2004-2005 Toronto Blue Jays Home Cap

The Toronto Blue Jays have been a team with an identity crisis ever since the infamous 1994 Players Strike which effectively canceled the remainder of the season. The two-time defending World Champion Blue Jays had lost a lot of community support much as the rest of the teams in the sport had seen, and the team went in a drastic direction and decided to mix up their uniform and logo scheme in order to attempt to bring interest back into the team and the game as a whole. Their identity crisis was evidently capped by four main uniform and logo reformations before finally settling on their 2012 designs, but the uniforms that made the most drastic change began in 2004 with the “J-Bird” logo.

The J-Bird logo was introduced in the 2004 season and two new caps were introduced, shown here is the Home Cap which was worn from 2004-2005, this cap is only available in the 100% Wool style and utilizes a graphite base for both the crown and the brim of the cap. This cap was quickly retired however and replaced with the black version of the cap which was previously worn as the Away Cap. The bright logo on the front of the cap beams out quite well and doesn't clash that much with the base colour of the cap, something that can't be said about the former Away now Home Cap.

This new Toronto Blue Jays “J-Bird” logo is seemingly one of the more popular caps in regards to cap sales or style, regardless of the team's actual fanbase or following. This logo includes a stylized slanted “J” which is of flat embroidery and is stitched in a manner to attempt to give it depth without raising by using white accented with silver stitching. The script on the logo is shelled with a black outline which allows the the blue jay's “action post” beak and head beaming out of it the curve of the slanted script. The bird's embroidery is rather unimpressive due to its lack of real depth through the motion of stitching, it only takes advantage of better stitching when looking at the top of the bird's head in order to create different levels of feathers through angling the stitching one way and then conflicting it in another. The entire pictorial and script logo is surrounded with a thick blue outline which is seemingly the same colour choice as the bird itself and this outline is itself surrounded by a thin white outline of its own.

The use of the multiple outlines upon outlines is an interesting design choice, but the colour choices are extremely unimpressive since their colour palette appeared to be extremely limited. The Toronto Blue Jays made a bold move by removing the “Blue” from Blue Jays, but attempting to slide it in anywhere they can really doesn't justify the fact that they dismantled 27 years of team history which involved around the Blue Jay and the Canadian Maple Leaf.

The rear batterman logo on the cap implores the use silver stitching accompanied by the blue stitching, the colour choices work seemingly well for the cap due to the base colour now being grey it reflects the silver stitching quite nicely. The accented blue stitching is an unfortunate last-ditch effort to attempt to keep the colour blue into the Blue Jays logo and colour scheme which can be said for the entire tenure of the 2004-2011 Blue Jays uniforms as a whole.

I purchased this cap in Toronto while visiting in 2005 so I was really excited to pick up this cap since this was my first time out of the United States and I thought that this cap would be a great souvenir to take back to the United States with me. This cap was really fresh when it came out but it didn't exactly age too well when true Blue Jays fans were put into the equation, but the real eye opener to the organization was when the throwbacks were worn and the reception they received because of it, and it was then these caps were thought of as having a limited lifetime. The fact that this grey cap has been retired since 2005 will make it difficult to find for anyone, especially since it was such a popular cap with the popular culture, but reproductions are not that hard to find especially when companies like HatClub and MyFitteds strive to supply accurate reproductions. Any fans of the Black version of this cap may have a little luck finding it currently due to its recent retirement, but if you want these caps you better get them before they're gone.

2012 Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays have been one of my favourite teams in baseball and I've been following them fairly closely since the late 90's, but unfortunately for the team that's when things started to get weird. Although people are familiar with the team's most recent uniforms, most people just can't help but think of their original logos and uniforms when they look at the team, and this is how people assume they should be and fulfills the comfort level for the fanbase. Much like the San Diego Padres, the fanbase in Toronto would in a majority wear the old logos, jerseys, and caps over the current uniforms, so by the 2012 season the team gave the fans what they have been asking for.

The Toronto Blue Jays have had a rich history in Toronto and after going back-to-back in World Championships in 1992 and 1993 the team was hurt fairly badly due to the 1994 MLBPA strike that struck the sport causing the last 6 weeks of the season and the cancellation of the World Series. The Toronto Blue Jays are one of the more well known and more successful expansion teams that have come about in Baseball, and they continue to fall into the shadows of the American League East.

Following the strike attendance was down and the team felt that they needed to change the uniforms slightly to get more people interested in the team and a few slight changes were made to over emphasize the Canadian Maple Leaf, but unfortunately the uniform changes weren't enough to take the bad taste of baseball greed out of their mouths and the team continued to stumble. The team was more than less thought of as a failure which didn't allow them to finish anywhere better than 3rd place in the American League Eastern Division, and much like the previous late decade there was little interest in the team.

Following the 2003 season, the uniforms were such a failure that they were changed immediately, the fanbase felt disconnected and the ownership wasn't doing much to keep them interested in the team. Following roaring Steroid Era in baseball it seemed like the Toronto Blue Jays needed to change their image to a juicing bird holding a bat with the Canadian Maple Leaf tattooed on his arm; by the way, since when did birds have arms? The general consensus in Toronto and it's fanbase hated the uniforms but they looked at them with a blind eye because they just felt that the uniforms weren't that far off, but weren't so drastic to get truly upset about them although the uniforms were not what they were used to or what they wanted. With a new year in place the team attempted to change the uniforms once again, but this was a complete uniform reconstruction that removed all history of the original uniforms and created a more stylish and modern look. The fans were no longer interested, the team had a difficult time getting people into the stadium and the Blue Jays were hurting more than a large majority of the MLB teams.

For the first time the Blue Jays walked onto the field without the Canadian Maple Leaf on their uniform at all on Opening Day for the 2004 season, this was extremely disturbing to the Toronto Fan Base, especially since the Expos left the nation two years later; by 2009 the team began wearing a Maple Leaf patch on their jersey shoulder. These new uniform logos consisted of a sharp Blue Jay's bird head coming out of the stylized “J” which led many of the old time fans to call them the J-Birds, which hints at what they thought of the team. The original hats that were worn for home were a base grey and the away were a base black, but this only lasted for two seasons in which the grey was retired and the black was made their home and away cap, and a stylized “T” logo was made as an away alternative cap.

During the later part of the decade the team began to wear throwbacks to the uniforms prior to 1997 and they were a huge hit for the team, the fanbase loved them and for the first time in Toronto history the stadium began to fill up once again. Following the 2011 season the team promised to put Blue back into Blue Jays, and that's exactly what they had done. No longer were the dominant colours Grey and Black, but were once again Blue and White. The uniform scheme borrowed heavily from their original roots and modernized them creating one of the freshest caps in the MLB and many consider this to be the best On-Field cap that is currently on the market. The cap is a base Navy Blue and utilizes a familiar logo on the front, which is a modernized version of the original team logo.

The front embroidery of the cap is one of the freshest currently in baseball, it utilizes many different levels to create multiple details that would have been previously ignored in earlier years. The bird's blue jay is outlined with a white boarder which flows into the head of the bird, which creates three different layers of stylized feathers that are held in place between the raised embroidery of the black beak and neck area along with the blue crest. The Canadian Maple Leaf is also raised embroidery and tits itself right behind the bird's head, this portion of the cap also utilizes its own white outline much like the logo all together, but it's outline is layered higher than the original and overlaps rather than blends. This style of embroidery permits the Canadian Maple Leaf to subtly emit its dominance in the logo without over-sizing it or giving it strange placements much like the past few uniform changes.

The 2012 Toronto Blue Jays cap quickly became one of my favourite MLB On-Field Caps and I hunted for the cap up until I finally was able to pre-order it on the website Minor Leagues Major Dreams (item #9432512). Being a Toronto Blue Jays fan it is extremely refreshing to see the logo, especially because the previous uniform incarnations were either downright stupid and/or embarrassing. Being in Las Vegas and a current season ticket holder of the Triple-A Affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, the Las Vegas 51s, the upcoming season should be extremely exciting to see the new logo take over the current team and hopefully spark interest in changing Las Vegas' current team and uniform.

2012 Toronto Blue Jays

At long last, the Toronto Blue Jays have finally returned "Blue" to Toronto. By putting the word "Blue" back into the Blue Jays, this will usher in a new era for Toronto and all of their fans. The Blue Jays got a complete makeover which involved brand new uniforms and brand new New Era caps that will be worn starting in the 2012 season. The changes basically take the shape of familiarity of a compilation of the Blue Jays uniforms from the 70s up until the 90s, and blending them with a style of old and modernity.

The New Era cap that will be worn by the Toronto Blue Jays starting next season will feature a solid blue base cap which covers the crown and bill, and is featured with the traditional Blue Jay bird complimented by the red Canadian Maple Leaf. The cap will break Toronto's current tradition of having multiple caps for home and away use, and that is because this cap will be used in and outside of Toronto exclusively all season long.

The uniforms for the 2012 season and on will include 3 new jerseys, a traditional white jersey which lists the team name and a grey jersey for away games framing the city name of Toronto on the front. There will also be a solid blue alternate jersey which was all ready announced which will be used for both home and away use.

Home

Road

Home/Road Alternate

The cap and jerseys for batting practice/spring training have also been completely changed, the cap will be a 39Thirty model of the On-Field 59Fifty, and the jersey shows the regular Warm-Up adaptation of most jerseys.

The changes to the Toronto Blue Jays this off season are momentous in the history of this ballclub, and most likely will be unchanged for decades to come. The changes bring their team's history back from obscurity and will help to reunite the fans of old with the identity crisis that has plagued the city and team of Toronto the past decade.

Toronto Blue Jays 1997-2002

With the leaked photos coming out of the Miami Marlins New Era cap, I figured this might be a good time to take a retrospective look at my favourite of the Toronto Blue Jays caps; due to the Blue Jays also reforming their logo and colour scheme back to their roots.

This New Era baseball cap was worn by the Toronto Blue Jays starting in the 1997 season and was retired in 2002, although this logo was short-lived in the Blue Jays history, it was one of the most recognizable and admired logos that the Blue Jays had created. At the time, this was one of the MLB's largest designs on the front of the cap, and was one of the few caps in the era to have this level of detail located on the logo rather than the simplicity of the cyclical design process of the caps.

The cap is a base dark blue made completely out of wool, the cap also includes a grey underbrim and a white sweatband. This logo located on the front of the structured crown depicts the head of a blue jay located in front of the Canadian Maple Leaf, giving it a nice representation that it was a Canadian team and showed patriotism without over-saturation.

The embroidery on this USA Made New Era cap is beautifully done, from the structuring to the detailing of the stitches on the leaf that leave it multidimensional although the structuring is minimal.

Recommended 7/10

The detail in the embroidery can not truly be overlooked due to the amount of detail located on the logo, and doesn’t exactly require a close eye to notice and appreciate the logo in its entirety. This vintage cap has character that unfortunately was short lived, especially being that the logo’s successor was such a disappointment that it lasted for only 1 season. Although this hat is out of print, it would be a great score if one were able to acquire one either unworn or slightly used.

Depth of the Minor League Baseball Cap

The embroidery of the collection of Minor League Baseball caps is also much more in depth than the embroidery of a Major League Baseball cap do to the level of detail that is involved. Most MLB caps only consist of typographical depictions and few teams utilize pictorial imagery, only expressed by few teams such as the former Florida Marlins, the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and Toronto Blue Jays.

Of the four teams listed above, there are many discrepancies with the idea that they only utilize complex designs, being that they also can have alternate caps that consist of simple typographical designs; Florida is the only team listed to use the complex cap daily. Two of the teams listed above will be missing in the 2012 season however, the Florida Marlins are moving onto a new proliferation if their existence and will become the Miami Marlins, this change will bring about a new design of their New Era cap that will have a base a simplicity. The Toronto Blue Jays have also announced that they will also be changing their uniforms, but it is widely believed that they will revert back to their previous design ideas with the traditional bird head, so there should be little to no change here in regards to complexity vs. simplicity.

I'm sure it may be curious to some by what exactly I mean by complexity and simplicity, what I mean is in regards to the logo itself and not the level of complexity required to do the embroidery. Realistically, it is easier for New Era to make the bird on the Baltimore Orioles cap than it is to make the “S” on the Seattle Mariners cap, so the level of legitimate complexity may be surprising.

What I love about Minor League caps is the freedom of creativity that they seem to have. Minor league caps seem to have absolutely no shame and have the feeling that they can for the most part do whatever they want without limitations. The lack of boundaries when it comes to their freedom to design allows the teams to have fun with their logos, and permit their teams to really exploit their location's stereotypes.

Ashville Tourists - Class-A Affiliate of the Colorado Rockies

Augusta Greenjackets - Class-A Affiliate of the San Francisco Giants

Casper Ghosts - Rookie Affiliate of the Colorado Rockies

Fort Wayne Tin Caps - Class-A Affiliate of the San Diego Padres

Jamestown Jammers - Class-A Short Season Affiliate of the Florida Marlins

Lansing Lugnuts - Class-A Affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays

Las Vegas 51s - Triple-A Affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays

Montgomery Biscuits - Double-A Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays

Nashville Sounds - Triple-A Affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers

Ogden Raptors - Rookie Partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers

Quad City River Bandits - Single-A Affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals

Trenton Thunder - Double-A Affiliate of the New York Yankees