December Pickups

[Dave Grob]

The only one of these I have seen was the one offered by REA back in 2014 (dated to the 1950s). I always had issues with that dating for a few reasons:

1. The fact that it said Ebbets Field (ushers cap read Dodgers by that time)

2. The size of the employee badge (smaller than those you see in period images of that time frame; I have small collection of these and the smaller ones pre-date the late 1940s)

3. The style of cap.

4. The color of the cap.

5. Period images from the late 1940s-1950s show venders in a different style cap.

I got to thinking that in 1937, the Brooklyn Dodgers wore uniforms with green lettering, numbers, and green caps. So I spent some time going through the Brooklyn Eagle and found this for 22 April, 1937:

“All of the ushers at Ebbets Field are new and there are 36 of ‘em in those natty green uniforms.”

Not prepared to call this an ushers cap yet, but the color, embroidery, and pin size on the REA example suggest to me this is late 1930s/early 1940s. This would help to explain why you can't find images of it during the "Capital of Baseball" era.

Dave Grob