As you may know by now, yours truly is a cap enthusiast or a cap nut if you want to. I love to wear authentic baseball caps. Since my aversion of MLB, I turned to Minor League caps and caps of European clubs more and more. But what bugs me is the lack of accuracy when producers create replica caps. It is a real pet peeve of mine.
The latest example of a screwup on a New Era cap is the cap of the former Detroit Tigers affiliation, the London Tigers. At first sight, I thought: “Nice hat. I’d like to have that one.” But when I started to google for the original, I bumped into a baseball card that showed an Old English L that was quite a bit different than the one on the replica.
Have a look for yourself:
Another fine example of how New Era is butchering throwback caps is the so called Cooperstown Collection cap of the California Angels cap with the lower case A.
The first photo is the original, back then made by KM Pro. The second photo is the current Cooperstown Collection version.
As you can see, the New Era version has raised embroidery, another pet peeve of mine. Caps in those days did not have raised embroidery. Also the white outline of the modern cap is way too thick. And then the position of the lower case A. On the modern version, the A is off centered to the right to make sure that the entire logo, including the halo, is in the center of the cap, something that wasn’t the case with the original cap.
I have seen many screwups, also by Hatclub. That cap shop also turns a blind eye when it comes to accuracy.
I really wonder how hard it is to make an exact replica. Are these companies only trying to make a quick buck or don’t they give a damn about authenticity? They should take Ebbets Field Flannels as an example. No raised embroidery. The company uses felt for the letters on the crown of the cap, the material that was used in the old days.
Their replicas are exact reproductions. Sure there is a hefty price tag, but I rather pay $50 for an exact replica than almost $40 for a poor attempt.
Dutch Baseball Hangout 
You must be logged in to post a comment.