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Fresh Dipped Gear
2006-05-16 10:00
by Alex Belth

Okay, so the dopest jersey I've seen so far this spring? Last Saturday I'm walking through Union Square and I see a skinny Spanish kid rocking one of those classy home Tiger uniforms. He had number 7 "Rodriguez" on the back. Sweet. Those Tiger home whites are beautiful in the same way that the Giants home jerseys are--or the Red Sox, Dodgers or Yankees for that matter.

Comments
2006-05-16 10:49:55
1.   vockins
I'll give it to the Red Sox that the home jerseys are nice, but the Sunday home reds? Ugh.

I'm also a fan of the A's away cap and the White Sox throwbacks they use once in a while.

I also love the Cards home jersey. You can't wrong with two birds hanging out on a bat. I like to imagine that they are shooting the breeze about about the team.

2006-05-16 10:50:22
2.   rbj
Ah. I put an "i" in dopest at first. Couldn't figure out where you were going.
2006-05-16 10:57:55
3.   Alex Belth
Oh, yeah, the home Cards are great too. Yeah, and I'm talking about the clean-cut, simple, Red Sox home whites, not those silly red joints.
2006-05-16 11:08:09
4.   Sliced Bread
Noticing a lot of Tigers hats and shirts around Times Square these days, quite a few Cincy Reds-heads too.

I've always liked the Cards jerseys, and not that I'm into birds, but I like the Orioles gear too.

Dopest fans I've seen this season: I was at the game last night and sat by a group of Hasidic guys who were rockin NY Yankees gear under their plain white shirts, black pants and jackets. Forgettable game, but what a view we had of the action at third. They were snapping closeups of A-Rod and Jeter with their phones. No pics for me, but Mr. Buck Showalter signed my ticket as he mingled with some of us NY fans before the game.

2006-05-16 11:21:18
5.   Dan M
Not a big fan of their jerseys, but the plain blue Cubs hat might be the best one going.
2006-05-16 11:28:08
6.   Schteeve
For my money, next to the Yankees the best ball cap of all time was the old school O's cap, with the cartoon bird.
2006-05-16 12:08:31
7.   Cliff Corcoran
6 I've got one of those all-black 1970s O's caps. I still think the Tigers' home cap is the best in the biz, even better than the Yanks (or at least the modern day Yankee cap which has robbed the NY of some of it's stylish points and curves and enlarged it slighly too much for my taste).

Also, 1, I'd love to get a Flood #21 home jersey, but I wouldn't feel right owning one unless Alex got one first. The Cards uniforms are almost perfect. No stripes except on the socks, no piping, no unneccessary serifs on the numbers (another double-knit-era scourge the Yankees failed to avoid), navy road cap, old school interlocking logo, just sharp as hell all around.

2006-05-16 12:30:40
8.   wsporter
I don't really like the way the newer MLB caps are cut, the higher front brim just feels kind of funny. I only wear my Yankee cap at the ball park but even then it just doesn't feel quite comfortable.

My fav's by far are the Cardinal caps but I can't wear the colors of another team. 1 Vockins, while I can understand what you say on a certain visceral level about the Sawx schmatte I could never bring myself to endorse the sentiment or repeat it. Go in peace brother.

2006-05-16 12:34:32
9.   joejoejoe
I like the vintage Blue Jays uniforms. That funky number seemed modern and Canadian and appropriate to their origins. They've traded in unis that they won two World Series for Devil Ray copy cats. Bleech.

OT: Dave Winfield went .290/.377/.491 at age 40 for the '92 Jays. It was great to see him win a World Series, sad that it wasn't with the Yanks.

2006-05-16 13:02:05
10.   Alex Belth
Cliff, word to the D hat as well as the Flood jersey! Hey, my birthday is coming up on June 1. lol. Actually, the only jersey I still have is #21--Clemente. Everything else is a t-shirt. Oh, and yeah, those home Orioles jerseys are great too. The hats used to be the bomb.
2006-05-16 13:06:04
11.   brockdc
A buddy of mine owns a Boston Celtics Eric Montross jersey. So bad it's almost cool.

Almost.

2006-05-16 13:07:18
12.   jkay
Nice lineup tonight.

[http://www.lohud.com/blogs/lohudyankees.html]
YANKEES
Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Bernie Williams RF
Andy Phillips DH
Miguel Cairo 1B
Melky Cabrera LF

2006-05-16 13:08:56
13.   Cliff Corcoran
10 That works well as mine is coming up June 5 . . . Heh. Wish I could oblige you, buddy, but this gig don't pay.

8 I hear you on the cap cut. I wear either my '80s Yankee cap (with the sharper, smaller logo and softer crown) or my Ruth-era throwback. When I put on the '90s-era lid I picked up it looks ridiculous. The shift to deeper crowns, 3-D insignias and MLB logos on the back continues to tick me off.

2006-05-16 13:09:57
14.   brockdc
What's the complete opposite of dope? I ask this because I'm trying to think of a word to describe the Devil Rays' two-piece (three piece, if you include the spandex uni-tard base layer). An affront to humanity, they are.
2006-05-16 13:11:07
15.   Cliff Corcoran
12 Mine eyes!

Hey, can't complain about Andy batting seventh, but a Yankee lineup without Sheff, Matsui and Giambi is hard to look at. I think I'll go take a long nap. Someone wake me up when Sheff's reactivated.

2006-05-16 13:12:01
16.   sabernar
You know Tigers hats are cool because Magnum PI used to wear one.
2006-05-16 13:13:50
17.   Cliff Corcoran
12 Second to that, I was so blinded by the names I failed to notice that Torre's got Cairo at first with Phillips at DH. What in the holy f

[the remainder of this post has been deleted by the management to protect the innocence of our readers]

2006-05-16 13:17:39
18.   wsporter
13 I have one 70/80's cap left. It's so beat up and shrunk from the sun I don't wear it any more. I wish I could find an older style. I guess they'd call it retro. Now that I'm older than dirt I may have to get a vintage throw back job. I've also got a b'day in June; lean on the wife and kids for that.
2006-05-16 13:17:40
19.   Dimelo
WOW...even for a Torre apologist like myself, I'm finding it extremely hard to defend the man.
2006-05-16 13:18:17
20.   Cliff Corcoran
16 do do do DO! da-jigga-jigga jigga-jigga jigga-jigga dum de-dum DEE DUM dum de-dum da-jigga-jigga jigga-jigga jigga-jigga dum de-dum DEE DUM dum de-dum da-jigga-jigga jigga-jigga jigga-jigga . . .
2006-05-16 13:18:28
21.   brockdc
12 I say we all play hooky and take a field trip into Joe Torre's brain.
2006-05-16 13:20:06
22.   wsporter
Cairo playing first, oh holy hell not again. Well we shall see but I fear we already have seen.
2006-05-16 13:33:08
23.   vockins
Those who hate the high crown should sample more. Anytime you walk past a Modell's, a mall kiosk, that place next to Billy's on River - try on the hat. The crown height is not always high, even though the size may be the same. The low crowns are out there, but they are rare. There's a wide manufacturing tolerance over at New Era, I think.

I have a low crown Yankees cap made in 2003 and a 2006 high crown. I also still have a 1985 with the green bill, not grey. I have come around to the high crown. You've got to go Tom Gordon/Terminator X with it - right above the eyebrows.

I tend to retire my caps after about three seasons, though. That's about as long as I can get with cleaning and the scotch gard. Got to look tight, man, don't disrespect the colors! Leave that trashed cap look for Red Sox fans. I'm not Trot Nixon.

2006-05-16 13:38:12
24.   Cliff Corcoran
23 I always thought I had a big head, but even my large noggin can't fill one of these new fangled hats. Gordon and El Duque must have had lower crowns. My mid-'80s cap looks played in and the stitching has faded, but it's still in good shape and not sweat stained or anything.
2006-05-16 13:39:06
25.   murphy
dammit, cliff!!! 20 that's the second pair of pants i ruined today. you're on fire.

the new yankee hat i just bought has a funny design flaw. the white liner around the interior of the hat actually extends a little BELOW where the brim meets the cap.

2006-05-16 13:41:12
26.   ChuckM
You gotta get the hats made by Twins Enterprises for the low cuts. I know they're Boston based, but what are ya gonna do?
2006-05-16 13:43:45
27.   Dimelo
23 Good point. I love neat looking hats. It says a lot about the person and style. I don't need a dirty ass hat - unless it's my softball hat.
2006-05-16 13:47:24
28.   domvjr
I also, have a Yanks cap from the 70's with the low crown and smaller NY. Its beat up, and has a hole in the crown, from an incident with a candle, but I would wear that cap, rather than the one they wear now. I do have more modern cap, but it's the one that is faded blue, with the smaller NY and Yankees in script in the back. I also like that cap, moreso than the official lid!
2006-05-16 13:56:32
29.   Shaun P
Somewhere I have an early-80's mesh Yanks cap, midnight blue, with the green under the brim and a slightly oversized NY on the front. Its a kid-sized cap though, so I can't wear it anymore.

I despise caps that are strange colors, like sky blue or yellow. Those just aren't right.

That said, one of my favorite caps is an early 90s offwhite cap, with navy stripes running up to the button along the sides of the panels, a navy brim, and the smaller NY on the front. Classy.

2006-05-16 14:20:08
30.   Dan M
A few years ago I bought a Mitchell & Ness wool Yankees hat that was the perfect solution to the boxy New Era hats: low crown, midnight blue (as opposed to the almost pure black hats they sell now), and a small NY. I believe they marketed it as the "1951" hat. Anyway, it ruled until it shrunk on me.

I like the fit of the Twins Enterprises hats, but don't like the color of their Yankees hat. It's too faded - almost gray. But I bought a SF Giants hat that they made (as a souvenir to a visit to Pac Bell) that was one of my all-time favorites.

My choice now (honest) is a cheap hat I got at Hat Day a few years ago. It seems weird to be a serious fan but have such a rinky-dink hat, but it fits nice, is blue, etc. And it was free!

Finally, anyone notice this weekend that a lot of the A's players were rockin the bright yellow socks under green stirrups? Very 80s retro.

2006-05-16 14:23:39
31.   wsporter
29 MFD My absolute pet peeve - RED YANKEES CAPS.
2006-05-16 14:41:22
32.   Shaun P
31 MFD, the only red that should be allowed on a Yankees cap is one with the "bat and hat" logo on it.
2006-05-16 15:05:53
33.   wsporter
32 MFD The red uncle sam hat and bat logo, yes (so long as the red is confined to the logo). Red hat with a white or black interlocking NY, no no no no no NO.
2006-05-17 05:34:45
34.   KJC
6 // the old school O's cap, with the cartoon bird. //

NESN showed some guy @ the O's game last night wearing that. I loved those -- brings me back to my old baseball card days. The new O's hat with the realistic bird is lame.

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