Day 318: Buffalo Bisons (pre-1985) Trucker Mesh Replica Hat

I had nearly forgotten about this hat.  This one came from one of those many Bisons games my dad took my brother and I to at the old “Rockpile,” War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.  I’m fairly sure this hat was from the 1979-1984 Bisons, when they were a AA team, before the AAA team moved in.

This hat is blue foam in the front with a red bill.  The back is blue mesh with a plastic adjustable strap.  The block B logo on the front is done in some sort of rubberized red screen printing.

I really have some good memories of going to those games with my dad.  Some not so great ones, too, mind you.  But some really good ones.  I am sure most of the time he got tickets from work, or from someone who gave them to him, so it wasn’t a big expense.  But I am sure those games had a large part in making me in to a baseball fan which I very much am today.  It makes me sad that there’s no professional baseball in Belleville to take my kids to.  At least I can make them hockey fans!

Day 317: San Francisco Giants Alternate (2001-2002) Official On-Field Hat

I actually had never realized, until I researched this hat today, how relatively rare it must be.  I hadn’t realized that the Giants only used this hat for about two seasons.  This was an alternate hat the Giants tried just as “alternate” hats were coming in to vogue.  There had always been teams doing different home and away hats, but to designate one as “alternate” and use it sometimes home and/or sometimes away is a fairly new phenomenon.  I guess the Giants decided it wasn’t for them.  I can’t say this hat logo brings anything to the table that their usual logo doesn’t.

The hat is black 100% wool (one of a few of the old MLB wool hats I still have in new condition) and fitted to size 7 3/4.  It even still has the sticker on the bill in true rap star fashion.  The front logo is a black silhouette of the Giants interlocking SF logo outlined in orange.  The back has the MLB batter logo done in Giants colors.

I bought this and the “primary” version of the Giants hat at what was then called PacBell Park when it was still a new field.  It was the year Bonds broke the home run record, and at the time I didn’t think I had any reason to wish he wouldn’t.  In fact, he hit a home run in the game we went to, though the Giants lost to the Phillies 9-1.  Still, the garlic fries were excellent!

Day 316: Jeff Gordon #25 NASCAR Hat

I was just telling El “man, these NASCAR hats are a pain to blog.”  She said I should just write “This is a NASCAR hat” and be done with it.  But the real problem is doing the logo picture.  They really cram 15 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag on these hats, don’t they?

This hat is blue, mostly.  There is a big angley, swooshy thing in red on the bill, outlined in white.  The front has the DuPont Motorsports logo.  The back has a DuPont oval patch and a blue-on-blue NASCAR logo on the velcro adjustable strap.  The right side has Jeff Gordon’s Signature in white, and the left has the stylized #24 from Jeff Gordon’s car.

Really, NASCAR hats can be a LOT more busy than this one.  This one is actually not that bad, and it is really well made.  That’s not something you can say about all NASCAR hats.

Day 315: University of Kentucky Wildcats Hat

If you know me fairly well, then there’s a good chance you’ve heard the story of the trip where I bought this hat.  If you have had several drinks with me, there’s an even better chance you’ve heard the story.  If you’re either my friend Jack or I, you’ve lived it.  A trip to Graceland cut short, a dead car and dry counties.  They ought to make a movie out of it.

This hat is white cotton with a blue bill, button and eyelet stitching, and has a plastic adjustable strap.  The front has an oval logo with the words “Kentucky Wildcats” around it, and with the Wildcats logo in the center.

One good thing I can say about Kentucky is that I got this hat at the same gas station where we bought a bottle of Jim Beam.  Can’t say that sentence up here in Canada, I’ll tell ya!

Day 314: Jim Thome “Perfect Swing” Blue Adjustable Hat

Well, I’ve done the tan hat, and the winter hat, so it’s time to blog the Jim Thome “Perfect Swing” hat that started it all for me.  This was the basic model (yes, they made three and I bought them all) and probably the best.  Simple, blue on blue with a white outline.  The swing, it couldn’t be anyone else but Thome.

This hat is blue cotton with a plastic adjustable strap.  It has a blue silhouette of Jim Thome swinging on the front in blue with a white outline.

When I first got this hat, I thought the crown was too high.  But it’s really not a bad hat.  Of the three, I kind of like this one best.

Day 313: Washington Redskins Mesh Trucker Hat

I wasn’t a Redskins fan for long, but for the playoffs after the 1987-88 NFL season and Super Bowl XXII, I was.  I think it was that I was briefly a Doug Williams fan, but I also hated Denver, so that probably had something to do with it, too.  Well, being me as I always have been, I needed a hat to seal the deal!

This hat is maroon foam in the front, and maroon mesh in the back, with a plastic adjustable strap.  The front has the Redskins logo above the words “Washington Redskins” done in a very comic-booky 80’s way.  It looks like a font that belonged on a box of matchbox cars, I think.

I have actually always liked the Redskins’ colors and logo, but being a fan of the team never stuck.  I never could give up on the Bills, even in their worst days then or now.  It’s just too bad the Bills have the worst look in sports.

Day 312: Washington, D.C. Black Trucker Mesh Hat

Dipping back in to my collection of hats that come from old Boy Scout summer trips.  I was in scouts long enough to make two of these Washington trips, and so that’s why I have two Washington DC hats.  This is the second of the two, and probably my favorite.

This hat is black with a foam front and plastic mesh back, with a plastic adjustable strap.  The logo is done in flocking, and is a picture of the capitol building flanked by white and gold stars, and capped by an arched “Washington, D.C.”

Yeah, it’s a cheesy trucker hat.  I know.  But I kind of like the black, gold and white color scheme here, and the capitol as symbol of Washington.  I think my early-teens self made a good choice!

Day 311: John Carroll University “Bar” Knock-Off Hat

I’m not exactly proud to say that I have a few knock-off hats in my collection, but I’m not really ashamed of it either.  This was one I bought from someone going door to door in the John Carroll dorms selling hats and t-shirts.  That was a pretty common occurrance at JCU where business students like to get an early start at hustling.  This guy just happened to have the closest thing to what I was looking for at the time to anything I had seen previously.

The hat is white cotton with a plastic adjustable strap.  The front has three gold horizontal bars.  Between the top two are the letters “JCU,” and between the bottom two is “John Carroll University.”

This hat got a good workout while I was in school.  I wore it all the time for a good few months there.  I was always conscious that it wasn’t EXACTLY what I was looking for, but I was happy with “close enough” for a while.

Day 310: Ohio State University Bar Hat by The Game

This is another in my seemingly endless collection of “Bar” hats.  This one I particularly liked because at least I’m a fan of Ohio State.  I’m not sure why it doesn’t say “Buckeyes” but it’s still not a bad hat.

Again, like most of these “Bar” hats, the hat is white cotton with a plastic adjustable strap.  The front has three horizontal grey bars.  Between the top two bars are the letters “OSU” large in scarlet.  Between the bottom two, also in scarlet, is “Ohio State University.”

If you can see the sweat stains you know this hat got some serious use.  Definitely the best broken in and best looking of my “The Game” hats.  I actually really like this one even now.

Day 309: Bills AFC East Champions Hat

Today’s hat is almost too gross to put on my head.  Check that, it IS too gross to put on my head.  Ugh.  It’s old, as you can tell not only from the mold, but by the fact that it comes from so long ago the Bills actually won something!

The hat is white with a plastic adjustable strap.  The front has “Bills” in cursive and “AFC East Champions” in blue block letters.

This hat, sadly, is going straight to the garbage.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.