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Cheers To The Baseball Cap

MattJH

One Too Many
Messages
1,388
Oh, you guys. I can hardly get through a thread anymore without some sort of tongue-in-cheek comment from somebody furrowing their brylcreem-sheened brow over all of these disrespectful kids in their baseball hats and their baggy pants. It brings to mind the cantankerous "Get off my lawn!" fun-killing neighbor. Sometimes it makes me wonder of the top-hat-wearers of yesteryear thought the same about folks wearing fedoras. I'm also beginning to wonder if the majority of this board has been physically attacked by roving bands of unlawful baseball hats adorned with legs and fists.

If you're going to carry on vintage clothing style, etiquette, and attitude, you're also going to have to accept that they've long since changed for the majority, and that a piece of clothing doesn't necessarily have to serve a function beyond fashion. I have plenty of baseball caps and I absolutely wear them to support a favorite team, brand, or sometimes just because I like the pattern or color. All in all, this place is seriously great, but you can't blame me for occasionally second-guessing the group mentality that fuels this sort of fashion intolerance, particularly when there are many posts detailing the dismay of the poster when he or she is rudely shown the same by a stranger on the street in regards to their preferred clothing (i.e. - the insult-collecting hat thread). You see the conundrum here.

Not everybody has to like everything, obviously. For instance, I strongly dislike leather jackets, cowboy hats, and virtually any kind of boot at all, but that doesn't mean I don't understand why many people like them as well as understand that they are ingrained in our culture, just like baseball caps -- after all, they're 100% Rockwell-ian Americana, really. I suppose what I don't understand is how baseball caps, in our microcosm here, have become synonymous with rude, mannerless hooligans. Why not sneakers? Or hoodies? Or long t-shirts? (I own all three of those, too! ;)). I know, I know - baseball caps are hats, so they're particularly relevant scapegoat victims in this Hat forum, but you know what I mean!

I think baseball caps need a group hug. They feel very misunderstood and are disappointed in everybody.

P.S. - I'm considering attending the Philadelphia meet-up in a Philadelphia Eagles cap just to annoy everybody. Neener neener neener. Thbbbbt.
 

kiltie

Practically Family
Messages
732
Location
lone star state
WOW!

I was just thinking of opening up a baseball cap thread, though with a bit more of a "vintage" angle. I'll see if I can help this one along.

Here's a pic of a Marine Corps aviator's ball cap from World War II: it was a regular part of the uniform. This picture was taken at the Pacific War Museum at the Nimitz Museum here in Texas:

IMG_0712.jpg


...and here is my own less than vintage, but with historic angle. This is my Blacksheep Squadron cap purchased at the airshow last fall. Everyone remembers Robert Conrad as "Pappy", but there's still a unit that carries on the Blacksheep moniker, flying Harriers now, instead of the F-4 Corsairs. This hat has the old emblem with the F-4. The new one is similar.

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj290/safdkiltie/HPIM2646.jpg

IMG_0759.jpg
 

Dr Doran

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,853
Location
Los Angeles
I hate them, but didn't Steve McQueen wear one in The Great Escape when he was throwing that ball around? My wife's knees went slack with desire for him in that scene. But not everyone is Steve McQueen ...
 

Chuck Bobuck

Practically Family
Messages
715
Location
Rolling Prairie
I like baseball caps. I like a well done logo or trademark of something I can relate to on a cap. They are also great for blending into a crowd. They are the boater or fedora of these time. But, I don't find them practical when in the Summer heat or the Winter cold.
 

Maguire

Practically Family
Messages
619
Location
New York
I despise baseball caps but the field caps shown are pretty cool. I've never had a problem with caps, and i'd say a part of that is my looking down on the obsession with spectator sports. But the old german m43s, along with various american and military caps (except berets... anything but berets) look great for casual wear and are more practical in some situations.


As for tophats vs fedoras, the argument could go way back, we could talk about tricorns vs. bicorns vs. tophats etc. Or Shakos vs. Peaked Caps.
 

LordBest

Practically Family
Messages
692
Location
Australia
They fail to keep my head cool, they fail at keeping the sun off anything but my forehead and they look tacky. Loathe them.
However, tastes differ, so if you like them, I am very pleased for you. You can have my share as well.
 

Maguire

Practically Family
Messages
619
Location
New York
LordBest said:
They fail to keep my head cool, they fail at keeping the sun off anything but my forehead and they look tacky. Loathe them.
However, tastes differ, so if you like them, I am very pleased for you. You can have my share as well.
Actually that reminds me, as a kid i had about 10 of them given to me over 20 years. There's a bum alcoholic around my job who usually needs head cover so i offered him the whole set. I guess he appreciates them but i wouldn't expect him to rock a fedora anywhere.
 

thunderw21

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,044
Location
Iowa
I don't mind baseball caps as long as they are subtle and worn right. I use to wear them all the time.
Oh, and vintage ones are okay too...

DSCF1346-1.jpg
 

just_me

Practically Family
Messages
723
Location
Florida
Wow, despise and loathe. Pretty strong emotional words for opinions of a hat. Tell us how you really feel. lol
 

Dr Doran

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,853
Location
Los Angeles
As for a logo, or any words at all, I would never wear one on an article of clothing, much less upon the seat of my cognition. This is regardless of my support for the institution, team, or product of the logo, word, or picture in question. I think seeing Spuds McKenzie shirts in the 1980s, ubiquitous on yahoos and other unsavory types, killed the idea of wearing any logo or cartoon character or picture whatsoever on my clothing. Many of these types also wore baseball hats, mullets, and fat-tongued white sneakers with overly broad laces.

The only pictures I will ever wear on my clothing or person will be on ties or on tiny, tasteful lapel pins. An FDR pin, or my vintage pin portraying Kemal Atatürk, or the like. Occasionally a Fedora Lounge pin if I'm feeling silly and meeting Loungers whom I have not met yet and who I want to be able to recognize me, if we are in a place wherein many persons will be wearing fedoras and suits and the like.

If I ever play sports I can imagine wearing some of those very old logo-less caps, I suppose. Perhaps I'll try to find one which I can wear if I find myself tossing a softball back and forth with my daughter when she gets a little older. So, OK, I can deal with those.
 

Maguire

Practically Family
Messages
619
Location
New York
Doran said:
As for a logo, or any words at all, I would never wear one on an article of clothing, much less upon the seat of my cognition. This is regardless of my support for the institution, team, or product of the logo, word, or picture in question. I think seeing Spuds McKenzie shirts in the 1980s, ubiquitous on yahoos and other unsavory types, killed the idea of wearing any logo or cartoon character or picture whatsoever on my clothing. Many of these types also wore baseball hats, mullets, and fat-tongued white sneakers with overly broad laces.

The only pictures I will ever wear on my clothing or person will be on ties or on tiny, tasteful lapel pins. An FDR pin, or my vintage pin portraying Kemal Atatürk, or the like. Occasionally a Fedora Lounge pin if I'm feeling silly and meeting Loungers whom I have not met yet and who I want to be able to recognize me, if we are in a place wherein many persons will be wearing fedoras and suits and the like.

If I ever play sports I can imagine wearing some of those very old logo-less caps, I suppose. Perhaps I'll try to find one which I can wear if I find myself tossing a softball back and forth with my daughter when she gets a little older. So, OK, I can deal with those.
I generally would agree with this as well. Most of my friends like to broadcast their politics on t shirts. I'll admit i like some of the t shirts and the images on them, but i don't like the idea of being a billboard. If i want to endorse something, I'll wear a lapel pin or something. Then again, if i was going to a baseball game or something, its understandable that i'd wear a jersey or team cap.
 

Sefton

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,132
Location
Somewhere among the owls in Maryland
Maguire said:
... But the old german m43s, along with various american and military caps (except berets... anything but berets) look great for casual wear and are more practical in some situations.

Hey, I believe that this thread is about ball caps. Please keep the beret bashing in its proper place. (actually, it's very difficult to bash a beret. Not enough stiffness in the damn things).

 

Maguire

Practically Family
Messages
619
Location
New York
Sefton said:
Hey, I believe that this thread is about ball caps. Please keep the beret bashing in its proper place. (actually, it's very difficult to bash a beret. Not enough stiffness in the damn things).

Someone mentioned the field caps. A cap is a cap, chief. i added my two cents. and the beret part was in quotes for a reason.
 

nola89

Familiar Face
Messages
63
Location
New Orleans, LA
I think that many folks' frustration comes from all lot of young adults' attitude about them.

I don't live in the safest neighborhood in the world (or the safest city for that matter). I see a lot of kids wearing a sideways ball caps with flat brims with all the tags on it (so we all know how expensive it was), complete with baggy pants and an oversized white tee (this is not a racial thing, whites and blacks wear this so don't try to turn it into a ridiculous racial discussion). This sight brings to mind where this comes from. To me, this image brings to mind gangs, drugs, and death. I'm pretty sure those that wear this think of this too only they think it is cool. I've known three people in my life that have lost their lives to people dressed just like this and it makes me incredibly sad. It also makes me upset that this idea has permeated the culture of well-off sheltered individuals who don't really know what that look means to a lot of people.

Throughout history, people dress to look good and to make a statement about themselves. I don't criticize those who dress because they want to look cool. I criticize those that glorify the culture of violence and make it into something that is cool.

There is no glory in gangs, drugs, or death. The fact that a lot of people have created an image to match this for the "cool factor" is a disgrace to baseball caps to say the least.

Anyway I don't mind ball caps, I just don't look good in them.
 

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