cincinnati Reds Home Cap. It's widely accepted that the Cincinnati Reds solid red cap with the wishbone C is one of the more iconic hats in baseball. It was the trademark of the 70s Big Red Machine, and after a brief flirtation with the sultry mistress known as the color black during the late '90s & early '00s, the franchise got back to their senses and were able to marginalize the black, therefore letting black be a great compliment to an already classic sports identity, instead of letting black dominate it.

But I digress. THIS RIGHT HERE is what we came to see.

Credit: sportslogos.net

In 1993 (almost immediately after what WAS the most recent successful era in Reds history) let's just say that the Reds got a little pinstripe crazy. It extended to the away uniform, & that's where the classic hat went to hide. Instead, the home fans got this: A pinstriped hat to match the pinstriped uniforms. I don't know about you, but to me, this is a slam dunk. It was unique, it made the Reds stand out, and it still had a bit of an old time charm to it that made it one of my favorite baseball looks.

Of course, this wasn't exactly perfect. As good of a design as it was on paper, it wasn't the best idea for that time on the field. As some of you may have know, you take a hot Cincinnati summer & add into it the effect of Riverfront Stadium's astroturf making the temperature & field level even hottter, and what do you get? Sweat. The players' sweat led to the stripes running, and by the mid-to-late innings of the game, the pinstriped hats would turn pink. Yeah, not a good look at all. But without the sweat making the colors run, it's a solid hat.

For 5 years, this was the look of that adorned the heads of Cincinnati Reds in the field of Riverfront Stadium. I say 'in the field,' because they still wore all-red batting helmets. Although the Reds are long done with this hat and pinstripes in general, I'm not. I still remember. Those hats were the only reason I played with the Reds in Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball on the Nintendo 64.  Those hats were the reason why the Reds were a third favorite team of mine, behind the Griffey Mariners & the Atlanta Braves. Good times, great memories, nice hat.