Personal Stories About Ballcaps: Czech Republic Game Cap

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.

In today’s episode of “Personal Stories About Ballcaps,” we pay attention to the official game cap of the Czech Republic. It is not about my travels to a ballpark where I bought this cap, but merely about my quest to acquire this cap and how hard it was to lay my hands on it.

Since the Czech Republic first participated in the Qualifiers of the World Baseball Classic (2013), the team played with the logo of the WBC cap for quite a while. But at some point, I think after the 2019 WBC Qualifier, the team came up with a brand new logo. I fell in love with it immediately. Patiently, I waited for the cap to go on sale. But that moment didn’t come. Through the years, I approached the Czech Baseball Federation through Facebook Messenger several times, but they kept saying the cap wasn’t for sale.

Somewhere in 2021, a fellow blogger in the Czech Republic (www.milujeme-baseball.cz) announced the Czech Federation was working on a web shop. My heart skipped some beats. This meant I finally could acquire the cap I wanted for so long. But in 2021, no web shop. In 2022, there was a web shop, but no caps.

I was so desperate that I contacted a Czech player that was acquired by Oosterhout Twins, one of my two favorite Dutch clubs, for the 2023 season. He was on the Czech national squad for the WBC and he promised to do everything possible. Unfortunately, he could only lay his hands on a couple of snapbacks, so I declined politely.

But then, in May, the web shop finally showed the cap I wanted so much, all of a sudden. So I decided to order two caps. One for myself and one for a friend of mine. But, the shop didn’t ship to Belgium. You may understand that the disappointment was huge. But then, like I was struck by lightning, I thought of this fellow blogger in the Czech Republic. I asked him if he could buy two specimens and eventually send them to me. He was so kind to take care of that. As soon as he had sent a photo of the caps he received, I transferred the money to make sure he would send the caps to my place.

Clearly, the Czech Mail Service doesn’t work that quick, but eventually, three to four weeks later, a parcel was delivered. Finally, my quest for the Holy Grail was fulfilled.