Photo Request Help...

[tlwise12]

Hey everyone... I got an idea to have Ebbets Field Flannels create me a custom hat. While this is a fairly expensive project (atleast for a hat), I think it would be pretty cool.

So, I was thinking about an early Negro or Cuban League team from the very early 1900s to the late 1930s...

Here is where my request comes in... I need pictures of any team or individual player from that era to help me decide which team to choose. Any pictures (that you personally own or that you don't own), websites, or even links to auctions would be awesome!

Thanks for all the help!

Travis
tlwise12@aol.com

[pgellis]

There's at least one company that I know of that already makes these hats. I think this is what you were looking for:

http://www.negroleagueshop.com/cat_negro_league.cfm

[53Browns]

Reasonably priced as well.

[tlwise12]

Phil,

Thanks for the reply, but I've already seen that website. I was talking more about posting actual pictures of past teams so I can completely replicate the hat. Those hats are basically like the stadium give aways (same color as the original hat, but not made from correct materials)...

Thanks again!
Travis

[jerseygary]

Have you seen the caps Cooperstown Ballcap Co. used to make? They actually recreated the real style of the caps era appropriate, short bill, lower crown, etc as well as the french-seam box cap. The caps were painstakingly recreated using originals as a guide and all hand made. The company is gone now, but Will the owner still makes caps under the new company called Ideal Cap Co. He's branched out to other types of caps, but he can still recreate any cap you want and his data base of historical styles is unreal - I know because I use his old catalogues when I do my own baseball drawings. Ebbets makes a damn good cap, but they make it in the post 1950's style, which if you want originality just isn't right. If you want his email to talk to him, pm me and I will pass it on to you.

Here is a blog someone started who really likes those caps:
http://coopcapco.blogspot.com/
If you go the February selection of posts it is all Negro League caps so there is a lot to choose from.

For actual pictures of the Negro Leagues, the website:
www.baseball-fever.com
has a section with all negro league photographs in the "Baseball Photography" section.

Just google "cooperstown ballcap" and go to "images" and you can see other caps they made. By the way, the more worn in they get, the better they look!

[bmarlowe1]

My results with Will and Coopestown Ball Cap company were not so good.

First - they sent it with the wrong pin-stripe pattern. Then they could not get the size right. I gave them exact measurements as requested, and they tried 3 more times to get it right, never coming within 1 inch of the requested measurement. The quality was also very erratic.

As to authenticity - they were certainly closer than anyone else. But they had a generic base cap for each era. For example - for Deadball era there was one cap style (plus the pillbox style used by early Boston and the 1909-1914 A's). In reality - the major league teams had considerable variety in bill size, location of the top button, and other details.

I ordered a 1910 Cubs road cap. It looks pretty good in the photo, but after three tries it still is way too small. Also - it does not match the actual caps which had a very noticable offset button on top - tilted very much towards the front. I asked them to make it that way and offered to pay extra - but they would not.