“Will Revolutionizing The Cap Ensure MLB Players Better Performance?”
BUFFALO, N.Y. - In an effort to boost player performance, if homerun records, a “juiced” baseball and towering upperdeck shots of over 450 feet aren’t enough, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has teamed up with New Era CEO Christopher Koch to develop a new polyester blend cap to replace the six-panel wool model adopted by MLB back in 1954. Koch said, “By revolutionizing the cap, we’re ensuring the players headwear provides the best performance while they play.”
Under the agreement, New Era will provide all MLB players with the new polyester blend cap by Opening Day 2007. New Era Vice President of Brand Communications said, “There’s a lot of tradition in baseball and we couldn’t completely go against that tradition so we always had that as a parameter, but we wanted to take as open-minded a look at this as possible.”
The new material wicks away moisture, is designed to shrink less, fade less, not allow colors to bleed into each other, and resist sweat stains. The material under the bill has changed from gray to black to reduce reflection from sun glare and stadium lights. The caps sweatband has changed from white to black to hide dirt better.
MLB is willing to prove the cap in the heat of the diamond fields of Major League ballparks; hopefully their experiment will go better than the now defunct new NBA basketball.
Personally, I like the old wool ballcaps that bare the scars, rips, sweat, and smell that occurred during the season. I think it adds flavor to the October pennant runs when a pitcher looks down from the mound wearing a tar-covered sweat stained cap. I guess fashion and comfort outweigh the old ways today. For the oldschool fan like myself, New Era plans to continue to produce retail wool caps, though of the fashion variety, in non-authentic colors and styles. Sign me up for one oldschool please. The team logo pictured for web models you might ask? Just for Criss Cross, you guessed it, the Boston Red Sox.

Signing off from Richmond in my old sweaty 100 % wool ballcap,
Glen