Best MLB cap of all time?

I have an AquaSox cap, it was the last thing my grandfather bought me before he passed away. I grew up just north of Everett, back when they were the Giants, and grandpa and I use to go to probably 10 games a season. The local grocery stores would give away the tickets, he always made sure to grab some so we could go.

Grandpa was a huge baseball fan, he loved just going to see any games, didn't matter that it was single A. So one year after they became the AquaSox I told him I thought the hats were kinda unique. Grandpa was very cheap but damn if he didn't go buy me one. I still have it and cherish it, even though it doesn't fit me anymore.

 

I had a Mexican League hat in college, I think it was the Lobos or something. Maybe Coyotes? Lost the hat one drunk night and never have been able to figure out what team it was since.
Google isn't helping jog my memory either.

 

This was a favorite of mine for quite a while until I warped it ...



Probably the cleanest of all of Charlie Finley's caps. I believe it's from 1966. Green is my favorite color too. Long live the K.C. A's!



I also have this one, which I use when I attend games in St. Louis. This is for two reasons: 1) The Browns/Orioles were the original 1901 Milwaukee Brewers. 2) There's no fucking way on God's green Earth I ever wear, much less own, a St. Louis Cardinals cap.

 

what do you think of this one, shots?

 

In the 1980s, as I really began following baseball, our local AAA team in Indianapolis became the Expos' affiliate. That was in a day before minor-league teams were into creating their own identities, and often identified with the parent club's. So, the script "Indians" stayed on the uniforms, but was trimmed in Expos blue. And the team wore red-and-blue striped Expos pants. And, the kicker, the red hats with a cursive "I" became the Expos' tricolor with the same.

I've been searching high and low for them to put out a retro hat with the cursive "I" on the Expos' tricolor, and haven't really found it (side note: I was in my 20s before I realized the logo was really an "M," and not an "elb.")

But, I think because of that, I've been partial to the Expos' hat, and their 1970s/80s uniforms with the red and blue stripes were awesome, too.

Also like the Senators II/Nationals' script W logo. Simple but attractive.

 

Great thread ... lots of great selections. Of course, I'm partial to this one ...



... but I like some of the classic 70s caps, too, like the old Brewers and Blue Jays. For some reason, I always got those at Chicagoland Dairy Queens. They were always out of Cubs and White Sox ice cream helmets.

And on a style note, I notice that the "in" look these days is to have a flat bill. That's changed; I remember curving the bill of my baseball caps as a kid because THAT was the cool look at the time. No longer.

 

One more tangent ... on our recent trip to Oregon, stopped at a really cool bar/burger joint near Hillsboro called Helvetia Tavern.

Besides having kick-ass burgers and RC Cola (!) on tap, the ceiling inside the bar has thousands of caps covering it. A small sample:



Great place to stop if you're traveling between Portland and the coast.

http://www.helvetiatavern.com/

 

That's what the Indians wore when I moved to Indy. I still think of them as an Expos affiliate, though that was long ago. I saw so many great players come through old Bush Stadium.

Crimson, do you remember the Indianapolis Arrows? The projected MLB team Indy was trying to get? Came pretty close to getting the Pirates, but the Hoosier Dome didn't have the right dimensions for baseball.

 

Wow, I haven't thought about that old Indy Indians hat in years. Crimson, you might submit a request to Ebbets Field Flannels — I'm not sure if they do much work on commission anymore (looks like the minimum order for a custom cap is 24 caps), but if anyone could make you one they could.

 

Speaking of Ebbets, they've made some pretty fantastic ones recently:

1968 Vancouver Mounties, which could possibly be considered NSFW if you've got a dirty mind:



The Colt .45's hat was pretty awesome, but even better was their farm team in Georgia, the Moultrie Colt .22's:



And this one is beautiful in its simplicity; I've seen a lot of these 1940 Hollywood Stars hats at SABR conventions recently:

 

The template for a minor league cap these days is a cartoon critter done in whatever colors are trending at the moment. Teal seems to have had its day, but now there's a lot of purple...and you must have black, even if it's not in the team's color scheme.

Then spin off 10 slightly different variations, and we'll see you at the team shop.

 

My favorite hats, though are made by this group...

http://www.lids.com/search/franchise/Hats