Down on the Pond: MiLB Hats

Last season I visited the Pohlman Field and purchased a Beloit Snappers hat. It quickly became my go to hat and despite the Twins recent low-A affiliation change to Cedar Rapids, I continue to to wear it often, and I get a lot of compliments on it. A turtle playing baseball.  Pretty awesome.  Unfortunately the Cedar Rapids Kernels hats are not quite as awesome, but maybe I can find another affiliate hat to draw attention from total strangers. With the holidays coming up I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the minor league hats available for the Twins fan on your Christmas list.

Twins related news and notes from the minor leagues

AAA – Rochester Red Wings have 53 different hats available at their team store. 53, including several different varieties of hats for the Empire State Yankees.  Of the 53 available I’ve picked out for that you might enjoy, or that someone you’re shopping for might enjoy, but mostly just the 4 that I liked the most.

Red Wings standard on field hat.

The classic red wings cap, also available in red w/ a black bill.  Nice, but not my favorite, the next two are pretty awesome, and I’d be thrilled to find either waiting underneath the tree.

Red Wings Aftermath cap

This is the Red Wings “aftermath” hat.  I don’t have any idea what that’s about, but its a unique look, and resembles the Red Bull logo. It will literally give you wings (on your head).

R’matey

This is my favorite offering from the Red Wings team store. It also is remarkably close to the Rainier Beer “R.” For those looking to support both beer and AAA baseball, this hat is for you.

AA New Britain Rock Cats have only 34 selections (scarcasm on the only). Although they have a smaller selection than the Red Wings, I think they have superior styles. Again I’ve picked out four hats for your consideration, all of them fit the category “freakin’ awesome.” Feel free to wrap one or all up for me this holiday season.

The Rock Cats home cap, it’s red, it’s awesome, it has a paw on the front.

Rock Cats Alternate cap, with what appears to be an angry rodent. But I did it.

Rock Cats road cap, very Twinsian, very awesome.

Rock Cats Hardware City alternate, the best of the bunch. Hardware City. That’s hard. Hard as bricks. I want.

High-A Ft Myers Miracle fans can choose from any of 20 different styles, including two 20th anniversary caps, both their classic navy cap with a 20th anniversary patch and a beautiful ocean green colored M hat, my favorite in the entire collection.

Classic Miracle cap with a special 20th anniversary patch

A collegiate style cap, functional on of off the field for the 2o something on your list looking for a sweet head covering.

Oranges! Florida has lots of oranges, and lots of orange Miracle caps. Get yours while supplies last.

My favorite Miracle cap, a throw back, special 20th anniversary cap.

The low-A Cedar Rapids Kernels are the newest members of the Twins family and have 9 different hats to choose from, I’ll share the only 2 I felt were worth spending money on, the team’s home and road caps. Neither one is as cool as a hat with a turtle playing baseball, but other than that I think the move from Beloit to Cedar Rapids is an improvement across the board.

Kernels road cap, that’s one mean ear of corn… yeah, corn.

Kernels home headwear, my favorite offering from the Cedar Rapids crew. This corn is a bit less corny that the road cap.

The Elizabethan Twins have three hats on their site, but they all feature the same logo, I’m not sure I’d be willing to wear one of these unless I was in Elizabethan, but I would like to have one in my collection.

E-Twins cap, also available w/ a red bill.

I couldn’t find any hats available for the Gulf Coast Twins, but it appears they’re sporting standard Twins caps, so head over to the MLB Twins store and choose your favorite.

If you head down to Elizabethan, this might be the hat you choose to take along, available for the Twins team store. Snap-Back in time w/ this snap back cap.

Twins prospects playing in the AFL play for the Peoria Javelinas, and my searching through the internet found just a single cap for them, it is therefore, by default, my favorite Javelinas hat.

Look at that beautiful skunk pig. B-E-A-utiful.

Thanks for joining me on a journey though the Twins affiliates minor league hats. Which one would you most like to see Christmas morning with your name on it? And if you’re looking for a big league cap, visit the Twins team store and search through their collection of more than 100+ caps, with plenty of choices for women and children too.

__________________

Follow me,  @BaseballPirate, on Twitter