Leather hat bands in MLB?

[fleaster]

Question for fellow ballcap afficionados...

Lately I have been adding to my cooperstown cap collection, including a couple of old Roman throwback caps from ebay and a new cap from ballcaps.com.

Some of the old Roman caps and most of the ones shown on Ballcaps.com have leather bands instead of the cotton bands worn today. Ballcaps.com asserts that this is how vintage caps were actually made. Does anyone here know when, if ever, this was true?

Just my two cents...It seems like a natural, if expensive idea. Nothing worse then the clamminess of putting on a sweat drenched cap on a hot day. If these leather bands were actually worn in MLB, can anyone explain why/when this practice was stopped? Thanks!

[SiddFinch]

Leather sweatbands were definitely used until at least the early 1960's. I can't offer any more info or explanation.

If I may ask, what did you get from ballcap.com and how was the quaiity? I am leery of plunking down $44+, since I have read that their quality and service is all over the place. They sent me a pic of a sample Brooklyn cap and the logo looked like a child sewed it on. I am trying to replace a really nice early 90's American Needle 1938 Brooklyn Dodgers fitted low profile unstructured crown cap which sadly got ruined.

[fleaster]

I'm rather impressed with it. It's a 1961 Angels (with the halo). The fit is nice, the leather band is comfortable and the service is very accomodating. I'd previously purchased a 1976 Phillies pillbox from them, and am happy with that one as well, although both were on internet special.

I think the main difference is that the logos are directly embroidered onto the material, but are not "raised" like today's 5950's (or some American Needles) are. It's a good rendidition of the logo, but looks kind of flat by today's standards. However, as today's standards weren't in use in 1961, I guess that's logical.

Good luck!

[fleaster]

By the way, Finch, MLBshop.com has the American Needle 1938 version for 24.99.

[BallWonk]

If I may ask, what did you get from ballcap.com and how was the quaiity?  I am leery of plunking down $44+, since I have read that their quality and service is all over the place.  They sent me a pic of a sample Brooklyn cap and the logo looked like a child sewed it on.  I am trying to replace a really nice early 90's American Needle 1938 Brooklyn Dodgers fitted low profile unstructured crown cap which sadly got ruined.

I've had very mixed results from ballcap.com (Cooperstown Ballcap Co.). I bought a Cooperstown-made Philadelphia A's cap from Ebbets Field about a decade ago, back when Ebbets was selling some Cooperstown ballcaps. It was excellent. Just perfect.

I bought a couple more caps from Cooperstown over the years, and none was as good as the first. The embroidery was generally substandard -- off-center, tilted to one side, different colors not lining up propersly, or combinations of the three -- and the workmanship on the caps were unexceptional. And the sweat band never had that white strip at the bottom that vintage caps I've seen have and that works to keep the bottom of the crown in shape. Really looks and feels rinky-dink.

Not knowing of any alternate sources, I had Cooperstown make a custom cap for my fantasy baseball team in 2003, and I was sorely disappointed with the work. It was a three-layer felt logo. The various layers were not properly cut, and each was sewn on akimbo from the layer below it. I could probably have done better sewing it myself, it was that bad. Haven't ordered anything from the company since. I ordered a custom-embroidered cap on Lids.com last winter and was very pleased with the result and the fidelity to my logo artwork.

So all in all I'd call Cooperstown "adequate" in terms of workmanship. Say, two stars out of five. If you really need a certain obscure cap, and Cooperstown is the only place that makes it, it's probably worth ordering from them. But if you can find another source for a cap, you should probably order from that source. (Though my assessment on that score might change, now that I've received a new Ebbets cap that compares quite poorly with what that company used to offer.)

[Gothamite]

I would tend to agree.

I love the variety they offer, and the fact that you can customize them, but the quality control is very, very uneven.

Every cap I've ever bought from them (more than a half-dozen), I've had to trim down the leather sweatband where it peeks out from under the cap.

And some of the logos they use are flat-out wrong. But what are you going to do?

[SiddFinch]

By the way, Finch, MLBshop.com has the American Needle 1938 version for 24.99.

Fleaster, Yes, I bought one from an eBay store and it simply was not as nice as the old one - structured crown, logo stitched on poorly and crooked, crown made of very stiff canvas-like material. I was very disappointed, hence my interest in Ballcap.com.

I bought a couple more caps from Cooperstown over the years, and none was as good as the first. The embroidery was generally substandard -- off-center, tilted to one side, different colors not lining up propersly, or combinations of the three -- and the workmanship on the caps were unexceptional.

BallWonk, this is exactly the type of account I was alluding to, thank you.

[sj32]

I have some of the New Era and Roman caps (original, not throwback) with leather sweatbands and some teams used them until the mid 80's. Among those that I have with leather sweatbands are the San Diego Padres with the gold triangle and orange trim on front (final season - 1984) and the Chicago White Sox red/white/blue homes and red/blue roads with the horizontal SOX script (final season - 1986). The Dodgers also kept leather sweatbands longer than most teams.

[Mike Felder]

I have that 1961 Angels hat with the halo, as well as an old Milwaukee Braves hat...they both have leather bands. Sadly, neither hat fits me anymore. They seem to shrink a bit more than the average hat.

[TurnTwo]

Yes, leather bands were used. My grandfather's hat collection from his playing days all have the leather band.

[ZoDogg34]

I had some of those old Roman Pro throwback caps and the leather band shrank so bad when it got sweaty.

[RickV]

I have a retro Seattle Pilots cap from Cooperstown Ballcap, and it sucks. Logo all wrong and poorly sewn. After purchasing this cap from them, I never ordered another. Stick with 5950, American Needle, or Roman Pro if you can find them.

[SiddFinch]

I have a retro Seattle Pilots cap from Cooperstown Ballcap, and it sucks. Logo all wrong and poorly sewn. After purchasing this cap from them, I never ordered another. 

Well, I found a 35 Yankees on special which is my first purchase from them. I've heard their simpler logo, unstructured pre 50's hats tend to be more consistent quality, so we'll see.

[Gothamite]

You heard wrong, I'm afraid. I've only ever bought simple logo, unstructured caps from them. Some have been okay, some have been awful.

But roll the dice - you might come up a winner.

[SiddFinch]

I do expect a roll of the dice when buying something handmade on the old equipment - The hats the players wore on the field pre 1960's were all very inconsistent. So I can't bash CBC too much in that regard, except on price. This hat, however, is a different story - logo colors wrong, sewed on uneven, skewed from center. And this is the display photo from one of their dealers! Definitely a hat better left to modern machinery.