Downflap Cap On-Field Fitted

Since winter is approaching us quickly, I thought it was about time we discuss the New Era 39Thirty style caps that include a downflap used to cover ones ears in cold temperatures.

Last winter I took my annual trip to Massachusetts and along with my girlfriend we took a one week trip down to New York City, and as I'm sure one could imagine it is no where near warm in the North East during winter, so I decided to give one of these caps a try. After checking out MLB's webpage, I finally decided to pick one up, so I decided to order the black Arizona Diamondbacks cap, however I considered getting more of a wintery team to go along with the North East, but my Dbacks ultimately prevailed.

The cap is actually an approved on-field cap in Major League Baseball, and it can be spotted on occasion during the later months of the season and also in the Post-Season on certain players. This cap is a wool blend, 97% wool and 3% spandex, and is also a stretch fit unlike the regular fitted 59Fifty brand. The cap's downflap includes the MLB's logo on the back which is present in unfolded mode and has the team's logo on the back while it is folded down to go along with the second MLB logo above it.

The flap is designed to be folded up when not in use, but in colder weather the flap would be pulled down in order to cover ones' ears to help add that little bit of warmth that might be desired. The cap's crown is a traditional six-panel cap as the rest of New Era's American style, and the front bill has a manufactured bend to it as much of the rest of the 39Thirty style caps and has a more squared out brim than the traditional on-field 59Fifty. The interior of the cap is also different than a regular 39Thirty cap due to the fact that the back four panels have a line of fleece to help hold in more warmth and to keep the cap from getting too cold when not in use. This fleece loops up the downflap and is designed to be placed upon ones ears or back of the neck during use.

The embroidery on these caps are also extremely different than on the 59Fifty models, which is an interesting series of events due to the fact that they are all made by the same company. In fact, the logo designs also vary between the styles and are often extremely noticeable when compared to the original. Some of the logos have an extreme shift to them which most likely can be explained due to the lower profile of the caps, in order to attempt to visually trick others due to the fact that the cap's logo is being seen at a different angle. The more realistic answer to this question is the fact that the changes were implemented because the modified logos were easier to embroider on the lower profile 39Thirty crown.

If you're from an area that will endure extreme cold, I would recommend this hat if you're someone who can't be seen without the logo of his/her team on. The cap worked surprisingly well in the cold and it worked extremely well at cutting down on wind that slices through the air like a knife, however the only downfall to the cap is that they all appear to be Chinese made, a conundrum that seemingly can't be avoided.

Diamondbacks Throwbacks - Sept 9th-11th

Over the September 9-11 weekend series vs. the San Diego Padres, the Arizona Diamondbacks donned their throwback jerseys which included their iconic purple and teal uniforms for the first time since the finale of the 2006 season. With the start of the 2007 season, the Arizona Diamondbacks switched over to their Sedona Red, Sand Beige, and Black, these changes were highly controversial and took a long time for the Arizona fans to finally accept the changes. Since the 2006 season, the original purple Diamondbacks hats were out of production and could only be acquired through custom orders and were never released in an authentic fashion since.

When the Throwback Weekend was approaching, all of the New Era cap fans knew that the Diamondbacks were going to produce a new On-Field Fitted in the original purple style, so we had the expectations that the caps would be as accurate as they once were, being that the caps were out of print only several years ago so they would have to try very hard to get these wrong. Turns out, New Era probably didn't try hard at all, in fact they didn't try what so ever as it appears, but no one knows exactly who to blame for the mistakes.

The Diamondbacks New Era that was released at the game was extremely inaccurate, but even more confusing was the fact that the team didn't even wear these on the field. The differences between the caps are extremely noticeable, most notably the size of the "A" located on the front of the cap which appears to be 30% larger than on the original. The other major error is that the fangs in the cavity of the "A" is teal, whereas the original should be black; this area along with everywhere else that has black thread should be raised when this cap expresses flat embroidery.

Image owned by Major League Baseball

Being an Arizona Diamondbacks fan, I am extremely disappointed with the way that New Era handled the cap situation. As mentioned above, the team itself didn't even wear the caps which were supposedly worn on field, being that they appeared to have a second style of cap to wear which were significantly accurate as compared to their original sources. It is hard to say why this is the case, but when it comes down to it the caps that were sold as "On-Field" were not. One theory that I had come up with when the story first broke was that the team might have had old stock back from when the team originally wore purple, which isn't that far of a stretch due to the fact that they sell them during their FanFest in February, but pictures of players in the caps beg to differ.

Image owned by Major League Baseball

As shown above, the caps have different coloured threading inside of the "A" which can be explained due to New Era discontinuing the original thread, and the patch on the interior of the cap tends to lean towards it being a reproduction such as those sold by stores like My Fitteds or Hat Club.

The only element of the cap that wasn't a disappointment was that they were made in the USA, noted on the interior of the cap on the inside of the sweatband. It was very hard to walk away from the cap, since I have been an Arizona Diamondbacks fan since their formation in 1998, and I was really looking forward to getting a modern throwback hat made out of the modern Performance Polyester material. Buying the cap wouldn't justify anything in my mind, the frustration of the lack of accuracy was really the nail in the coffin when it came down to my determination on whether to buy it or not.