Anyone else think the 07 MLB 5950s sit too high on your head?

[SabreGuy]

Well, as someone who has recently removed the crown from both a 2006 and 2007 59fifty, I can say that they're both partly right.

Removing the crown does change the shape. It does not, however, change the amount of fabric, which is stiff enough to hold most of the old shape.

The new polyester does change its shape somewhat with wearing, though. We'll see what my new 2007 Brewers alt without the crown looks like in a month or two.

You know, Gothamite, I somehow didn't have you pegged as a hat doctorer. Don't know why, but this surprised me.

I'm glad I found this thread, where people said variously that 1) they don't look as bad as you think they do when you look in the mirror, and 2) that they relax a bit after extended wearing.

Against my better judgment, I bought my first 2007 model today on lunch. (Aside from the fact that it's against my wife's better judgment, as we're going to have to pretend to her that it's not new, because I'm on a hat buying moratorium.) I tried it on in the store, but it was pretty impossible to get a good gauge of what it was going to look like, because you can't bend the bill until you buy them. So, having seen them on a few other people, I thought "hey, that's not so bad, maybe a LITTLE bit of a crown isn't a bad thing." But now I'm wearing it, and I feel like a joker. I feel like the thing sticks up about a mile and a half, and nothing I do makes it look OK. I just hope the "corners" of the stiff crown relax a bit, because I think it's that straight line across the top that looks the worst. Just a tiny bit of a curve there would be a vast improvement, I think.

As for sizing, it actually was the easiest I've ever sized a 5950. The first one I tried on fit. Tried on a few more, but the first one I tried on fit best, and I was shocked by that. Also I noticed that I'm back down to a 7 1/2, which I was 10 years ago, as opposed to the 7 5/8 I've been wearing for most of the last 10 years. Though that could be accounted for by the fact that I didn't have to worry about "shrinkage."

[Gothamite]

You know, Gothamite, I somehow didn't have you pegged as a hat doctorer. Don't know why, but this surprised me.

Funny - I just started a couple months ago. Never did it before then, but have removed the crown from four caps since then.

Against my better judgment, I bought my first 2007 model today on lunch. (Aside from the fact that it's against my wife's better judgment, as we're going to have to pretend to her that it's not new, because I'm on a hat buying moratorium.)

Funny - my wife and I have a "one in, one out" rule.

As for sizing, it actually was the easiest I've ever sized a 5950. The first one I tried on fit. Tried on a few more, but the first one I tried on fit best, and I was shocked by that. Also I noticed that I'm back down to a 7 1/2, which I was 10 years ago, as opposed to the 7 5/8 I've been wearing for most of the last 10 years. Though that could be accounted for by the fact that I didn't have to worry about "shrinkage."

I too have noticed a marked improvement in the quality of New Era's official caps. They're still not at a Twins Enterprise level, but they're much better than they used to be.

[SabreGuy]

Funny - I just started a couple months ago. Never did it before then, but have removed the crown from four caps since then.

Well, I'm giving this one... let's say 2 months. If I don't notice an improvement, I'm going to come back to this thread and follow the link to the instructions you're using, and do a little doctoring of my own.

Funny - my wife and I have a "one in, one out" rule.

We have a "we're having a baby, so stop wasting money on hats, because you already have several hundred perfectly good hats" rule.

[Gothamite]

Funny - my wife and I have a "one in, one out" rule.

We have a "we're having a baby, so stop wasting money on hats, because you already have several hundred perfectly good hats" rule.

Mine runs along that line, with the added complication of two-adults-and-a-baby-in-a-one-bedroom-apartment-with-shrinking-closet-space....

[BallWonk]

Well, as someone who has recently removed the crown from both a 2006 and 2007 59fifty, I can say that they're both partly right.

Removing the crown does change the shape. It does not, however, change the amount of fabric, which is stiff enough to hold most of the old shape.

The new polyester does change its shape somewhat with wearing, though. We'll see what my new 2007 Brewers alt without the crown looks like in a month or two.

Reading this inspired me to try the same with some 5950s of my own. My results so far:

1. It's a lot easier than I expected. Takes a lot of patience, though. About half an hour per cap of pulling individual black fibers out of the cap one by one, followed by two minutes of mad scissoring to remove the remaining off-white backing.

2. It immediately improves the look and comfort of my caps. Suddenly, a brand-new 5950 feels almost like an Ebbets Field Flannels vintage reproduction.

3. The somewhat thinner synthetic fabric of 2007 5950s seems to take the the change even better than the thicker flannel of older 5950s. The older caps retain their shape more without the backing, while the synthetic caps immediately start molding themselves to my head. Which seemed odd at first, sine I have found that the new synthetic caps ride higher on my head than the old wool caps.

4. I use the back of an X-Acto blade to lift the stiff black fibers out, starting above and below the air hole, since the shorter fibers there are easier to pull out first. Once a few of the stiff fibers are removed, the rest come easily -- simply a matter of being easier to get the blade point under when there's no fiber right next to the one you're trying to pull up. Then the off-white threads pull away from the cap easily, and I can cut them away with scissors.

5. I think I'm going to do this with all my New Era caps from now on.

[Gothamite]

That was my reaction. I never did it before because it seemed like too much work, and I was afraid of ruining my caps.

But since I've started, I love the results so much I'm starting to work through my entire collection.

[Proc]

I picked up a Brewer's alternate 5950 (new style) last week. I thought the same thing "Man, does this hat sit high on my head. Is this crown higher than the old style?" It really does seem to sit too high. Last year I wore the Tigers home BP/3930 cap all year which of course lays low, so this quite high in comparison and maybe is skewing my reasoning for thinking its sits too high.

Nope. Just went back and looked in the mirror. It does sit high.

I bought a 7 3/8. The old style, wool caps, it was always a 7 1/2. Size does seem to be different from the old model to the new.

The day I picked up the Brewer's alt (loved the ball in glove logo), I found an old box of caps in my garage rafters and found some of my old caps.

Here's what I found:

--1982 Brewers Road (w/yellow front panel and mesh back). Purchased in 1982.

--Tigers road cap from the early-mid 70s with the raised orange "D" outlined in white. This cap has to be nearly 30 years old.

--Oakland A's yellow batting helmet with the green brim. When we were kids, everybody bought the plastic batting helmets. We had to "have" them when playing whiffle ball ya know. ;-)

--San Diego cap. All brown with the orange "SD". Must've got this in the mid/late 80s.

--Pirates cap. Mustard yellow with the black brim. I loved this cap. Early 70's before the box caps. Can't believe I still had it.

[dahatman]

Funny - my wife and I have a "one in, one out" rule.

We have a "we're having a baby, so stop wasting money on hats, because you already have several hundred perfectly good hats" rule.

My wife and I came to the agreement that I can buy any of the remaining 5950 that I did not have and that would be it but with the stipulation that I can buy one when I visit a stadium. Luckily, I found a retailer by me that started selling them 2/$25. So, I am currently stuck on 199.

[SabreGuy]

Wow, ok, so now that Gothamite AND BallWonk have recommended it, I'm going to SERIOUSLY give consideration to pulling out the backing of my new Indians road cap. (as a side note, my least favorite of the 3 Indians caps, but it is for some reason the only one that seems to be available around here, barring a trip to the New Era store downtown which is more than a little inconvenient for me. I really find that frustrating.) If I somehow ruin it, though, I'm going to have a REAL hard time explaining the need to buy a SECOND one at $32 a pop! That's... lots of potential diapers for the future Mini-SabreGuy.

Proc, I love reading what gems people have stashed away in boxes. Someday (yeah, I'm SURE I'll have time for this now with a baby on the way, right?) I need to go through my hat collection and take an inventory of some of the more interesting ones. It's a shame that some of my oldest ones took a little mold damage a few years back. It's a shame to see what has happened to the New Era Oakland A's hat that was my first little league cap, back when New Era was still making most of their money selling caps to little leagues and high schools in the Buffalo area.

[tohasbo]

Size EIGHT? I didn't know Kevin Mench and Barry Bonds posted here.

Yeah, size 8 is the over-sized ones the hip-hop and rappers wear. Can that be said anymore after the Imus firing though?

i wear 7 7/8, with a shaved head... and i'm a white dude...

i just have a big old scottish noggin.

Same here. I wear a friggin' 8.

[BallWonk]

i wear 7 7/8, with a shaved head... and i'm a white dude...

i just have a big old scottish noggin.

Same here. I wear a friggin' 8.

That's what makes me wonder why so many guys leave the size sticker on their caps. I mostly see like 7-1/8 or 7-1/4, almost never 7-1/2 or larger. It's like, dude, if prominent parts of your anatomy are of average size or smaller, maybe that's not something to advertise quite so loudly, or at least not with a giant number that the ladies can compare at a distance, rarely to your advantage.

[Discrim]

finally found an 8 that fit alright....i aint buy it cus I'm a little low on cash, but they fit like the old ones, not too high IMO (as long as they fit)

[cappital92]

Here's what I found:

--1982 Brewers Road (w/yellow front panel and mesh back). Purchased in 1982.

--Tigers road cap from the early-mid 70s with the raised orange "D" outlined in white. This cap has to be nearly 30 years old.

--Oakland A's yellow batting helmet with the green brim. When we were kids, everybody bought the plastic batting helmets. We had to "have" them when playing whiffle ball ya know. ;-)

--San Diego cap. All brown with the orange "SD". Must've got this in the mid/late 80s.

--Pirates cap. Mustard yellow with the black brim. I loved this cap. Early 70's before the box caps. Can't believe I still had it.

You wanna sell any of them?

[boardname]

I went back and forth on this for a while, but due to my continued unhappiness with the way I percieve I look (which is really more important than how you actually look) and due to the glowing reviews of those who've tried it, I'll be doing some work on my hat this weekend. I'll try to take before and after pictures.

[Don]

ive had my 2 Nats caps for awhile now and i can tell a noticeable difference in the fit from when i first got them. its definetly an improvement and i dont regret my purchase.

[Sabrejeff]

I now do all my hat shopping at the NewEra SuperStore downtown. They custom fit any hit for you, for free. Not to mention the incredible selection of every hat they make.

I guess it pays to live in the hometown of NewEra Cap.

[harperdc]

inspired by this thread, I just ripped out the backing of my three-year-old Mariner home 5950 - which I've always liked except for the high crown and the too-straight brim. Well, this solves both problems.

I just need to get the rest of the glue out of it...because it's older *and* because I played a softball game out in the rain in it today I don't think I'll need to soak and dry it to fit it to my dome, just need to wear it in and continue scraping glue out. Thanks, CCSLC, you've improved my hat-wearing experience.

p.s. it's 7 5/8, but that's with a freshly buzzed head. if I have any hair it gets a bit tight.

[boardname]

Well, I did it, using these directions: http://bugsandcranks.com/the-clubhouse/a-b...9fifty-surgery/

For the most part; I found that it wasn't neccessary to pull out all of the black threads first, then the white, because it was pretty easy to cut out big squares of both of them at once and then just pull out the remnants.

And it works pretty well. It's still not perfect, but definitely wayyy better than it was before.

[SabreGuy]

I now do all my hat shopping at the NewEra SuperStore downtown. They custom fit any hit for you, for free. Not to mention the incredible selection of every hat they make.

I guess it pays to live in the hometown of NewEra Cap.

HA, I think I'm going to ask my wife to take me there next week, and as her anniversary gift to me maybe she'll lift my hat buying moratorium.

[bterreson]

Well, I did it, using these directions: http://bugsandcranks.com/the-clubhouse/a-b...9fifty-surgery/

For the most part; I found that it wasn't neccessary to pull out all of the black threads first, then the white, because it was pretty easy to cut out big squares of both of them at once and then just pull out the remnants.

And it works pretty well. It's still not perfect, but definitely wayyy better than it was before.

I've used this method from this site as well. I reccommed it and it worked great!