Baseball and the folly of retaliation

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=barry+zito&iid=5013585″ src=”c/d/d/1/Texas_Rangers_v_d498.jpg?adImageId=11010285&imageId=5013585″ width=”234″ height=”314″ /] The Cactus League season has just gotten under way, and controversy has already come out of the San Francisco Giants’ camp. In a game yesterday, Barry Zito plunked Prince (not Cecil, as I first had) Fielder with a fastball to the back. Although no one has definitively […]

A tip of the cap to the Big Unit, Randy Johnson

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Randy+Johnson&iid=3277461″ src=”3/6/3/9/Randy_Johnson_51_421b.jpg?adImageId=8809165&imageId=3277461″ width=”500″ height=”336″ /] This is how I’ll remember Randy Johnson – snarling, defiant, dominant. His long hair a tangle, his facial hair prickly, his fastball hurtling menacingly toward the plate from that lanky 6′ 11″ frame. I’ll remember him most in a Mariners’ cap as above, for it was in […]

2009: The year in review

The second calendar year for the Ball Caps Blog is coming to a close, and I’m happy that I’ve sustained it for that long. Regular posting is the key to building blog traffic, the experts say, and my experience with this blog bears that out. In a couple of stretches I tried to post daily […]

Switching caps (again): Mark DeRosa

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=Mark+DeRosa&iid=5056280″ src=”3/b/e/3/Mark_DeRosa_meets_d307.JPG?adImageId=8722277&imageId=5056280″ width=”234″ height=”305″ /] Mark DeRosa joined a new team today, the San Francisco Giants. As a Giants fan, I’m pleased. Assuming he keeps pace with his performance in recent years, he’ll add some pop to what has been an anemic offense the last year or two. After seven years with […]

Baseball and Black Friday

This is Black Friday, when millions of bargain-crazed Americans head to the malls to shop for deeply discounted merchandise. The only purchases I’ve made today have been on behalf of my son: at the doctor’s office, the pharmacy and – in a weak moment – an online gaming site. If you’re a baseball fan and […]

What exit? Yes, It’s the Jersey Turnpike World Series!

1985: The Cardinals and the Royals meet in an all-Missouri matchup, and it’s the I-70 World Series. 1989: The Giants and Athletics endure an earthquake to play in the Bay Bridge Series. 2000: The Bronx Bombers rumble with the Metropolitans of Queens in an all-NYC Subway Series. This is 2009, Yankees versus Phillies, and there’s only one possible […]

The Twins win, and we’re stuck with more games in that horrid dome

The Minnesota Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-5 in 12 innings Tuesday night to win the American League Central title, and I’m not happy. Not because the Twins won per se. They’ve been a terrific story this season, charging from behind to tie the Tigers and force the one-game playoff for the division title. What […]

For most of us, it’s ‘Wait Until Next Year’

Playoffs notwithstanding, for most baseball fans today is the first day of the long winter. The season is over, the concession stands are empty, the lockerrooms bare as the players have packed up to go fishing or hunting or whatever they do in the off-season. For followers of the Chicago Cubs, the Cleveland Indians, the […]

Iconic baseball caps: The Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers cap is one of the best in baseball. With their blade-straight serifs against the deep blue fabric, the white “L” and “A” form one of the most instantly recognizable logos in sport. Look at this book cover photo of Sandy Koufax at left. (What a great portrait!) Even the most hardened […]

Less than excited about baseball wild card races

We’re in a wild card race. Awesome!!! Well, hardly. Wild-card races in Major League Baseball have been running for a couple of decades, and I still can’t fully accept them. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll take a wild card berth. As I write this post, I’m listening to the Giants and the Dodgers. I want […]