My Name is Matt and I Approve These Hats

Ok, we've made a few posts in the offseason to keep this blog from being completely fallow, but now it's spring training, Daisuke Matsuzaka has his visa (I hope), Papi has a new truck, Manny's getting a new car, and J.D. Drew proved to the world that he has not one, but two arms attached to his torso. Now it's time to get into full swing as baseball fans, and I'm doing my part by writing about textiles.

Major League Baseball has announced a switch from wool uniform caps to high tech synthetic ones. By all reports, the new hats look the same, feel different. They are still manufactured by New Era in the 59Fifty 6-panel style that has become so familiar, however the new fabric brings with it some added benefits:

1) It wicks moisture away from the inside of the cap evenly for evaporation into the air. This means dryer, cooler heads will prevail on Sunday afternoons in Dolphin Stadium in the middle of July.

2) The underside of the bill will be black. This causes less glare when the player looks up for fly balls or fans with signs proclaiming themselves "Mrs. Wright."

3) The sweat band will be made out of the new fabric. See #1.

4) They won't shrink. This is the best part for me. I fall somewhere between size 7 3/8 and 7 5/8. Reason being- my head is probably a 7 3/8 or 7 1/2, but anyone with a dryer and a midget sweater knows that when you add moisture and heat to wool, it shrinks. So I buy hats that are too big, and wear them even though they're ridiculously far from fitting in the hopes that they'll shrink to fit my head. This has never happened. Not once. Not ever. Those hats now reside in my closet, but for some reason I like that better than buying a hat that fits, only to have it give me pounding headaches after an hour of wear one year later.

5) The dye won't bleed. Hat afficionados know that when you have a hat with a logo that's lighter than the rest of the hat, they will eventually fade and bleed until they match. I have many black or grey hats with whitish logos that are now almost uniformly brown.

6) They cost more. It's only a few bucks, but let's face it: You're guaranteed a hat that will fit you unless your head changes size (Barry Bonds, I'm looking at you), and that will look brand new after repeated wear and even (if you're that kind of girl) washing.

Here's looking forward to a fresh start with a new season.