I find it completely awesome when I walk into Lids and gaze at the amazing wall of colorful baseball hats, the same authentic headgear that the best baseball stars sport on the field. However, the awesomeness quickly turns to atrociousness when I take a good-looking hat off the shelf for further examination, and I flip it over fully knowing what the price tag will read, but still cling to a waning hope that some sort of celestial being will intervene and mark down the price. That never happens.
Nevertheless, a ton of authentic MLB hats look really awesome. The two I own are the new, black, Miami Marlins hat, and a teal, old logo, Florida Marlins hat with a black bill. The latter is obviously the coolest baseball cap in fashion history–at least in my opinion (I love teal and I love the Marlins). Unfortunately, the Fish have not worn teal hats since the ’90s, so I would not consider the cap in the contest I am proposing:
In the spirit of election week, I am taking a poll: What is the best hat in all of baseball?
The only legitimate options are those that are regularly worn by a team, no throwbacks. Alternates, of course, count. In fact, some of the slickest hats are indeed alternates. I have picked out a few of my favorites, but I still need outside opinions to be satisfied.
Note: Every year, each MLB team has a “stars and stripes” version of their hat(s), which they wear on special holidays or anniversaries, such as Memorial Day, 9/11, and July 4th. Until this year, teams would either have red or blue hats with their logo in American Flag colors, but this year it got a lot cooler. The hat’s color stayed the same, but the white parts of each logo became camouflaged, and it looked amazing. In my opinion, it made every hat look cooler. I am not considering these for the contest because they did indeed make EVERY hat look better, and they are not “regular” hats
for teams. So here goes:
Royals Alternate:
The light blue cap with the dark blue bill…it is aesthetically immaculate. These alternate hats that teams have are generally worn on Sunday, and sometimes Saturday, home games. 
The Royals wear light blue jerseys with these.
Mariners Alternate:
Like I said, I love teal. The Mariners’ teal jersey is my favorite in the sport, and it goes with this hat nicely. If the hat were completely teal, it may be too much, but the dark blue bill really brings out the beauty of the greenish teal.
Nationals Road:
Simple colors. Red, white, and blue. It makes sense. There is nothing too special about this hat, but I find it awesome, and I’d like to know the popular opinion.
Marlins Alternate(ish):
I only included this bright orange hat for the purposes of covering all the bases. And the team does not wear it often. I can only remember two or three times during the 2012 regular season that they wore these on the field. I don’t find the hat all that great, but some people I have talked to absolutely love it. So what do you think?
Orioles Home:
The retro cartoon bird was brought back to life this season. The white panel at the anterior of the cap is one of just two in baseball (Blue Jays). I had to include this one for its classic look and awesome orange.
Rays Home:
The bright, light blue around the letters “TB,” accents the dark blue of the hat perfectly. It is not too special, but I like it a lot.
Astros Road:
Like the Nationals’ road cap, this is bi-color. I am not aware of the public opinion of the new(ish) Astros look, so I would like to find out.
I realize that there may be other hats in baseball that certain fans find astonishing, and incomparable, but I did not include them in this post. So of these hats, which is your favorite? Feel free to comment with additional comments, complaints, and concerns, and you can also argue why you think your team’s hat beats out all of these. Or if you do like one of these the best, explain why.
P.S. I have the results closed to the public for now, but I will make them available sometime next month. Thanks for voting!
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