I have mixed feelings when I think about this. 296 IronPig games. Most home. Some away. Some playoffs, some exhibition. All are fantastic memories for me and while the results varied, the friendships did not. One particular mainstay was my first purchase of IronPig gear. I’m not one for team apparel. I bought an IronPig’s team jacket one evening when it turned out to be unusually cold… but my first purchase was weeks before the Pigs first took the field on that cold March morning in 2008.
Soon after I ordered my first season ticket, I bought this:
Heading for retirement. 2007-2012
4+ seasons did a number on this hat. A lot of fading from the sun and the occasional washing. It was sewed back together 3 times. I was very leary about new hats and even turned down an offer from Michael Schwimer to buy me a new one. I love this hat. Fits like a glove and has been there for just about every big IronPig moment good and bad.
The excitement that accompanied the return of pro baseball to the Lehigh Valley.
The start of the 2008 season. Greg Luzinski saw me wearing this hat at Citizen’s Bank Park and chuckled as he asked if they had won a game yet. He signed the hat as well as Chris Coste. Both were long faded away.
It saw every game in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
It remembers the old Ferrous and FeFe outfits.
It’s been to Scranton on multiple occasions and was there when the Pigs beat the PawSox to advance to the Governor’s Cup championship last fall.
In all, this cap (as a friend’s grandfather told me.. a hat has a brim all the way around, what I’m wearing is a cap) has seen 296 IronPig games.
So to say this hat, cap… is a part of me is an understatement. With that said I announce its official retirement.
Fear not, though… my rapidly expanding bald spot won’t be at risk for sun burn this summer. I have found, thanks to my humorous Ebay search, a near identical replacement.
This is what the cap looked like in 2007
Granted, it will take some time to get the new version broken in but hopefully it will be 4 more years before I have to go through this process again.
OinK!
noisenation.mlblogs.com 
Our memories parralell each other. I’ve seen 278 games, home, away, exhibition, and playoffs. My 1st official IronPigs merchandise was the official home cap. That lasted about 3 seasons as I have retired it in 2010. It too has faded from the sun and got water-logged from those rainy nights at CCP. The current home cap I have has the All-Star logo on it from the 2010 game at CCP, I plan to retire this cap too in favor of another home cap. It’s not as battered as your cap, my 1st home cap, but I understand the memories attached to it, which is why I plan to keep mine too. Of course I’m a big hat freak!! The All-Star one isn’t bad but I change my mind alot and felt it was time to get a new one for this coming season.
Oink on everybody!
Jimmy T’s Take
First of all, good golly, don’t send out a tweet with “it was a good run,” — I thought maybe you were turning the IronPigs beat over to DiPro and me. Secondly, I’m not sure how I’m going to find you at CCP if you’re not wearing that cap. Set that new one out on the back porch to get it a head start. I thought it was originally beige.
As for Jimmy T, I though he had a different cap for every day. Doesn’t his cap always match his jersey? Anyway, he’s my hero. I try to rotate the caps based on luck, or winning and losing streaks, or whatever. Just wish I was more comfortable with the 5950s, but sadly, my melon suffers from Zagurski disease–make me look a bit goofy, and it’s not terribly comfortable. I’ll keep trying, though, I’ve got three or four of them. BTW, got the tweet yesterday that there’ll be 50 new “styles” this year, FWIW. I usually pick up a new one when I pick up my tickets, so that’s coming up next week (s/t pickup starts Tuesday 3/6 I think).
Kram, I don’t look for his cap, I look for the replica jersey he is usually wearing! (Or in the case of Dog Day or Night, his dog!!)
How about that, Sarge? What’s the condition of the “Rose” J? 😛
Yeah, but the ‘Rose’ has seen less than 296, right? I follow you, though.
Aside: The Phillies were my first favorite team ever when I got a cap for my birthday circa 1976. Somewhere I lost track, and never liked Rose for some reason. I can’t for the life of me remember why. He’s the type of player I usually like, and while I’m not a big fan of his managerial skills or his gambling history, I do think it’s time to welcome him back into the baseball fold. I digress. Rod Carew is to blame. He became my favorite player and the Angels my favorite team right about then.
The only thing I love more than my Pigs cap (aside from my autographed Ryno-with-rhino baseball card, of course) is my old Drillers shirt, which is raglan-sleeved, faded, nearly threadbare, and soft as a bunny from too many washings. It will be a sad, sad day when I have to retire it….