A New Cap

Wearing a Red Sox cap anywhere but metro New York will start a conversation, even with Yankees fans. Out west, on Pacific Time, we have something in common... We miss the AL East, consistently baseball's most competitive division.

My current cap was purchased in Las Vegas... Not quite as authentic as the one from Yawkey Way (adjacent to Fenway Park) I bought during the '86 World Series, but it's held up for 7 years. It was purchased the day I heard Ted Williams had died.

I first noticed the magnetism of the "B" in Seattle, and wondered if a Mariners cap would elicit the same response back in Boston. In 1994 the answer was no.

A gas station attendant in Lynn, MA (Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin) wanted to fight me. At the time the Mariners could have been playoff opponents for the Sox, but that was the year they cancelled the whole thing... Labor dispute.

I suppose I could have asked him why, but wound up asking myself: "What the hell are you doing in Lynn?"

Just visiting. No permanent damage.

But in late July of 2009, at trading deadline, I find myself thinking I need a new cap... Not a new design or a different team. Just one that holds its shape a little better.

One that's blue with a red "B" will do just fine.