Toronto Baseball Fans - Need Help Indentifying a Possible Jays Minors Affiliate Logo

[Nashvol]

One of the clues is the square visor stitching, which says this is a New Era 900 or 911 model, a step down from the on-field model 5950 (Don't be confused by "Pro Model" in the label). 5950s have a "round" visor; the visor stitching is round as well.

Years ago "5950" designated New Era's best cap and was made from 100% wool. If teams wanted knit fabric on the same style cap, New Era designated that as style "5300".

Today, 5950 is a crown style (Brooklyn mushroom crown, round pro visor), but several materials may be used: knit or polyester, for example. Recently "Diamond Era" fabric that has a pattern to it has been introduced.

Over the years the same cap styles were/are available to youth, amateur, high school, college and pro teams. The cap pictured could be any of these unless the logo can be identified. However, plain 900s and 911s were available to sporting goods team dealers for many years until about 10 years ago.

When New Era decorates caps, the front panels are sewn together then embroidered "flat"; then the cap is built. That's why the enpmbroidery does not come through the crown reinforcement on the inside.

In this instance, if stitching shows through the crown it is unlikely that New Era decorated it and an appliqué or embroidered design was sewn on it by a local sporting goods dealer.

That being said, major and minor league teams also had access to purchasing 900 (regular crown)/911 (low crown) styles since they were less expensive styles than the best styles. For spring training, for example, some clubs would buy a mesh-back cap in style 900 (actually called 991-OB "open back" with plastic snaps or 891-OB if the front panels were knit).

More recently the 5950 has been designated as the official "On-Field" cap and other models are not used on the field of play.

Any additional images might be helpful in narrowing this cap down to a specific year. I do not recall the stamping inside the sweatband being use, although it certainly could have been a requirement for exporting to another country, i. e. Canada.

Sorry for the long dissertation.

Skip

[baseball tourist]

Originally Posted by Nashvol

One of the clues is the square visor stitching, which says this is a New Era 900 or 911 model, a step down from the on-field model 5950 (Don't be confused by "Pro Model" in the label). 5950s have a "round" visor; the visor stitching is round as well.

Years ago "5950" designated New Era's best cap and was made from 100% wool. If teams wanted knit fabric on the same style cap, New Era designated that as style "5300".

Today, 5950 is a crown style (Brooklyn mushroom crown, round pro visor), but several materials may be used: knit or polyester, for example. Recently "Diamond Era" fabric that has a pattern to it has been introduced

When New Era decorates caps, the front panels are sewn together then embroidered "flat"; then the cap is built. That's why the enpmbroidery does not come through the crown reinforcement on the inside.

In this instance, if stitching shows through the crown it is unlikely that New Era decorated it and an appliqué or embroidered design was sewn on it by a local sporting goods dealer.

Any additional images might be helpful in narrowing this cap down to a specific year. I do not recall the stamping inside the sweatband being use, although it certainly could have been a requirement for exporting to another country, i. e. Canada

Skip

Wow! Amazing information Skip. Thank you!

I took another pic, this time of the inside of the cap. The logo stitching does show through to the underside. There are no other stampings etc (other than the "MFG USA" stamp). Of the collection, this is indeed the only cap with square visor stitching. The items came from a long time Blue Jays executive and as such, I really feel that there must be a Jays connection to this cap. I don't think I will have access to the original owner unfort as he is firmly in retirement and has ignored my friend's (the owner of the caps before me) request for more info.

On the plus side, it is a great cap and it fits my melon! At 7 5/8 it is the only cap from the group that comes close.

[Nashvol]

Chris,

The image shows stitching in the reinforcement, which means the logo is a patch sewn on a blank cap. I cannot place the logo as having a connection to the Blue Jays, but it certainly could be. I'll check around and see what else I can find out for you.

Skip

[baseball tourist]

Friendly bump. Any Jays fans they could shed some light?

[Butch7999]

It's not from a Toronto minor-league affiliate. Toronto's only association with a minor pro organization having
the initial "T" was their 2000-2002 working agreement with the Tennessee Smokies of the AA Southern League.
There are or have been several colleges and high schools with the initial "T" whose teams are Blue Jays, although
none we see currently has a blue jay logo matching that on your cap. You might want to look into Tabor College
[ http://www.taborbluejays.com/sport/0/1.php ], Triad High School [ http://triadhomeschoolbaseball.org/ ],
and others, and ask them if in previous years they used the logo you have.

[baseball tourist]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

It's not from a Toronto minor-league affiliate. Toronto's only association with a minor pro organization having
the initial "T" was their 2000-2002 working agreement with the Tennessee Smokies of the AA Southern League.
There are or have been several colleges and high schools with the initial "T" whose teams are Blue Jays, although
none we see currently has a blue jay logo matching that on your cap. You might want to look into Tabor College
[ http://www.taborbluejays.com/sport/0/1.php ], Triad High School [ http://triadhomeschoolbaseball.org/ ],
and others, and ask them if in previous years they used the logo you have.

Thanks Butch! I just can't get past that this came from a retired Jays executive who resides in Toronto. I believe it to be a team prototype or fantasy piece.

[baseball tourist]

Redirecting an older mystery.