How The Pimento Cheese Cap Came to Life

As an avid ball cap collector, I could lay my hands on a couple of caps of the Augusta GreenJackets in 2023. One of them was the Pimento Cheese cap. But how did the club come to this alternate identity? Read on and you will learn.

The athletic trainer, who is a Dutchman and played in the Dutch hoofdklasse before heading to the US to play college ball, contacted me if I was interested to buy three of the caps he wore as athletic trainer.

One of these caps is the pimento cheese cap. I always wondered why they came up with this cap. But recently, it struck my mind that several minor league clubs come up with alternate identities named after a local dish, like the Ohama Storm Chasers alternate Runza identity or the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers with their Brats identity.

So I started digging. To make things a bit more clear, one has to go back to the origin of the club in 1988. The club was named after the Masters Golf tournament, which is held in Augusta annually and where the winner gets a green jacket. The team logo features a yellowjacket wasp colored green, wearing a tam o’ shanter cap, associated with golf.

With the name of the club in mind, the pimento cheese sandwich is a logical choice. In 2019, the club opted for this alternate identity. The pimento cheese sandwich contains the following ingredients: Combine 2 cups grated extra-sharp yellow cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons chopped pimentos, 2 tablespoons grated onion, 1 teaspoon yellow mustard and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Season with salt and black pepper. Spread on white bread.

It may not surpise you that the sandwich is a delicacy sold at the Masters Golf Tournament.

So this alternate identity is a nod to the GreenJackets namesake.

In the meantime the club has changed its alternate identity as they dropped the Pimento Cheese identiy and turned to Azaleas, the flower that is associated with Augusta and… the Masters Tournament.