Friday, April 10, 2009

You'll need a hat with this rain

The Tribe opens up their season today at Progressive Field, so why not brush up on your baseball history and show off your knowledge of obscure franchises with BallCap.com?

The company behind the site will build a vintage baseball hat to your specifications, from a host of teams from across the country and history. If anyone knows anything more about the Cleveland Spiders (c. 1896), please let me know.

Based in Cooperstown, N.Y. (naturally), Ball Cap Co. uses original machines to sew athletic flannel, horsehide sweatbands and "the highest grade peak stiffeners" to make caps from teams dating back to 1860.

For your erudition, some other things that happened in 1860:
  • April 3 - The Pony Express begins its first run from Saint Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Calif.

  • May 1 - A Chondrite type meteorite falls to earth in Muskingum County, Ohio, near the town of New Concord.

  • Nov. 6 - Abraham Lincoln beats John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas and John Bell and is elected the 16th President of the United States. He is the first Republican to hold that office.

  • Dec. 20 - South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.

The vintage caps are a bit pricey ($48 for most versions), but they look a lot cooler than most of the selection at MLB.com. And, they might earn you the respect of longtime Tribe fan and hat afficionado Tom O'Toole.

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