I have beefed before in these parts for my relative distaste for the new flat-brimmed baseball hat.
Give me the curved crown and tradition, please and thank you. I realize that the bigger, flatter brim is the thing around the world, and is worn, well, everywhere you look. I see it taking up more and more shelf space in the stores. Yes, I am an old guy in this land of new ways.
Anybody with me here regarding my stance that it looks out of place in professional baseball?
So just now I’m perusing the team blog devoted to my New York Mets by ESPN’s New York division, and what do I see but a story by reporter Adam Rubin with the headline “Mets Acquire Reliever Alex Torres.” Oh, a left-hander. We need one. From the Padres.
“Torres, 27, went 2-1 with a 3.33 ERA in 70 relief appearances last season. He held righties to a .209 average and lefties to a .256 average,” Rubin writes. “Torres is not eligible for arbitration until after the 2016 season and is under the Mets’ control for five full seasons.”
Protecting the lead from the bullpen, Alex Torres. (From Getty Images)
That’s Alex Torres on the mound for the Padres. Quite the hat, thought I. Biggest I’ve ever seen. What the …
“Torres became the first player in Major League Baseball to wear the isoBlox protective cap last season and said he was motivated to do so from watching former Tampa Bay Rays teammate Alex Cobb suffer a slight concussion after being hit by a line drive in a game in 2013,” Rubin continues.
It’s a beautiful thing, that big hat of Alex Torres’.
Here’s the link to Rubin’s story and the photo of Torres.
If you wear a baseball hat, do you go for the curved or flat brim, and why? Do you think all players on a team, except for health reasons, should have to wear the same style hat because it’s called a uniform? What’s the last hat you wore, and where to?
Mark Bialczak 
I’m sorry, but that hat looks stupid! It looks sloppy and too big, and it’s like the upstairs version of when those boys wear their pants hanging around their lower butt. Rant over. 😉
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Yes, but I hope it does protect his noggin’, Rachel.
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I dated this pitcher in college who’s hat had a crease down the middle it was so bowed. I loved how he wore his hats. I totally agree with you, Mark.
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Let’s stick together on this one, Aud. 🙂
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*folds her arms* Done!
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That’s amazing – i hadn’t realized that ball caps had changed while i wasn’t looking. Dear God i’m getting old – Ha! thanks for the update Mark.
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Not all are like this one pictured, Paul, but yes, they have changed in the past few years. Fashion forward?
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Okay. That hat is dang weird. But I’m staying in a Mets household tonight……I fear I will be booted to the curb for typing anything derogatory about the Mets……..
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The hat is the oddest looking piece of baseball habadashery ever, Andra, and that’s coming from a lifelong Mets fan. However, it is protective gear, I keep saying to myself.
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I always love it when they show a player’s picture on the scoreboard, and even on team photo day they wear their hat cocked at some strange angle to their face. I agree the flat brim looks out of place… and those giant hats are just stupid. Short of having pitchers wear a helmet and catcher’s mask on the mound, there isn’t much that’s going to protect them from a comebacker to the head… certainly not that gag prop of a hat Torres is wearing…
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Yeah, a helmet would work for me, Bill, or one of those insert things. What’s amazing is that Torres’ hat has an official name from a hat company. It’s at a model.
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i’m a curved brim kind of woman, though i’m not against much of any sports gear that will keep people safe.
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Yes, safety first, Beth, but I wonder about the looks of that baby.
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It makes me feel old to say this, but curved. No question.
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Curved looks sharper, Hippie, and that doesn’t make us old … older, yeah.
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I personally have a cooling hat that is shaped like a bucket hat. Queen of the jungle here. The flat brim hat looks stupid, idiotic, dumb. There are several kinds of protective hats that he could wear, including a helmet, that would be far more suitable than what he has on. That one just makes him look like he has a tiny head in an over large hat. Sorta like a child wearing his dad’s hat. All that’s missing, bro Mark, are some over sized grown up shoes to complete the picture.
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It is quite a jarring look, sis Angie. I don’t think it comes with oversized cleats, though.
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I have no sense of style. And no real knowledge of baseball. But I know what looks ridiculous. The flat brim hat looks ridiculous.
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It’s interesting that in the late ’50s, early ’60s, the flat brim was traditional and the curved brim was radical (and messy, and out of uniform).
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The pendulum of time does swing, Brian. I had forgotten about that. Thank you for the reminder. Even then, thougjh, was the flat brim on a hat that large?
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Probably not so big and round. But I remember when the players started bending the edges down like farmers, it caused a similar stir.
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There is a man in his fifties at my work who wears his hat on backwards, along with an earring. It makes me smile, when I see the ‘big kid’ in him, Mark. I like a curved baseball hat and only wear this style to a ball game or to fish in. I like straw hats with flowers or my Mom’s jean style hats, she sticks pins or attaches ‘tacs’ to them. They have a back to them.
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Those are good hats, Robin. I always wear my curved hats frontward, except for my days when I was a catcher in baseball or softball and I needed to wear it backward to puty my mask over it.
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Curved brim on straight. Not a gang banger.
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I think the style has stretched beyond that initial association; I don’t like the look of it, micatx.
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That hat is just plain ugly.
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It is that, Benson, but its intention is just plain good.
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What is the intention?
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It’s a protective cap. He saw his teammate pitcher take a line drive to the skull and get hurt badly.
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So is it a pitcher’s hat or is required for everyone?
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It’s his individual choice because he saw the guy get beaned and became scared for himself.
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Makes sense.
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I’m a curved brim guy. However, if people are wearing larger hats that actually afford protection, then I say go for guarding against concussions. I’d rather pitchers look weird and not suffer permanent damage than go for the exact same look as everyone else.
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Protection against liners back up the middle definitely is forward-thinking, siriusbiz. I am with you here
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I always wear a curved hat. The flat brimmed ones are more of a fashion statement nowadays than they are an item that blocks the sun. I can’t stand them, especially in baseball.
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I agree that I don’t like the look of the flat hat, Paul, and I love your last three words, “especially in baseball.”
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I like tradition and change, Mark, so I’m not sure about the new look. I’m assuming that some see the flat look as more flattering. The last hat I wore was a winter hat and that was THIS MORNING, dammit.
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Yes, dammit to winter hats already, Ann. I agree. Some can be flattering, though. 🙂
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It’s a strange looking thing sitting on his head but if it protects him better then I say, why not? Hopefully they will make a protective hat that doesn’t look stupid.
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Yes, PJ, I don’t know if the protective field has gone any steps beyond this look right here. This is quite a hat.
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Good numbers, eh? I have always, always, always worn my caps with the curved brim. The protective cap is pretty radical, and it seems like a good idea. Should the whole team wear their hats the same way? Wow. That’s a good question. The flat brim on a baseball team stands out like a fish … with a flat brim out of water.
Peace, T
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Yes, the flat brim amid curves stands out, T. Someday it will be our holdout curved-brim traditionalists that stand out, I fear. Thanks for your fish tale. 🙂
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I’m a curved brim guy. I think the flat brims look stupid.
I don’t really care what kind of cap the baseball players on a team where (assuming they’re the same color with the same logo on them). But some just look silly, like with brim slightly askew to one side or like Alex Torres
I always were a hat. It’s a straw, fedora-like hat. But I wear it to protect my skin. I’ve already had two cancerous legions removed from my head and I don’t want to have to go through that any more.
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I had to wave my disapproval of Alex’s hat when I saw it was a protective device, Doobster. Could he have gotten a sleeker, curved-brim protective cap? Hmmmmmm. Yes, you are smart to wear a hat to protect you from the sun. I also have gone to the straw, fedora-like hat mostly, for shade.
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