Houston Astros "Flashback Fridays" Throwback Lineup

So what's going on in Texas?

As has been announced, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are doing some extreme throwbacks for the 2012 season in celebration of their 40th and 50th birthdays respectively. Although the Texas Rangers have yet to really reveal their full uniforms, caps are excluded in pictures, the Houston Astros are definitely ready to roll with the throwbacks and are prepared to celebrate 50 years with style.

For the Houston Astros, we have been given almost no secrets in regards to the caps, which we are going to assume are New Era, but even if not they will still be reported on. The Houston Astros are picking 6 new throwbacks, one for each of the five decades of the Houston Astros and one representing the original team which were named the Colts.

The jerseys and caps seen above are in a nice time line, Colts are on the left and the decades increase as the jerseys move to the left.

About the moment that the Flashback Fridays were announced there immediately became concerns with the Houston Colt .45's and the pistol which would be represented on the jersey. When this was reported, MLB originally announced that the Houston Astros would not be permitted to wear the jerseys if the pistol was present, but ultimately left the decision up to the team which allowed sanity to dominate over political correctness, leaving the pistol on the jersey.

Regardless of the jersey tops, the 1962-1964 Colt .45s New Era cap appears to be a base blue with what would most likely be raised embroidery on the front panels of the cap reading ".45s" in orange, adorned with an orange button on the top of the crown.

Moving on just 3 years after their formation, the team became the Houston Astros which caused their uniforms to move to the "Shooting Star" which brought about new caps. These new caps for the brand new Astros are a simple navy blue cap much like the .45s, but the cap will be assumed to feature flat embroidery for the orange star that rests in the middle, and a raised "H" in white stitching for the script covering it, and much like the .45s cap the button on top will be orange.

Come the 1971 season, uniforms changed again to the infamous rainbow effect as seen above, but the caps are pretty much unchanged except for the colour inversion. This cap here features the base orange cap which would make this the only other full orange cap On-Field other than the Miami Marlins' home alternate. The logo features the regular star, but stitched in the dark blue and is also covered by the white raised embroidered "H".

Come 1980 the team moved its rainbow scheme from a horizontal stripe along the abdomen to going horizontal down the shoulders, this cap moves back a bit in years to the first Astros incarnation, but the only difference we will see in this New Era cap is the button on top, which is the same base navy blue rather than orange as seen in prior years.

By 1994 the team changed uniform schemes again, the new ones are a pure white with a new stylized and sci-fi like script on the front with a new shooting star logo in gold. The caps are once again a base navy blue and will feature a raised embroidered shooting star in gold on the front panels, but we do not get to see the gold brimmed caps that were also present in this era.

1999-2006 Arizona Diamondbacks Reproduction by Lee's Sneakers

The Arizona Diamondbacks may have a little more representation on this blog than other teams do, and that is mainly due to my bias being that they are my favourite Major League Baseball team. The Diamondbacks' organization has been a huge portion of my life and I find myself following them daily even when the season is over. Ever since I started to collect New Era caps in 2000, I of course started with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and although my first cap was the purple Home cap my second was of course the Away cap. Buying the cap in the early 2000's it got a lot of use out me over the years but it was eventually retired due to its age.

After years without this cap I decided that I should attempt to replace it, after buying a few deadstock items on ebay I just found that I didn't wear it as much as I used to because it just didn't feel right on my head. After being spoiled with the new and more modern shapes of the 100% Polyester On-Field fitteds I became accustomed to the deeper crown I began to look into the many reproductions that were on the market. After not exactly giving up on my hunt, Lee's Sneakers on Facebook/Twitter posted a picture of their newest shipment which included an accurate reproduction of the Arizona Diamondbacks 1999-2006 away cap.

This Arizona Diamondbacks away cap is a pretty good representation of the caps worn On-Field from 1999-2006, it includes a white sweatband, grey underbrim, along with no New Era flag embroidered on the side of the cap. The cap is a base black which is constructed in 100% wool and includes the original copper “D” snake logo on the front two panels. The only inaccuracy of the cap is the rear batterman logo which include a framed raised embroidery. Going along with the aspect of the accuracies in which this cap does and does not partake in, it utilises the Official On-Field patch on the inside of the cap, the patches also on the interior contrast the colour choice by using black while on top of the white sweatband.

This Diamondbacks logo follows the accurate representation of the “D” logo which is a stylized version of a snake which is embroidered using a metallic copper thread. Inside of this snake there are several details which are prominent such as the diamond detail on the back of the snake which is embroidered in a turquoise thread. The snake is then outlined with a thick but thin raised embroidery in black which is then silhouetted by a thin layer of purple which helps to offset the polarity between the black base cap and the metallic copper threading.

The rear batterman logo is the only disappionting aspect of this cap. It functions as a half-assed version of the raised embroidery of the batterman logo which is worn on the modern day On-Field Fitted but is vastly different being that it is extremely flat and includes no rounded edging which is complimented by a black threaded frame around it. The detail of the batterman is extremely poor but has a better shape than a vast majority of these framed batterman logos contain. Other than the lack of detail and the incorrect version of the batterman, the colour selection is accurate by using the black and purple threading surrounding the pictorial embroidery.

Overall this is a very accurate representation of the original cap worn by the Diamondbacks from 1999-2006. Other than the overall modernized shape of the On-Field Fitted, this cap strays from its origins very softly such as the colours of the logo being that the turquoise colour that was on the original cap has since been discontinued, and the copper threading used is slightly less yellow than the original. If anyone wants to pick up this cap be sure to hit up Lee's Sneakers on Twitter @leesneakers23 or on Facebook!

2012 Baltimore Orioles Road

The 2012 Baltimore Orioles will have a brand new pair of caps to wear On-Field and they will be worn home and away respectively, these new caps will take a look back into the Orioles' history in which the team experienced its richest history which included six World Series appearances and three victories. The Baltimore Orioles recently have not been a very fortunate team as of late which began after the 1998 season where they failed to reach the post-season after two consecutive ALCS berths.

The Baltimore Orioles new New Era cap focuses mainly on the bird, this animated bird takes a blend of the caps worn by the team between the 1966 and 1988 seasons, and this 22 year run was a rich one for the city and team of Baltimore. The cap is a base black with a mandarin orange brim and button on top, being that this is the Away cap the crown is a solid black and does not include the two front white panels as the Home cap has. The bird on the front of this cap originated in the 1966 season which proved to be the Orioles' first World Series berth since moving to Baltimore and the first Championship in franchise history. The bird was highly animated in a cartoonish style which featured the bird wearing a ball cap and smirking back at the viewer, this cap replaced the original pictorial image of a crudely drawn bird worn on base black caps.

The logo on the front of this cap attempts to take the original style from as early as 1966 and blend it with styles of cap logos that the Orioles wore through the 1988 season. This logo seems to borrow more elements from the original 1966 logo being that it is wider and more round, but the beak and cap elements are substituted in from the 1975 logo. The only apparent new part of the cap is the brim and the logo on the front of it, the cap's brim is much more round and doens't curve upwards in an awkward way that the original caps did, and the logo utilizes the current Alternate logo.

The embroidery on the front seems extremely clean especially for such a complicated cap, the reason I call this complicated and clean is because the quality of embroidery has taken a huge step back recently and correct stitching and raising is something I have been learning to appreciate recently. This cap includes the simple cartoon bird but there are some differences that it has with the original logos, most notably the cap. The cap on this bird is curiously the Orioles' current Alternate cap with the “O's” logo scripted on the front, the embroidery once again did a fantastic job in revealing the details in such a relatively small portion of the cap. The embroidery overall is very well done and I suspect that this is because a majority of the logo is flat embroidery, the only raised portion is the beak and its slight outline which is very short; not much room for disaster here. The thick orange outline also differs from its predecessors being that it is nearly twice as thick as them, the reason it is stitched this way is because it helps to make the bird's logo beam off of the front two panels.

The rear batterman logo of this cap is extremely predictable, but what else could one expect with the Baltimore Orioles? Teams like this only have two predominant colours, and much like the San Francisco Giants there is little they can do with the colour selection for the accents of the batterman. The black accented with the orange could possibly be switched in order to put more of an emphasis on the more tropical colour to help it stand out more, but that may or may not be necessary since the purpose of the batterman is to be subtle in its own respect. I am not satisfied with the raised embroidery on the rear batterman however, but I can say this about 90% of the raised batterman logos I see on the Polyester caps, quality has gone down extremely and the fact that so much of the raised foam material sticks out from between threads lays testament to the fact that the rear batterman should go back to being flat embroidery.

Being that the biggest thing the Orioles are known for currently is their fantastic part of Camden Yards, ownership most likely wanted to help spark interest in the team again through the process of changing caps to those worn by the teams that took the city of Baltimore to the Championship Series and beyond. The cap seen here might very well be an attempt to help remind the fans and the ownership that the uniforms worn on the field can help put more of a sense of tradition into the club and its fans, but although the encyclopedia diagram style bird is retired (for now), don't rule out seeing it return as an alternate in the near future.

Cleveland Indians Road/Alternate

The Cleveland Indians have had a long history involving their logo of Chief Wahoo which is a caricature of a Native American which originated as a shoulder patch in 1928 but was not worn on the cap until 1954-1957 before it was used primarily starting with the 1986 season. Chief Wahoo has been a deep part of the Cleveland Indians' team history, but its presence has not been perceived well by a portion of the Native American population which has lead to several protests which started on opening day of the infamous 1994 season.

Prior to the use of Chief Wahoo in any incarnation, the Cleveland Indians wore simple blue caps with a block style white “C” located on the front panels, and starting with the 2008 season the Cleveland Indians began to wear a cap similar to the original, but reported by the Indians' president the decision was not to combat the possible racism expressed by the logo, but was to help the team's image by not wearing the logo primarily on the road and to give the fans a cap option if they were not comfortable wearing the Chief Wahoo logo.

Whereas Chief Wahoo is worn primarily at home this new New Era cap was designed and worn starting in the 2008 season as a Home Alternate, but starting with the 2011 season this cap was retired for Home Alternate use and was then used primarily as the Away cap and Chief Wahoo was then the alternate. This cap is a base Navy Blue which is surprisingly darker than the traditional Heather Grey in which they wear as a home with a scarlet brim or the away alternate which is solid Heather Grey.

The reason that the caps use two different colour blues is a mystery to me, but the choices may have had something to do with the focus of the main logo through the background choice, and this can be noted in some of the original Chief Wahoo caps using an almost-black material that made the logo really pop out with its flat embroidery, but the lighter colour allows it to blend in slightly better. The darker Navy used on this Away/Alternate cap most likely utilized the darker colour to compliment the raised embroidery to give the stylized “C” the powerful look it required without any kind of outline, much like the correlation between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees cap script.

This Cleveland Indians New Era cap is designed with a stylized block “C” logo that is embroidered in scarlet stitching. This raised embroidery is thick and powerful which allows itself to become the dominant element of the cap through the process of putting the focus on the central script while using modest colour choices which compliment the team's dominant scheme which have been used somewhat exclusively since the team was named the Indians in 1915. By looking back to the teams roots of the very early years, the team has effectively made a throwback cap while at the same time modernizing it much like the Toronto Blue Jays recently did, but through using script rather than a pictorial logo.

The rear batterman logo falls into the category of “navy blue and red” which allows the logo to be a direct copy of the traditional MLB logo rather than the team's designers having the opportunity to be relatively creative by using colours that do not necessarily reflect the primary colours of the team. The logo on the back of this cap does fit in very well with the design of the cap by using a subtle design in a powerful way.

When the Cleveland Indians began to wear this cap as an alternate Home cap in 2008, it was a little frustrating to me due to the fact that being a baseball fan I am extremely against any real kind of change to teams or a change that would remove any historical aspect, and I assumed this logo was made to slowly phase out the Chief Wahoo logo. The basic fact about the Chief Wahoo logo is that it wasn't up until fairly recently in baseball history that they began to use it exclusively on their caps, but looking back at older baseball cards of mine I began to recall the stylized “C” logo which looked like Native American text in itself, and after a little more research I was able to discover that the “C” logos have dominated the team's cap throughout its history.

Whether the new “C” Logos replace the old Chief Wahoo logo is fine with me at the time being, but that being said I would prefer to see the Chief Wahoo logo stay within the team's uniform through the Home Cap, and Alternate cap, or the use of a shoulder patch as it was originally intended. When it comes down to it the logo in itself can easily be seen as being racist when looking at it without the filter we all might have, the caricature look does exaggerate some elements of the Native American but does not do it in a malicious manner. The best way to really make a good correlation would be the Atlanta Braves who no longer use their Native American caricatures but still heavily use Native American elements.

Looking at the Indians' Chief Wahoo logo while comparing it to dozens of other caps worn in the minor leagues, it is hard to see why the logo would be considered racist due to the level of caricatures used throughout the design process. Polls state that 91% of Native Americans approve or don't mind the Chief Wahoo or Washington Redskins team names or logos, but does that make it right? Or should lumberjacks nationwide all be offended by the Williamsport Crosscutters' logo?

Pittsburgh Pirates 40th Anniversary of the 1971 World Series

The 2011 Season quickly became a year to member in Pittsburgh due to the Pirates early success, but their mid-season drop-off continued to have fueled the fire for fan support in the Steel City. Not only were the Pirates relevent for the first time in nearly two decades, but the Pirates were also ready to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the World Series in which they beat the Baltimore Orioles in 7 games thus awarding Roberto Clemente his first and only World Series MVP award.

On June 21, 2011 the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles were matched up in Interleague play, this matchup created the perfect opportunity for the Pittsburgh Pirates to create a Turn Back The Clock uniform and New Era cap to commemorate their victorious winning of the 1971 World Series. The Pirates began the game with an opening ceremony which celebrated Hall of Fame Pirate Bill Mazeroski along with Pirates greats Bill Virdon, Gene Alley, Al Oliver, Bob Robertson, Dave Giusti, and Bruce Kison. The seven former players donned the throwbacks which the current players were wearing to celebrate their victory, and emerged from the dugout which allowed the fans of the past and the present to witness the winning history of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Upon seeing this cap the first time I really hated the way it looked, to me it looked extremely bland and boring and just plain ugly, but seeing it more and more made me appreciate it a lot more than that first impression. Giving the cap some real justice, this Pittsburgh Pirates throwback is stunning and the Gold crown with the black script and brim flow fantastic and the colour choices make it one of the most unique caps in the Major Leagues without going out of their way to be unique like the Marlins recently did. When I finally decided that I wanted this cap, I didn't exactly go out of my way to find it, but rather let it come to me through the process of going to the mall all of the time with my girlfriend, I knew eventually one of the Lids we went to would have my size in stock.

Outside of how cool it looks now, in 2012, the one concern of mine was how well does this cap match up to the original caps from 1971. Not being around in 1971 I wasn't able to really say one way or another, but searching the internet I was able to find some images that helped me to decipher this cap from the ones worn four decades ago. Right off of the bat I knew one inaccuracy was going to be apparent, and that's the use of the batterman logo on the rear of the cap, but New Era seemingly loves to place these on their Throwbacks, but I can't complain that they put it on there because they didn't try to hide it the asinine way they botched the 1980's Mariners Throwbacks.

While viewing a picture of the Pirates former manager Danny Murtaugh in the 1971 World Series, we can see that the underbrim is definitely green, but that was something to be expected when looking into caps earlier than the mid-1990's. Being that the rest of the On-Field Fitteds have black underbrims it was more economical for New Era to create the black underbrims for these, being that they would need to obtain the correct Kelly Green material to create the underbrims.

Pittsburgh Pirates starter Steve Blass has a little something to say about the crown colour of the cap though, but skipper Danny Murtaugh disagrees. Going beyond the base colour of the cap, the front logo can be considered to be inaccurate due to the embroidery being raised on this current cap, but did we honestly think that New Era would make the cam with flat embroidery? Based on the two pictures of the ballcaps, did the Pirates wear two different caps? I'm going to go ahead and call this miscue a possibility, but I would really like to know what the caps truly looked like since my baseball card collection doesn't span earlier than the early 1980's.

Inaccuracies:

• Use of Batterman Logo
• Black Underbrim
• Possible base colour inaccuracy

Going beyond the historical aspects of the cap I'm going to look into the quality of the current cap, the Pirates' “P” logo on the front is extremely sharp and is one of the freshest logos in the game, and the colour choices make it really stand out on the cap in the chosen Earth tones. The raised embroidery is done extremely well and matches up perfectly to the current On-Field Fitteds of the Pittsburgh Pirates' basic home cap, which leads me to suspect that New Era handled this as a Fashion Cap Custom as an On-Field Fitted. The fact that New Era didn't even bother to make the logo more accurate to the 1971 version shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, and this is because New Era's quality control doesn't exactly believe in accurate throwbacks and the original logo wasn't that far off of what it currently is today.

The batterman logo on the rear of the cap is an addition that was not on the original cap, but regardless of that the embroidery on the rear looks extremely sharp especially with the colour choice and the embroidery involved due to its cleanliness. The Batterman is accented with the team's current colours of Black and Yellow, but the fact that it is there in the first place would annoy any Pirates fan who wanted an accurate representation of the original Pirates cap. The fact that it is there doesn't bother me though, as I said before, New Era seemed to put more care and attention into this cap than they did the Turn Back The Clock 1980's Mariners cap, the use of blue stitching on the batterman to hide the logo is about as ridiculous as when they try to hide the New Era flag on the side of the Fashion Cap Customs.

This cap will quickly become one of my favourites and will go into my rotation immediately, and that's not something I would have ever suspected when I saw this cap on the shelf the first or even the fifth time I came upon it. The use of the Gold crown makes it extremely unique without being too flashy like the Marlins' Away cap or without being too dull like the Padres' Sunday caps.

Beautiful cap, if you find it, get it before it's gone.

100% Wool Texas Rangers

The loss of Wool Caps for On-Field Fitteds have been crippling to some members of the New Era Cap community, being that contrary to New Era's beliefs the cap's materials do make a difference with the fan base and even certain players. Back in 2007 when New Era switched the On-Field Fitteds from 100% wool to 100% polyester there were quite a few stragglers, and on occasion some players continue to wear Wool caps on the field and many fans are crying for New Era to at least give the option to have the caps be produced in Wool again.

When it comes to the stragglers there are two simple options for them to acquire the caps they want:

1. The first option would be for them to find an original cap that is either new or unused, these can be found on websites like eBay or Mickey's Place, but once sizes are sold out it is nearly impossible for them to be restocked.
2. The other option would be to get some reproductions, the reproductions are often made in China and can have the New Era flag embroidered on the side, but in some more rare cases reproductions can be found without the flags on the side.

Growing up a fan of baseball but not a fan of any specific team I followed Nolan Ryan quite a bit in my younger days, and his final few years helped to cement my fandom in the Texas Rangers organization, but my love of the Rangers barely extended outside of the Ryan years but the fires were rekindled during the 2010 season. After getting a 2010 World Series patch cap in polyester it quickly became one of my favourite caps to wear regardless of the result of the World Series, but the follow that season I began to see myself wearing a majority of Wool caps over Polyester due to the fact that they naturally formed to the head better than the Polyester caps, so the hunt was on. It really didn't take me too long to find the cap I wanted, Minor Leagues Major Dreams luckily had one in my size and in stock, so when the time came I swiped it along with several others that I was looking to add to my collection.

Based on the tags, this Texas Rangers hat most likely is from the 2005-2006 seasons and has the correct domed structure of the front and back panels that are currently worn today, so the depth of the hat is adequate to what I was looking for. The 100% Wool feels great and unhindered by the storage process of the backstock that MLMD had, it was extremely clean and had zero dust or stains, and most importantly it was brand new with the original stickers still in tact. Much like the caps worn today, this New Era is a base dark blue with a red button on top which adds to it's aesthetic value, there many fans might disagree that a red or white button might be necessary arguing that it would possibly be distracting from the front logo embroidery.

The embroidery looks great on the cap, the raised embroidery on the front is one of my favourites since it doesn't merely raise in one single level but is softly rounded on the edges, the stitching is also extremely fresh and doesn't roll off the raised foam like other caps have been known to. The red embroidery on the underside is slightly raised due to multiple thread layers, but does not lay flat like hats in the previous decade have.

The flat embroidery in the back was very important to me and always is when I look to acquire a 100% wool cap or at least with reproductions, but since this cap is a 100% authentic from the last few seasons of Wool caps, the embroidery is flat and very well accomplished. The part of the rear embroidery that I enjoy the best is the choice of colours that have been used, since the Rangers' team colours are all ready red and blue it was an easy decision for the team to choose these to accent the back of their hat, which permits them to use the original MLB logo as should be worn on all caps rather than mixing the personal team colours back there.

This New Era Cap will quickly become one of my favourites that I will wear quite often, but I don't think that it will be enough to retire my 2010 World Series Cap any time soon. I will be watching the Texas Rangers take on the Chicago Cubs this Spring Training on St. Patrick's Day, so the only decision I will have will be which one should I wear? If anyone has the opportunity to get their team's cap in the original 100% Wool, I would definitely recommend it, the Polyester is great but you can't replace the original material that New Era On-Field Caps were.

2012 Seattle Mariners Alternate

Now I know I'm a little late to the game with this announcement, but I am finally back online with a brand new PC, so I will be able to update regularly once again. However, the Seattle Mariners have announced that they will be re-releasing a version of their cap that they have been known to wear for years now.

Since the Seattle Mariners changed to the uniforms they are currently known for in 1993, they have used the solid Navy Blue base crown with the teal brim up until the 2003 season, starting that year the entire cap went solid Navy Blue. A few weeks ago the team had announced that they would be bringing their original cap with the teal brim out of retirement and will be used as an alternate starting in 2012.

On another note, the 2012 season will be the Seattle Mariners' 35th anniversary, and as expected the team will be wearing patches on their jersey arms to commemorate this milestone as most teams do who have such anniversaries.

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.

2012 New York Mets Alterations

As of yesterday morning, the New York Mets announced that they will be slightly altering their uniform scheme, and part of the alterations is that they are dropping their black motif completely from their caps and perhaps will drop their black jersey all together. The Mets have introduced two new logos which will be placed on their caps and jerseys respectively. The new patches are a simple alteration of the traditional Mets logo but are completed with a banner that omits the anniversary, a gold outline is also present.

Jersey Patch

Cap Patch

As expected, the 50th anniversary cap will contain a patch, but unlike traditional patches which are located on the left side of the cap it will be placed on the back; much like the 2009 New York Yankees cap. The difference with this cap is not only the movement of the patch to the back, but the traditional MLB logo is absent from the cap due to the placement of the patch. Other than the alterations with the patch and rear of the cap, the front has not been altered what so ever.

The Mets are the MLB's most recent team which are moving back to their roots of their uniforms, but their idea of getting rid of black as a colour scheme seems to work extremely well for them. One idea of mine that probably wouldn't go over well with the rest of baseball would be for them to utilise orange more in their colour scheme, but not to the extent of the Giants, Marlins, or Orioles. In my personal opinion, the Mets could at least wear orange undershirts and whatnot; it wouldn't hurt too much.

2012 New York Mets

The 2012 New York Mets are slightly changing their uniforms, but these minor changes will be extremely noticeable when it comes to any Mets fan. The changes of uniform appear to be going back to their 1980's roots, much like the Orioles when their team was successful. So what are your thoughts on the new changes for the New York Mets?

2012 Baltimore Orioles Fitteds and Jerseys

As of the morning of November 15th, 2011 the Baltimore Orioles announced that they will be changing their caps for the 2012 season, and along with the change of caps the team announced that they will be adding a brand new Orange alternate jersey. The image located below was leaked on Twitter by the Orioles official page, and when it was released it became evident that it was everyone's assumption that the team would be reverting back to its roots; the ever popular cartoon bird which was prominent in the Cal Ripken era of the team.

Image leaked by @Orioles on Twitter

The Orioles two new caps will pretty much be the exact same all except for the front two panels of the New Era cap, the home cap will feature a pair of white panels on the front of the cap above the brim and the away cap will feature an all black crown; the logos and brim colour are the exact same on both of the caps.

Home

Road

Outside of the caps, the Orioles have announced a brand new Home Alternate that will be introduced for the 2012 season, and much like the brand new Marlins uniforms the Orioles Home Alternate is a solid orange. This orange jersey includes black lettering on the front and will most likely include the same black lettering on the back. The jersey not only features the traditional Maryland patch on the left shoulder, but it also has a brand new 20th Anniversary patch for the Orioles' own Camden Yards; one of the most beautiful parks in the Major Leagues.

With all of the new uniform changes coming with the 2012 season the Orioles have made changes of their own reverting back to their roots of a brighter day. What are your thoughts on the changes? Personally I think they look nice, but they are rather predictable.

Portland Beavers 2008-2010

The Portland Beavers have a vast history that were part of four different incarnations over the years, each being a rebirth of a team that has since left the vicinity but picking up after its predecessor. The Beavers' history began in 1903 as one of the first of the Pacific Coast League teams and continued to run until 1917 when the team took a one year hiatus from the Pacific Coast League to join the Class B Pacific Coast International League; regardless of this move they became a PCL team in 1919 and were so until 1972.

Six after the Beavers withdrew from existence, they once again sprung up in Portland to become the second true incarnation of the team, and this team stood strong until 1993 when the Beavers' owner evidently moved them to Salt Lake City and forced them to become the Salt Lake Buzz, now the Bees. The city of Portland was once again without baseball until the year 2000, this was until the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to switch affiliates leaving the Dodgers with Las Vegas and the Padres with Albuquerque, so the Padres decided to move the team up to Portland and create a brand new Beavers team.

The 2000-2010 Beavers were the first in Beavers history to really utilize the team's rich history in their favour, always wearing 1903 patches on their shoulders they boldly celebrated that their team has just as much history behind them as most of the current Major League teams, however come the 2010 season the city of Portland and the Beavers couldn't come to an agreement on a new stadium, due to the fact that Portland General Electric Park was being converted into a primarily soccer stadium which forced the Beavers out. Without a stadium and the 2011 season looming, the Portland Beavers had reached an unfortunate set of events that forced them out of town, with several cities up for bid it eventually fell upon the shoulders of Tucson, AZ to take upon the team.

With the 2011 and the Beavers moving the Tucson, it is unlikely that Portland will be able to regain a stadium in the upcoming years, and with a stadium situation in Escondido, CA under question and a lack of attendance in Tucson the team's most recent incarnation has a questionable future, but the possibility of Portland regaining another Beavers team is always a possibility, perhaps in the Major Leagues next time.

The Portland Beavers have and always will be one of my favourite baseball teams, minor and major league. This is a team wish so much rich history and a team that is naturally a Pacific Coaster as I am, it's hard not to have an affinity for such a team as this. After attending a Portland Beavers game in 2009 while visiting a friend up in the Greater Portland Area, I always regretted not going into the team shop and at least checking out their cap selection, but come a few years later I finally came upon this cap after repeated hunting online to acquire the cap that has eluded me for the past year.

The Beavers cap is a dark blue base that includes a stylized “P” on the front, included with Lucky the Beaver embroidered right on the front. This “P” has a pale blue outline to it and has a beige interior which blends extremely well with the outline and the base of the cap, it allows the logo to really pop on the front although the logo and letter may not be exactly clear without up close investigation. The “P” in a sense isn't completed on the underside of the loop, and to complete this the designers decided to use Lucky's beaver tail to do so, which may mask the letter and cause confusion to those who do not know this is a cap from Portland and is styled with a “P”. The space in the letter is also gone due to the fact that Lucky's head is covering it, the beaver has a great amount of detail in the face and even utilizes two different thread colours to increase the realism of the beaver along with the dimensions of threading and directions they can take. Lucky is also completely with a blue cap which is most likely a throwback to the original Beavers uniforms, along with the jersey top that he appears to be wearing that has been stitched in crème threading.

The detail on this beavers cap is what really draws it to me, this cap once again amazes me with what can be done with a needle and thread when introduced to a ballcap. This cap doesn't appear to be the style that would be desired from a passive fan or just a hat collector, but would most likely be most appreciated by those who were original fans of the team or those who love baseball history.