Those of you reading this that know me, probably understand, have heard, or if you went to grade school with me, have seen painted pictures of my love and obsession for baseball. For those of you that don’t know me, since my professional playing days with the Miami Marlins, I have developed quite the affinity for fashion and style; consequently becoming a personal stylist and blogger, inspiring and helping others create their own unique personal style. So it’s only fitting that over the last week, when I started seeing and reading articles in major publications such as The Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune debating if it was time for adults to lose their baseball caps, I couldn’t help but weigh-in. Because the answer to that question is simple.

So is it really time to get rid of the ballcaps?

The fact that is even a question borderlines on comical.

Style is about finding an article or vibe you love and making it your own. When garnering inspiration from others, it’s important to remember that just because a particular style or piece doesn’t work for someone else, it doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, or vice versa. This is important when assessing whether or not to add celebrity fashion looks to your own wardrobe. Though I must say we tend to give celebrities a little too much credit.

“Brad Pitt has rarely worn one since his youth,” writes Scott Christian from the Wall Street Journal, “minus his role in ‘Moneyball.’”

However, Chicago Tribune writer Paul Sullivan, in response to the initial Wall Street Journal piece titled, “Can Men Wear a Baseball Cap Without Looking Like a Frat Boy?” tells us what one of his late Tribune sports writing colleagues and “style mavens” would have told him in relation to debates about baseball caps, celebrity fashion and Brad Pitt.

“(Bleep) Brad Pitt. Keep your baseball caps and wear them proudly.”

I think the man has decent style, but I wholeheartedly agree. Ditching your cap(s) because you never see Brad Pitt wearing one! ABSURD! His style is his, Your style is you.

When beginning the process of creating, cultivating, and elevating your personal style and wardrobe, (which you can read more about here) you want them to be adaptable and personality defining. You want items not only unique to your tastes, but playable in different settings and environments. You want to create vibes and moods, that’s what makes your style speak volumes about who you are.

Building this type of wardrobe also involves having character pieces, articles that last, items that you can wear over and over again, that mold to you and only get better with age. This includes items such as your favorite pair of jeans, your denim or leather jacket, and of course your Chuck’s!

These pieces become a part of your life and presence, they hold value, they mean something. Ballcaps certainly occupy space in this segment of fashion, and definitely for more reasons than simply supporting a team or specific brand.

I personally had to wear one through all the long, working for peanuts and crackerjack days, eating concession food and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, trying to achieve my dream of becoming a Major League Baseball player. Even outside of my professional baseball experience, there’s certainly a nostalgia attached all of the caps I own. Bringing back childhood memories of grade school hat days, neighborhood football, and family vacations all over the country. Fittingly, my favorite cap just so happens to be my obnoxiously teal Marlins cap I purchased after draft day. Frankly, I wanted one before I was ever drafted. It’s just a cool and unique cap.

It’s definitely not something you would see Brad Pitt wearing, but that’s the point. I like to rock bright colors from time to time, and I am grateful the Marlins organization gave me an opportunity to attempt to live out my childhood dream. It truly means something, and has become a part of me even beyond having been a player.

Anyway, let’s drop the nostalgia for now. Ballcaps are a staple of American style, and the reason why or the way you wear them surpasses the love of the sports franchise or brand embedded on the front of the crown.

“The way you wear your hat is essential to others’ memories of you, and the look of the ball cap’s brim communicates tribal identity more meaningful than the symbols stitched across the front,”  states Troy Patterson from the New York Times in an article specifically about the history of the baseball cap entitled, “The Common Man’s Crown.”

“The cap presents plasticity in action and of the individual effort to stake out a singular place on the roster (Patterson).” As a member of a baseball team, you have no choice but to all wear the same hat. It’s part of the beautiful uniform that accompanies the sport. So you want to separate your look from that of your teammates.

Throwing aside accessory flair like wristbands, your quintessential Oakleys, and the absolutely hideous bright-colored arm sleeves and cleats that for some reason everyone is wearing now, the way you wear your cap is truly what separates you from your fellow ballplayers. There is no better feeling than sliding a perfect, personally sculpted 59FIFTY onto your dome. It might even fit better than your wedding ring!

This concept of individuality is also evident through the way non-ballplayers choose to wear their caps. Maybe you choose to flip it around and wear it straight back like the iconic Ken Griffey Jr., or you may even opt for another cap style like a rag top or snapback. Maybe traditional menswear hats like the Fedora and its close relative, the Panama hat are more your style. The bottom line here is that you are unique, and your cap presents below surface level insight into your personality, a central theme in creating your own style.

“To wear a New York Yankees cap in the United States is to show support for the team, maybe, or to invest in the hegemony of an imperial city. To wear one abroad – the Yankees model is by far the best selling Major League Baseball cap in Europe and Asia – is to invest in an idealized America, a phenomenon not unlike pulling on contraband bluejeans in the old Soviet Union (Patterson).”

I’ve always shunned the Cubs cap in favor of the White Sox. It definitely made me an outcast growing up in Northern Indiana, but it wasn’t because I was a huge White Sox fan. I was more partial to the South Siders during my childhood because the aura surrounding the team was one of grit, ambition, and scrappiness. Elements essential to chasing dreams and achieving goals, and that resonated with me. The Cubs aura on the other hand, potentially at the fault of ownership and upper management, was one of losing and complacency. They seemed content with just selling out, perennially under-performing, and then blaming the struggles on “The Curse of the Billy Goat.”

This “curse factor” is also one of the reasons I favor a Yankees cap over a Red Sox. The Red Sox were also the last team to integrate, but that’s a topic for a different day.

Moreover, one simply cannot have two rival team caps in their arsenal. You have to pick a side, and you have to pick a vibe. 

All in all, my style advice is that for the times you want a clean, polished, and elevated look simply don’t wear one, unless you feel like spending rent money on high fashion designer caps. Even then, pricey caps from big-time designers still might not necessarily give you an elevated look. They will just lower the amount of cash on hand in your wallet or bank account.

Trust your gut. You’ll know when the time is right to maybe get rid of one, or many, or none at all, whatever you feel is right at a specific time. Not only are ballcaps the baseline and core of relaxed casual style, considering sometimes you just don’t feel like doing your hair, but they are perfect character items to show the world you, not Brad Pitt, and are trusty companions from weekend drives and fishing trips, to Saturday errands around the city.

NO, it is not time to give up baseball caps, and I am not sure that day will ever come. I’ll definitely be keeping all 30+ in my wardrobe. 59FIFTY (without the size tag) til’ the day I leave this earth to join Jesus.

 

Chris Squires

 

What about you? Do you have a favorite cap? Will you be keeping it, or giving in to the pressures of deep sartorial style and adulthood? I would love to hear from you and discuss. Leave a comment below.