Toronto Baseball Fans - Need Help Indentifying a Possible Jays Minors Affiliate Logo
 

Picked up a small 1960's-1970's game worn baseball cap collection and this one has me stumped. I collect Jays and Toronto baseball items so I feel that I should recognize the logo.......

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...pseemkh3c6.jpg

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...psxjzmexzx.jpg

Thanks for your kind assistance!

Were there any clues with the rest of the collection?

Hi Leon. The rest of the caps were from the '60's and '70's, but all from other teams (no other Jays items). I checked all the 1977-1989 Jays affiliate logo sites and don't see anything like this. Perhaps it was a possible logo prototype?

If it's a prototype, they should've run with it IMHO.

Looks a lot more attractive than the caps they've had for all these years. Great looking logo!

Email New Era.

The "T" reminds me of the Toronto Maple Leaf AAA (now Intercounty) ball club of years ago, but with a bird instead of a leaf. I like this logo but the bird looks too googly eyed and primitive for me to prefer it to the classic Jays logo that I am used to after all these years. I hated the black and silver cursive "T" logo and colour scheme the Jays employed prior to 2012.

My guess is that it is totally fictional. My theory is that it was probably used during a "throwback" weekend when the Blue Jays were playing a team that was wearing a really old uniform. For example, maybe they were playing the Red Sox that were wearing a 1918 uniform and New Era made this up to look like a 1918 Blue Jays cap would look like.

I think I remember seeing some teams use fictional uniforms if they were a relatively new team to the league.

You might want to ask on Chris Creamer's Sportslogos.com forum...they're an encyclopedia of knowledge for obscure logo related stuff.

Thanks Marty. Any direct links to a contact at NE?

Thanks John....I did reach out last night on their Facebook site.

Thanks Phil. Your theory is quite possible, but I think that the cap manufacturing (tagging) era may predate the throwback game era in MLB, no? Did they have these sorts of games in the 1970's?

Good possibility, given that it has a sewn-on felt patch. I believe every other team in this recent era has their insignias embroidered directly into the cap. So the cap in question is indeed more in line with a throwback or a fictitious/contrived piece. Good theory!

New Era
 

One of the clues is the square visor stitching, which says this is a New Era 900 or 911 model, a step down from the on-field model 5950 (Don't be confused by "Pro Model" in the label). 5950s have a "round" visor; the visor stitching is round as well.

Years ago "5950" designated New Era's best cap and was made from 100% wool. If teams wanted knit fabric on the same style cap, New Era designated that as style "5300".

Today, 5950 is a crown style (Brooklyn mushroom crown, round pro visor), but several materials may be used: knit or polyester, for example. Recently "Diamond Era" fabric that has a pattern to it has been introduced.

Over the years the same cap styles were/are available to youth, amateur, high school, college and pro teams. The cap pictured could be any of these unless the logo can be identified. However, plain 900s and 911s were available to sporting goods team dealers for many years until about 10 years ago.

When New Era decorates caps, the front panels are sewn together then embroidered "flat"; then the cap is built. That's why the enpmbroidery does not come through the crown reinforcement on the inside.

In this instance, if stitching shows through the crown it is unlikely that New Era decorated it and an appliqué or embroidered design was sewn on it by a local sporting goods dealer.

That being said, major and minor league teams also had access to purchasing 900 (regular crown)/911 (low crown) styles since they were less expensive styles than the best styles. For spring training, for example, some clubs would buy a mesh-back cap in style 900 (actually called 991-OB "open back" with plastic snaps or 891-OB if the front panels were knit).

More recently the 5950 has been designated as the official "On-Field" cap and other models are not used on the field of play.

Any additional images might be helpful in narrowing this cap down to a specific year. I do not recall the stamping inside the sweatband being use, although it certainly could have been a requirement for exporting to another country, i. e. Canada.

Sorry for the long dissertation.

Skip

Wow! Amazing information Skip. Thank you!

I took another pic, this time of the inside of the cap. The logo stitching does show through to the underside. There are no other stampings etc (other than the "MFG USA" stamp). Of the collection, this is indeed the only cap with square visor stitching. The items came from a long time Blue Jays executive and as such, I really feel that there must be a Jays connection to this cap. I don't think I will have access to the original owner unfort as he is firmly in retirement and has ignored my friend's (the owner of the caps before me) request for more info.

On the plus side, it is a great cap and it fits my melon! At 7 5/8 it is the only cap from the group that comes close.


http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...pslohahs4u.jpg

Chris,

The image shows stitching in the reinforcement, which means the logo is a patch sewn on a blank cap. I cannot place the logo as having a connection to the Blue Jays, but it certainly could be. I'll check around and see what else I can find out for you.

Skip

Friendly bump. Any Jays fans they could shed some light?

It's not from a Toronto minor-league affiliate. Toronto's only association with a minor pro organization having
the initial "T" was their 2000-2002 working agreement with the Tennessee Smokies of the AA Southern League.
There are or have been several colleges and high schools with the initial "T" whose teams are Blue Jays, although
none we see currently has a blue jay logo matching that on your cap. You might want to look into Tabor College
[ http://www.taborbluejays.com/sport/0/1.php ], Triad High School [ http://triadhomeschoolbaseball.org/ ],
and others, and ask them if in previous years they used the logo you have.

Thanks Butch! I just can't get past that this came from a retired Jays executive who resides in Toronto. I believe it to be a team prototype or fantasy piece.

Jays fans.....
 

Redirecting an older mystery.