![baseball cap](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Baseball_cap.jpg)
A baseball cap is a type of soft
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
with a rounded crown and a stiff bill
projecting in front.
The front of the hat typically displays a design or a
logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...
(historically, usually only a sports team, namely a
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
team, or names of relevant companies, when used as a commercial marketing technique). The hat may be "fitted" to the wearer's head or the back may have
elastic
Elastic is a word often used to describe or identify certain types of elastomer, elastic used in garments or stretchable fabrics.
Elastic may also refer to:
Alternative name
* Rubber band, ring-shaped band of rubber used to hold objects togeth ...
, a
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
prong-in-a-hole (multiple holes with one prong that can be inserted),
Velcro
Velcro, officially known as Velcro IP Holdings LLC and trading as Velcro Companies, is a British privately held company, founded by Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral in the 1950s. It is the original manufacturer of hook-and-loop fast ...
, a
zipper
A zipper, zip, fly, or zip fastener, formerly known as a clasp locker, is a commonly used device for binding together two edges of fabric or other flexible material. Used in clothing (e.g. jackets and jeans), luggage and other bags, camping ...
, or a
tri-glide slide {{refimprove, date=May 2019
A tri-glide slide, also called a webbing slide, is a small item of hardware made of plastic or metal (usually electroplated) forming a rectangle with a bar in the middle—there are thus two separate openings. They are u ...
so that it can be quickly adjusted to fit different wearers' heads. The baseball hat is a part of the traditional
baseball uniform
A baseball uniform is a type of uniform worn by baseball players, coaches and managers. Most baseball uniforms have the names and uniform numbers of players who wear them, usually on the backs of the uniforms to distinguish players from each ot ...
worn by players, with the brim pointing forward to shield the eyes from the sun. Since the 1980s, varieties of the hat have become prevalent in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and many other nations, both for utilitarian (protecting the eyes from the sun) and fashion accessory purposes.
History
![1863 Harry Wright](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/1863_Harry_Wright.png)
In 1860, the
Brooklyn Excelsiors
The Brooklyn Excelsiors were an amateur baseball team that played in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1854, the Excelsior ballclub featured stars such as Jim Creighton, Asa Brainard, and Candy Cummings.
The team is known for originating the "Brookl ...
wore the ancestor of the modern rounded-top baseball cap, which featured a long peak and a button on top, and by 1900, the "Brooklyn style" cap became popular.
During the 1940s, latex rubber became the stiffening material inside the hat and the modern baseball cap was born. The peak, also known in certain areas as the "bill" or "brim", was designed to protect a player's eyes from the sun. Typically, the peak was much shorter in the earlier days of the baseball hat. Also, the hat has become more structured, versus the overall "floppy" cap of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The baseball cap was and still is an important means by which to identify a team. Often the logo,
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
, or team's initial was placed on the cap. Usually, the cap was also fashioned in the official colors of a particular team.
The basic shape, including curved peak, is similar to some styles of 19th-century sunbonnets.
[BBC – Happy 59th, baseball caps]
18 December 2008
Design
Fitted baseball hats — those without an adjuster — are normally sewn in six sections, and may be topped with a matching fabric-covered
button
A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole.
In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...
(also called a squatchee) on the crown. Metal grommets or fabric eyelets are often sewn or attached near the top of each of the six sections of fabric to provide ventilation. In some cases, the rear sections of the crown are made of net-like mesh material for extra ventilation. The peak is typically stiffened by a sewn-in piece of
paperboard or stiff plastic.
Variations
Baseball hats are made of many types of material and shaped in various styles for different purposes. Major and minor league baseball players wear classic-style hats made of
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
(or, more recently,
polyester) with their team's simple logo and colors; the logo is usually
embroidered
Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on c ...
into the fabric. More recently there are brands that are using uncommon materials for snapback hats as for example wood brims.
Formerly, baseball hats only came in standard hat sizes. Since the early 1970s, they have also been available in a one-size-fits-all form, with an adjustment strap in the back. The style, commonly called snapback, has become increasingly popular as fashion accessories.
Advances in textiles have led to the "stretch-fit" hat, which uses Lycra or rubber to allow a hat to have a fitted style while still being "adjustable" within sizes.
The front may be soft, or may be stiffened by
buckram
Buckram is a stiff cotton (occasionally linen or horse hair) cloth with a loose weave, often muslin. The fabric is soaked in a sizing agent such as wheat-starch paste, glue (such as PVA glue), or pyroxylin (gelatinized nitrocellulose, dev ...
to display a logo more clearly.
Another version of the baseball hat is a plastic mesh hat with a foam front imprinted with a company logo. This style is sometimes called a
trucker hat
A trucker hat, mesh cap or netback cap is a type of baseball cap. It is also sometimes known as a "gimme s in 'give me'cap" or a "feed cap" because this style of hat originated during the 1970s as a promotional give-away from U.S. feed or farmi ...
or a "gimme hat" because it is given away for free as a promotional item.
Dad hats are unstructured hats with a low profile, curved brim, and stripe on the back.
There are 4 major types of baseball hats:
# Snapback hat – (hat with a snap closure in the rear) with flat brim, high profile, adjustable.
# Adjustable hat – (hat with a velcro closure or buckled strap in the rear) unstructured, low profile, curved brim, adjustable.
#"Flexfit" hat – curved or flat brim, structured cap, high profile, adjustable by the use of elastic materials.
# Fitted hat – curved or flat brim, structured cap, high profile, unadjustable.
Athletic use
Beginning with the
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
season,
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
s are permitted to wear a special reinforced hat to protect their heads from line drives.
Athletes in other sports wear hats with their team's logo and colors as "sideline" hats; both types are also sold as authentic team merchandise in retail stores. Other hats may simply have a maker's logo, such as
Reebok
Reebok International Limited () is an American fitness footwear and clothing manufacturer that is a part of Authentic Brands Group. It was established in England in 1958 as a companion company to J.W. Foster and Sons, a sporting goods company ...
,
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
or
Carhartt
Carhartt, Inc. is an American apparel company founded in 1889, known for heavy-duty working clothes such as jackets, coats, overalls, coveralls, vests, shirts, jeans, dungarees, fire-resistant clothing and hunting apparel. Carhartt remains a fami ...
; these hats are often made of brushed
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
. Golfers tend to prefer the
sports visor
A sports visor, also called a sun visor or visor cap, is a type of crownless hat consisting simply of a visor or brim with a strap or buckle encircling the head. The top of the head is not covered and the visor protects only the face, including ...
form which does not cover the head but keeps the sun out of their eyes; women also traditionally have worn visors casually but a trend in certain youth subcultures sees an increase in feminine use of full hats.
Professional use
Military
Some armed forces use baseball caps as part of their uniforms, usually with
combat uniform
A combat uniform, also called field uniform, battledress or military fatigues, is a casual type of uniform used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and combat duty purposes, as opposed to dress ...
s.
Those of the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
are worn mostly with utility uniforms and coveralls. They sometimes have a command logo on the front to denote command affiliation. Alternatively, the cap may have the wearer's rank on the front, if an officer. Baseball caps of a particular color are worn to denote a specific function of a person or particular job. For example, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
submarine force, red baseball caps are worn by drill monitors who facilitate and critique members of the boat's crew during drills. In the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
,
parachute rigger
A parachute rigger is a person who is trained or licensed to pack, maintain or repair parachutes. A rigger is required to understand fabrics, hardware, webbing, regulations, sewing, packing, and other aspects related to the building, packing, repa ...
s wear red baseball caps and parachute instructors wear black baseball caps as part of their uniform. In various squadrons of the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...
's
civilian auxiliary, squadron-distinctive baseball caps have been issued as headgear (or "cover") for the
Battle Dress Uniform
The Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) is a camouflaged combat uniform that was used by the United States Armed Forces as their standard combat uniform from the early 1980s to the mid-2000s. Since then, it has been replaced or supplanted in every br ...
, typically displaying squadron colors, squadron number, and/or squadron patch. Although the BDUs have their own cover, a
patrol cap
A patrol hat, also known as a field cap, is a soft kepi constructed similarly to a baseball cap, with a stiff, rounded visor but featuring a flat top, worn by military personnel of some countries in the field when a combat helmet is not required.
...
in
M81 Woodland, some squadrons have opted for more distinctive covers.
Police
There has been a marked trend in recent years among police forces and other uniformed bodies throughout the world to substitute inexpensive and comfortable baseball caps for
peaked caps and other traditional headdresses. The baseball cap is also commonly used by
private security companies
A private security company (PSC) is a business entity which provides armed or unarmed security services and expertise to clients in the private or public sectors.
Overview
Private security companies are defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Stat ...
as a cheap, practical piece of uniform headgear.
Many armed police units around the world, notably
SWAT in the United States and the
Metropolitan Police Specialist Firearms Command
The Specialist Firearms Command (SCO19) is the firearms unit of the Metropolitan Police Service (Greater London, England). The Command is responsible for providing a firearms-response capability, assisting the rest of the service which is not r ...
in the UK, often wear baseball caps to shield their eyes from the sun where a full helmet would be excessive.
The
Finnish Police
The Police of Finland (, ) is a national government agency responsible for general police and law enforcement matters in the Republic of Finland. The Police of Finland is subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior and consists of the National ...
uses a baseball cap, which is considered an official identification device and cannot be worn, or even displayed by civilians, and has mostly replaced the traditional
side cap
Side or Sides may refer to:
Geometry
* Edge (geometry) of a polygon (two-dimensional shape)
* Face (geometry) of a polyhedron (three-dimensional shape)
Places
* Side (Ainis), a town of Ainis, ancient Thessaly, Greece
* Side (Caria), a town of ...
.
![WMP museum - Police baseball cap 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/WMP_museum_-_Police_baseball_cap_01.jpg)
In the United Kingdom, the baseball cap has the additional advantage of being unisex and suitable for wear by both male and female officers. Throughout 2017, the Northamptonshire, Cheshire and Lancashire police forces adopted specially strengthened baseball caps known as "Bump Caps", to replace the helmets and bowler hats previously worn. However, the Northamptonshire force announced in November 2018 that their "Bump Caps" had proven scruffy and unpopular, and would be withdrawn from use.
[Northamptonshire Chronicle & Echo, 15 November 2018]
In
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
, policemen on motorcycles wear baseball caps as a part of their uniform, when they remove the helmet.
Turkish police
The General Directorate of Security ( tr, Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü) or Turkish Police Service ( tr, Türk Polis Teşkilatı) is the national civilian police force responsible for law enforcement of the Republic of Turkey, which is affiliated w ...
switched from peaked caps to baseball caps in the 1990s.
In many United States police forces, the baseball cap is worn as a more practical alternative to the traditional
peaked cap
The peaked cap, peaked hat, service cap, barracks cover or combination cap is a form of headgear worn by the armed forces of many nations, as well as many uniformed civilian organisations such as law enforcement agencies and fire departments. It ...
or
campaign hat
A campaign hat, sometimes called campaign cover, is a broad-brimmed felt or straw hat, with a high crown, pinched symmetrically at the four corners. The campaign hat is occasionally referred to as a Stetson, derived from its origin in the company ...
, the latter of which is generally used by
Sheriff's departments and
state police forces. Baseball caps are more common on the
West Coast, whereas in eastern states, the traditional peaked cap is more prominent. A notable exception is the
San Francisco Police Department, where peaked caps are still worn regularly.
See also
*
Baseball clothing and equipment
*
Beanie (seamed cap)
In the United States, a beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap, sometimes made from triangular panels of material joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides. Beanies may be made of cloth, felt, wool, leather, or silk.
In ...
*
Cricket cap
A cricket cap is a type of soft cap, often made from felt, that is a traditional form of headwear for players of the game of cricket, regardless of age or gender. It is usually a tight-fitting skullcap, usually made of six or eight sections, ...
, a similar cap in a similar sport
*
Flat cap
A flat cap is a rounded cap with a small stiff brim in front, originating in Britain and Ireland. The hat is known in Ireland as a paddy cap; in Scotland as a bunnet; in Wales as a Dai cap; and in the United States as an English cap, Irish ca ...
*
Kepi
The kepi ( ) is a cap with a flat circular top and a peak, or visor. In English, the term is a loanword of french: képi, itself a re-spelled version of the gsw, Käppi, a diminutive form of , meaning "cap". In Europe, this headgear is most ...
*
List of headgear
This is an incomplete list of headgear (anything worn on the head), both modern and historical.
Hats
File:Akubra-style hat.jpg, Akubra
File:98-5-E Helmet, Flight, U.S. Army Air Corps, Type A-II (5123665596).jpg, Leather flight helmet
File:Balm ...
References
External links
"Happy 50th Baseball caps" – BBC News
{{Authority control
American fashion
Baseball equipment
Canadian fashion
Caps
Fashion accessories
Hip hop fashion
History of clothing (Western fashion)
Sportswear