What Up, Yo?
In today’s Richard Griffin mailbag, Dick answers a question about why some baseball players wear their hats in the ridiculous fashion as pictured above.
Q: Just a curious fan. Do you know why is it that Lind, Litsch, Jesse Carlson and other new Jays all wear hats that are not contoured or formed like 99.9% of all other player? Is it a fashion statement because it makes them look very odd indeed.
Gary Bartlett, Dundas, Ont.
A: It is the younger generation of players that wears their flat-brimmed hats and it is indeed a fashion statement of the hip-hop generation. If you check out the music video channels you will see guys like 50-Cent, L’il Wayne, The Game, Jay-Zed, T.I., Snoop, Socrates, Kanye West, Ne-Yo, Ludacris and Kardinal Offishall all wearing their hats with the flat brim, labels still affixed underneath the brim and slightly off to an angle. It’s just the way they roll. The hat is where it’s at, fa-shizzle.
The first guy to wear his hat that way in a World Series was ’06 Cardinals starter Anthony Reyes, born and raised in Downey, Caliufornia. It prompted the ancient analyst Tim McCarver (or maybe it was Joe Buck) to ask him in a post-win interview, “Why do you wear your hat that way?” Reyes patiently explained his hometown and his generation. But truthfully, it does look a little silly for baseball players.
I would love to know what Reyes answer was. I still don’t really understand what it has to do with his “generation”. To me, it is disrespectful to the history of the game and the uniform itself. It is basically spitting on all the ballplayers who wore the uniform since the beginning and making a mockery of the integrity of the game. Your thoughts?
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Tags: Adam Lind, Anthony Reyes, Baseball Uniform, Dontrelle Willis, Jesse Carlson, Jesse Litsch, Stupid Looking Hat
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 am
I couldn’t agree with you more. Even from a young age playing the game we were taught to respect the uniform. Before and after the game go nuts – wear it sideways, upside down, tilted, etc.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Dman, you have been wearing your hat backwards for the last 6 years.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Apparently you stopped reading 6 years ago…
“Before and after the game go nuts – wear it sideways, upside down, tilted, etc.” Not once in my playing “career” did i ever wear my hat backwards once the uniform was on. That’s the point i am getting at.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Boy here I am the old one and I appreciate that things evolve. Of course it looks odd it is different. That is all this is. I am not saying it is good or bad it is just different. In 5 years lets see if this trend continues.
Or maybe they are trying to copy the Bobby Cox and Jimy Williams hat styles. Flat bills are just old school in many cases
30 years ago 100% of the players wore sanitary hose with the stirrups. Someone changed to long pants and no socks and now who wears sanitarys. Then suddently someone goes retro and wears high socks and no saniitarys. Were they being disrespectful. It is just the evolution things.
30 years ago who wore bling????????
AS for traditioanalists if things were so good why did they change.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Are rally caps disrespectful. What about Curtis Pigpen wearing his cathers helmet on forwards…not backwards, I bet ya he sings “Gangsta Gangsta” with Opie and Cito before games.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I don’t care so much about the bill of the hat being flat as much as it is tilted. Rally caps are worn on the bench and not in the field so I don’t have a problem with it.
Sanitary socks were a necessity in order to provide a sanitary protective layer around the leg for when a sharpened spike was dug into the leg sliding into a base. Since that doesn’t happen anymore, they have become obselete. However, the 2002-2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement is the first to include a section on uniform regulations. The CBA has no fewer than seven regulations regarding pants, limiting the pant length to be no lower than the top of the shoe heel and discouraging the baggy-pants look. Perhaps the long pants look is disrespectful?
April 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
It’s a hat that serves no other purpose than to protect the players from the heat of the sun. Get Over It!!!
April 9th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
If the truly is the case JeffDaChef why do they wear caps during night games?