Batter up! a History of the Baseball Cap

[@janerkenbrack3373]

A bit of trivia you may find interesting. This is regarding the KC hat you've opened and closed this episode with. Aboard the USS Kansas City (AOR-3), which is now decommissioned and scrapped, the Kansas City Royals hat you displayed was authorized for wear aboard that ship, as an alternative to the traditional Navy ball cap you showed elsewhere. Although this was a violation of Navy uniform standards, it was allowed out of a sense of esprit de corps.

[@hathistorianjc]

Interesting, I did not know that!

[@TheLoxapac]

Interesting. I 've already seen that but the use of the french expression "esprit de corps" in the US army is also very interesting, because here in France, it is a very important concept in the military, where it is very encouraged, but this expression is not quite used by civilians, and must have been passed directly from the french army, i wonder how and when... Sorry for my english.

[@janerkenbrack3373]

@@TheLoxapac I am unaware of the origin of the term in the US military, apart from the obvious origins in the French language. Like a lot of words and phrases, they always sound better in French anyway. It may be a task for me to find out at some point. But for the moment, let us presume that the concept and phrase were passed directly from Marquis de LaFayette to George Washington over dinner in Philadelphia August of 1777.

[@TheLoxapac]

@@janerkenbrack3373 This idea pleases me too.

[@hillogical]

@@TheLoxapac former US Army here. Many of our traditions come from the continent. Our first military officers were advised by European officers during the Revolution. You could say there's French and German DNA in the blood of the US Army. And when it comes to tradition, let me tell you we do NOT let go of them too easily. I was given SPURS for my service in a Cavalry Squadron in 2003!

[@ianrogerburton1670]

Just as the Seventeenth Century is synonymous with the tricorn, this century may well one day become synonymous with the baseball cap.

[@metsfan1873]

The backwards ballcap started with the introduction of the catcher's mask, early on, to protect the catcher's face. The hat was turned backwards to fit the mask. Nowadays, it's a helmet-mask combo. Anybody who spent time as a catcher or as the homeplate umpire right behind the catcher before the '70s has worn it this way and catchers sometimes wore it that way when not wearing the mask, as a mark of pride in their position.

[@jakewebster5084]

Ya know, I first found this channel thinking it was kinda goofy in a way. As I've found more and more videos with historical significance, I have changed my view completely. I watch this guy constantly given the history of hats is more significant than one would think at face value. I look forward to new content when available. Keep it coming!

[@willardjohnson3832]

I agree whole heartedly . This channel is fun and informative.

[@ragewood_OZ]

The cricket cap you showed is probably worth it’s own Chapeau Short. The baggy green is held in very high regard in Australia.

[@stevethomas5849]

Yes, an Iconic cricket cap worn by my opponents during the finest sporting competition that grace this planet.

[@awkirkness]

Dude knows hats! Can’t help loving how you never neglect to mention Canada where most casual conversations usually do lmao

[@dionysus6892]

I own a multitude of ball/trucker caps. My father, born 1957, grew up never going anywhere without a hat on. Being born rurally, he always wore a baseball cap of some sort. Later in life he was a trucker, and contiuned wearing them between the family farm and working trucking in the city. By the time I came along, he was a landscaper. Still always with some sort of hat, and when growing up I adopted the practice too. Reforced by a liking for outdoor activity and joining the Scouts. Growing up and going to school, I was always very annoyed I couldn't wear my hat inside since it was against dress code. Being told to remove it upon entering, but putting it right back on the moment I left the building. I still wear ball caps pretty often, most of all now the "tactical" style where I get to put on and remove patches of any design depending how I want to look that time. Now I have a multitude of hats, of all sizes and shapes. But for running out the door nothing compares to just grabbing a ball cap off the hook. I have to have something covering my head when I leave the house, or else I feel naked! Awesome video! Keep up the good work!

[@TheArbiterSux]

If you are looking for material for winter hats, a winterized version of the baseball hat exists: The Stormy Kromer! Used by a train conductor it has a laced strip of wool fabric (like the hat) that doubles as ear covering and a strap from the front around to the rear of the head to keep it from falling off in the wind!

[@pacificostudios]

Fun Fact: Fleet Admiral William "Bull" Halsey liked to wear a baseball or mechanic's cap when at sea. It made him seem confident and casual while commanding the U.S. Navy Third Fleet. Presumably, he kept a helmet nearby in case of enemy fire.

[@garysarratt1]

Another fun fact: Spruance, Mitscher and other admirals wore them too.

[@marvwatkins7029]

Perhaps a brief discussion on the flat versus curved bill would've been nice. Great otherwise per usual.

[@CAP198462]

Back when I played baseball, sometimes we’d turn out caps inside out. We called this a “rally cap” or “rally hat” as a spirit thing.

[@Octopusmaster]

A guy came out to my family property to do some stump grinding…he forgot his hat…my mom has a bunch of promo trucker hats from her old fertilizer company…he loved it.

[@arailway8809]

You wear the cap backwards in windy weather or on machines that go faster than the cap can normally stay on. Chinese tourists have a cap with a longer brim, and fishermen on the coast have a cap with a big bill and a cloth to protect the neck. Thanks JC.

[@JDSB001]

Je vais attendre la version française avec impatiance!

[@poilochien]

moi aussi !

[@poilochien]

@@lepuitletilleul8198 ouate ?

[@mjohnson5030]

Just found you 2 years after your first video. I don't obsess over hats, but you make them very interesting. What a clever and well-researched series. Great work. Glad I found your channel.

[@eTraxx]

When I was in Vietnam ... 70-71 we were issue a 'baseball' like hat with a round top. I remember buying a Vietnamese cap with a stiff front .. much preferred .. it was .. "cool"

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

Fun fact, despite "cap" translates directly to "lue" in Norwegian; we tend to refer to baseball caps as "caps". Note that "caps" is the singular form in Norwegian; we interestingly borrowed the plural form from English as the singular form meaning specifically "baseball cap". So one basebal cap is "en caps" and two baseball caps is "to capser" (where "-er" is is the plural marker). We also sometimes call it "skyggelue" (literally "shade cap") but that is a somewhat dated term.

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

Another fun fact; I haven't worn one since the 1990s. I don't think they look good on me (or on most people for that matter) and because of their one size nature of most of them they fall off too easily. But I do have a bunch of felt fedoras and a couple of straw hats. Though the "hat" I actually use most often is probably knit caps because they are strictly necessary in winter here in Norway, while brimmed hats are more optional in the summer since the sun isn't too strong here anyway.

[@kennedymcgovern5413]

I have at least 100 of them. They are just an item that one happens to pile up during the course of life. And yes, when I was serving at sea in the Navy, the "ship's ball cap" was standard uniform of the day.

[@coppertopv365]

I wear a ball cap, its referred to as a Weekender cap, took me a long time to learn that. It's got the soft flexible cloth front. With a mesh rear. One I'm wearing currently is a green bill, and colored front with a local farm business logo an name on the front with a tan mesh back. I don't like truckers caps the big foam like front, or the normal baseball style with a harder less flexible front. I also wear a camo like colored fedora once in a while. I also wear a military boonie cap once in a while as well. Hats are a good thing, working, being in the sun, fishing, hunting, an when your losing your hair. Worn a military patrol cap an boonie cap when I was in the Army, I tend to think the patrol cap is okay but it don't have a good sized bill like a ball cap. In the military I liked the boonie cap more and it provided more sun protection. After wearing a boonie cap I would like the military to make it one a standard issue. This is a good video, and a good channel

[@crywalt]

I feel like a hat person would be a little contemptuous of baseball caps but not Jean-Charles! 10 extra points for the "field" joke.

[@reinaldogarcia70]

Awesomely outstanding information 😊

[@stephenpowstinger733]

I have many baseball caps. I picked up the habit as a soldier in the late 60s. I find them useful as a sun shade but also indoors to help with the glare when working closeup or reading. My first such civilian cap was a “CAT” logo cap I got at Zaire’s, yellow and black. The mesh back works great in the heat of Florida. The Army cap had a dorky point but the officers had a better version. I like the mesh back but hate the high-peak caps. I don’t like the look of a bald head either, one reason I like caps and hats. Well, good channel.

[@57WillysCJ]

I do wear one with the name of a car maker on it. As just a plain style I like the cadet style for working. At least until the 1990s the caps from companies were free. In the 1970s tractor companies would hand you several. They gave free T shirts as well. Now you have to pay to advertise for them.

[@ronbdallas]

As usual you provide tons of detail.

[@edi9892]

This could be such a practical design, but most of them make you sweat like crazy! They're often made of polyester, which is actually recycled plastic bottles! Even those made of almost pure cotton are quickly soaked and become stained in no time. They feel a lot cooler though, but are nothing in comparison to straw hats, which leave you some air for ventilation...

[@louislorenzi-prince3842]

As a political science graduate in 1978, I remember reading a textbook on the class structure of America. In this book, the author made many generalizations concerning the habits of the rich and poor. For instance, the inherited rich didn't care about driving an expensive car and would prefer to drive a beat-up Volkswagon Beetle rather than a Mercedes. On the other hand, working-class folk (members of the proletariat) wanted to show off their wealth and thus drove fancy cars. The author also referred to baseball caps with the plastic size-adjustment band as "prolcaps" meaning caps of the working class.

[@ms.annthrope415]

It still applies generally. The cheap foam truckers cap with a plastic size strap is a icon of the blue collar, working class. Thr upper middle class or affluent class is more generally identified with a golfing visor or tennis visor. So just look at a golf tournament or tennis game and see a field of visors in the stands. No one wear a cheap foam ap with the plastic size straps.

[@anthonyle2506]

Happy New Years it just hit 12 o’clock where I’m at

[@legoboy468]

Happy new years!

[@thomasbeach905]

When I joined the USAF in 1986, we had the olive green OG 507’s which had a baseball cap. When indoors, we would stuff the brim into the rear of our trousers, which led to some embarrassing moments when we forgot to remove them when on the toilet! We used them, brim to the rear, under our MI helmets (WW2 Style- the Kevlars were in the future) as a cushion.

[@jarvis69fr]

Le couvre-chef associé au sport le plus incompréhensible pour un français ( juste après le cricket )😄Bonne année

[@nicktamer4969]

Et le foot américain.

[@vincentlefebvre9255]

@@nicktamer4969 Football nord-américain et non football américain. Il y a une ligue professionnelle au Canada qui est bien plus vieille que la puissante NFL.

[@jeromethemechanic6871]

I hope the beanie or toque is on the list, great videos!

[@meganw6007]

SMOOTH switch-out from KC to Washington University in St. Louis at 5:41 😏 Well played. It reminds me of the "The Amazing Color-changing Card Trick" video from like 10 years ago

[@MaBer-67391]

I had been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan for decades, but got tired of them and switched over to KC Chiefs fan a couple of years ago. I still have a Steelers cap, but prefer wearing a KC hat. I always loved the design of that arrowhead with the KC in it.

[@Khanclansith]

And now a days, i wear a "Contractor Cap" (baseball cap in camo with a velco tape to attach a name tape to the back) day to day since i got out of the army.

[@ZetaN7]

Mostly as a mechanic. The ballcap is the best option in my field. Protects the skin of my head when bumping into things. When worn backwards. And put on forward when its very bright or very rainy out.

[@liamh2001]

I remember as a boy, those flat-brimmed baseball caps coming into style. I picked one up at the servo in primary school and my mate told me how to wear it: upward such that your hair shows through the front. I find them so inadequate for proper sun protection these days, however. I have an akubra for town and a leather hat for work. I find it pretty sad that we have abandoned much of formality for mass produced items that we frequently replace.

[@theleastsignificantbit4794]

Well done! The Army Air Corps caps is a great cap, and I recommend buying one or a reproduction made from the correct HBT cloth. You will have to know your hat size, but the bill is incredibly soft. I do IT work and wear one. Whenever I have to get around equipment in a rack, I’ll flip the bill up rather than taking the cap off. It’s truly a great piece of gear.

Very interesting as always, thank you

[@peterbury691]

Fascinating channel! Keep up the good work!

[@dennisanderson3895]

You are one of the most unexpectedly interesting YT channels I've found! Who would casually imagine, in day-to-day goings-about, that "hats" is such a broad and deep subject? You not demonstrate such but I am stunned to imagine how massive your collection of hats of all manner must be! (Subbing! And yes, This is 2nd or 3rd I've Shared to my FB.)

[@Trey_816]

I have a weakness for camouflage baseball hats. I have eight of them. I have one from my favorite steak house (Hoss's in PA), my local feed store (Tyrone Milling), John Deere, Hook 'em and Cook 'em (a hunting/fishing outfitter in DE), and others.

[@peterkelly1665]

Good show well worth the watching

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

An all-American icon!

[@tommunyon2874]

The newer recruits in Navy boot camp were issued ball caps that distinguished them as "squirrels". One had to graduate the 4th week to get to wear the white cap. At least this was the case in the early 1970s. I speculated that the squirrel name derived from Rocky and Bullwinkle.

[@ms.annthrope415]

"Boris! It's the moose and squirrel!"

[@kennethswain6313]

Great job ,you are well prepared, have plenty of examples and are succinct it’s a lot of work but it shows 👍

[@Pepejul2]

Happy New year and thank You for your Amazing videos.

[@granthaller9544]

I like getting them on vacation instead of a t-shirt as most tourist destinations have them with the town or attraction’s name.

[@meganw6007]

Thank you for this video. I recently went on a vacation ("holiday" as y'all say in Europe) and kind of went on a spree buying ball caps as the "souvenirs" to commemorate and remember the places I visited, and I specifically sought out your channel when I started wondering "why this shape?? How did it evolve? Where did THIS design come from??" Thank you for the lovely work you do, sharing all this history!! I love it!

[@lancinante]

Good work! What a thorough report!

[@christopherlyons5900]

I started birdwatching in the early 90's, and the sun kept getting in my eyes, preventing me from proper viewing of avian species that insisted on perching or flying where I could not see them without looking into the sun. I found a beat up blue baseball cap in a park one day. I started to wear it when I went out to look for birds. I eventually started looking for better quality caps to buy, which might have some element of style I liked. But yes, mainly utilitarian in nature. I wear baseball caps to work in warm weather, to this day. Not in the office, but going to and from it. I credit it for my never developing any melanomas. So far. But in the winter, for birding or commuting, I go with a green wool hunting cap with a stiff uncurved visor and optional ear protection, made by Filson. Reminiscent of a baseball cap, but not at all the same thing. A bit like the one Elmer Fudd goes looking for Bugs Bunny with. Or Charlie Brown, when he's seeking an underprivileged Christmas Tree in late December. Your narrative style is very infectious. :\

[@DavidEderer71161]

Cool and interesting videos! Thanks for doing them. I’ve often wondered how hats evolved in to the shape and style that they have become.

[@olivedrabcorp3026]

Toujours aussi remarquable et entre autre, bravo pour les costumes ! 😳

[@coldlakealta4043]

I used to attend a lot of baseball games. There were variants, like having a peak front and back for the sun and my favorite - it had a loop and straw on each side for a can of beer

[@kijekuyo9494]

My friends and I would distinguish the domed baseball cap from what we called a "golf cap"--with the flat front of the truckers cap but without the mesh. We always preferred the baseball cap.

[@EvanEverhart911]

More exploration of the cricket cap as the origin and its origin as a school cap would have been interesting. I enjoyed the video immensely. I am a great enjoyer and a long time player of both baseball and cricket, in the U.S., and live near one of the few cricket fields and leagues in the U.S.. I enjoy both games immensely. Anyway. Always enjoy yr hat videos. Keep them coming!

[@ms.annthrope415]

A good way to rec8g ize a military veterans is tbat many veterans, especially marine and army vets will shape the ball cap to have a curved bill and pushed the front to be peaked and creased the area right behind the peak front like they did with their military patrol caps. I am an army vet, and i shaped and creased it like i did when i was in the service. I was in a pharmacy one time and the pharmacy tech asked me if i was a prior military. She then said i saw how you creased the front of your cap and that's a big give away.

[@williamantico7768]

You briefly mentioned what I always thought, that the Baseball hat came from the Civil war Kepi Hat worn by the North and South. Abner Doubleday was the inventor of Baseball as it is believed, he was a Colonel in the Union Army. So his men started playing using their Kepi's for the game. Your comments about that ?

[@mercoid]

Delightful and interesting channel you have here! 👏

[@randelbrooks]

you might take a look at the famous German World War II M 43 baseball style hat with its flap that on buttons and folds down to protect the ears which comes from Austrian mountain climbing and there are pictures of Bismarck photographed in the 1880s 90s wearing one. It's still used today by the modern German army. It's a little bit stiff and then taller in front so you can put your national insignia on it and officers would have piping on theirs around the seams. The US Marine Corps has a very popular multi cornered baseball hat which is often worn starched. Good stuff

[@Tinatortoise]

Oh well that is me corrected. I was told, many years ago that these started off life being worn, peek at the back, by welders to stop sparks going down the back of their neck

[@nishidohellhillsruler6731]

The other day I was passing through a toll booths station in one of my country's highways, it was morning, so the sun was to my left, and I noticed one of the station's worker had his baseball cap with the brim towards the right side of his head, obviously so it would give him some cover from the sun. It made me wonder if I had passed by that same spot later in the afternoon I would see him with his cap towards the other side, and quite honestly thought it would be easier for him just to wear a full hat.

[@daveburklund2295]

The part of my family who were farmers always called field work ball caps "feed and seed caps" because they used free promotional caps from feed and seed companies.

[@joanhoffman3702]

I own 3 SnapBack baseball hats, all from Harry Potter book promotions. One of the perks of having worked in a bookstore!

[@harriettanthony7352]

Hey HO! Fun trivia; the Japanese field cap, much like a baseball cap, was laced up the back, for about two/three holes. The button on top was/is? to hold the points of the panels in place.

[@ralphbalfoort2909]

I still have my 1968-issue US Army brown wool baseball cap used by the Transportation Corps.

[@oskarbergen7379]

Thanks for mentioning ‘America’s Hat.’ Canada. 🍁

[@miker3381]

I don't know how I found your channel, but I love the work you do! Thanks from Canada eh!

[@mathewfines8727]

I love these videos!

[@philipcurnow7990]

Yes. I have one. With Amalfi written on it and bought in Amalfi.

[@andrewjohnstone963]

The most uncool peice of headgear ever Style died with this terrible hat Fair enough when playing but truly awful style wise! But as always you could turn this most of uncool hats and make it into a golden crown 👑 Excellent speaking voice Again throughly enjoyable and informative Thanks once more 👑👒🎩🎓🧢🪖⛑️

[@otisplatt1296]

Great vid. Can you do one on the Slouch Hat?

[@sirfox950]

Feeling bold today, eh? Nice video and happy new year

[@bobmetcalfe9640]

The cricket Goes back to the 18th century. Someone who achieves international status in the game is presented formally with a cap. Hence the expression they've been "capped". They also spend a certain amount of time looking up into the sky for a ball, so they have a similar peak. I suggest form simply follows function here.

[@Alberad08]

Thank you very much for providing this feature! BTW this hat (in its version with a hemispherical top and a long and stiff visor) already shows up in early German comic strips from around the middle of the nineteenth century.

[@olivierrevert8165]

Many Thanks for your very interesting video. It made me think that, likely the Coca-Cola brand and bottle 's shape, the baseball cap is possibly one of these few post-WWII which quickly became worldwide spread and universal. It looks like it superceded many traditional/local hats in many instances. Again, a Big Thank for your work 👍👍👍

[@jmhusson4737]

La casquette du cycliste (avant l'avènement du casque) aurait pu être citée, sauf si c'est considéré comme un autre couvre-chef

[@patrickfleury7739]

a quand la version française???

[@hathistorianjc]

Les versions françaises sont publiées le 15 du mois

[@alphasierramike2091]

Another fun with you to explain the sport cap and the expression in the home countries of number caps eg number time they represented the team.

[@henriliu9851]

j'adore toujours

[@Ofelas1]

Great, how about the Feldmuetze?

[@meganw6007]

Unless I'm mistaken, the cap featured and highlighted at 6:25 to 6:29 is the very same exact "iconic Gothic 'D'" that you mentioned at 3:35, "the Detroit Tigers was the first team to add the iconic Gothic D to their hats in 1901," and while I know nothing of where Magnum P.I. was set, nor whether he wore different hats, I think that is really cool that the same hat embroidery you mentioned earlier is what's coincidentally there later in your video even on another topic, 6:24, while discussing how it became popularized

[@bjulianlm]

Just like any other hat you review in your channel, they come and go with time. I wonder when will our modern cap will be a thing of the past...

[@rosemarymcbride3419]

I'm a fan of the "dad cap" style

[@52Royston]

In cold weather British version could be converted into a sort of hood by undoing the buttons, unfolding the cap and doing up the buttons under the chin, covering the ears. I do not think this was ever done in practice.

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

One version that never caught on was the double visor ball cap. Traditional in front with a second visor covering the back.

[@coldlakealta4043]

I used to attend a lot of baseball games. There were several variants, like having a visor front and back for the sun and my favorite - it had a loop and straw on each side for a can of beer.

[@Etymon-jt3zw]

Good video like most men I wear a baseball cap all day everyday as a construction worker. And never once gave it much of any thought.

[@RRaquello]

A very historic early occasion where you can see a non-baseball player wearing a team baseball cap is in the crew photo of the Enola Gay, taken just before the plane left to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Tail gunner S/Sgt. Bob Caron is wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers cap. Baseball caps were also the very first "award" given to returning astronauts following their at sea recovery after returning from space, upon reaching the deck of the recovery ship. They were given the crew cap of the recovery ship with the ship's name on it, marking them as honorary members of the crew. This went back at least to the days of Project Gemini. In addition, on the space front, the crew of Apollo 12 had their own special ball caps made for them and can be seen wearing them in films and videos taken in the spacecraft on the way to and back from the moon though, of course, not on the moon itself. These caps were made of the then very exclusive and expensive beta cloth and were, up to that time, probably the most expensive baseball caps ever made.

[@garyfasso6223]

7:08 Gotta love the guy wearing his hat backwards - while sheilding his eyes from the sun. Best part: I'll bet he's got a half-circle "rising sun" sunburn on his forehead.

[@Dilbert-o5k]

Fascinating. I never knew the truckers hat was technically not a baseball cap! I used to play rounders at school, when I was a kid, and wondered if there was a connection to baseball, as it is so similar. Interestingly, my local foorball club (soccer for the Americans) used to play at a stadium called the baseball ground, up until a decade or two ago when the ground was redeveloped elsewhere. Apparently this was due to someone coming over from the states and trying to introduce baseball into Britain . The attempt failed and the ground was taken over by a football club, Derby County .

[@toastnjam7384]

Might have been a leftover from a WW 2 American base.

[@Dilbert-o5k]

@@toastnjam7384 no , happened long before ww2

[@elyzsabethahne2116]

As a child in the 1970s, I would see in television shows kids going to school and wearing baseball caps in school, even during classes. When I tried wearing one to school (PUBLIC school) one time, the grownups all came over to me immediately and ordered that I remove my baseball cap. They said that it wasn't allowed in school. I find this weird, and I don't understand it at all.

[@pacificostudios]

I LOVE cotton baseball caps. Durable, comfortable, and worth the money.

[@AxelCalvet]

Great job. I watched every videos you made.

[@user-jq8wr8ru2s]

Great video & really loved it. Thank you :)

[@elderhiker7787]

One adaptation you didn’t include is the golf hat. Much like company hats you mentioned, each golf course has its own logo hat as well as company brands such as Ping or Titelist. I think the golf hat is a unique and ubiquitous adaptation of the baseball hat.

[@hettro-cv6082]

We had the baseball hat for over 100 years now you would think some other style would get started.

[@el4174]

Nice

[@Mr.Inman14]

You forgot about the baseball type hats with a small rope low on the crown and going across the bill

[@Skorpychan]

I try and avoid them, but they're a necessity at work in the summer, just so I can see. I've ended up wearing one from a fertiliser company which was given to me by a customer, since the ones I was given as uniform are all obsolete due to constant rebranding. My customised boonie hat is 'unprofessional' since I have to deal with customers.

[@davewalter1216]

Tilley hats - you need to do one on these Canadian icons.

[@nightburststudios2142]

Interesting, I always thought snapback hats got their name because the brim was “snapped” or bent back into a flatter shape

[@bjj4tone]

Cool video