This series is inspired by the must read book “All Caps, Stories That Justify an Outrageous Hat Collection” by Craig Colby. Craig wrote this book about the many caps he has and the stories behind it. Anyhow, this series will be about the caps I own and the stories behind them.
This episode of “Personal Stories About Ball Caps” is about the former national team cap of Croatia.
During the 2016 European Championship in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, I was awarded a press card, so I could get on the field during warmups and take pictures. I also could enter the press room to work on game reports. It was a great experience. I am still thankful the KNBSB (Dutch Baseball Federation) gave me this opportunity.
At the time Greece had a Dutch-Venezuelan manager, I could get along with on Facebook very well. This guy replaced an Italian manager, who quit shortly before the European Championship started. One of the coaches of the Greek national team was a friend of his, so perhaps it wasn’t a surprise, this Dutch-Venezuelan guy stepped in to help his friend out.
Team Croatia had the habit during this 2016 tournament to give the opposing manager a specimen of their national team cap. So they did during the exchanges of the lineups in their game against Greece as well. At one point in the game, I stood next to the Greek dugout, and their manager came to me and asked me which cap size I had. When I said 7 3/8, he handed me that national team cap of Croatia, knowing I collected caps. As for today, I am still thankful for this cap he gave me.
It would not be the only cap he would give me during that tournament, but more about that later.
I guess the Cincinnati Reds complained about the cap, as it sports the same wishbone C (or toilet seat C if you want to 😉 ) as the Reds cap does, so eventually, Croatia turned to another C on their cap, as you can see on the photo above.
What I like about this Croatian cap of my collection is the Croatian Flag on the side and the words National Team underneath it. On the back of the cap, there is a name of the sponsor, saying proudly sponsored by…
Dutch Baseball Hangout 
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