According to the “Dressed to the Nines” uniform database this hat was used by the Padres for home & away games in 1969 & 1970. In 1971 they used it at home only. And lastly in 1972 they used it on away games and rotated it with another hat on home games. Here’s the kicker with this hat. I originally bought this hat style back around ’96 or so. I wore it like crazy and the thing eventually was trashed. I then began looking for a new one to no avail. But then about 2 years ago I found a site that started selling this hat. I wasn’t sure if the color was off in the picture or not but it sure looked like the SD was orange instead of yellow so I called to verify and was told that it is indeed yellow and the picture came out wrong. I purchased the thing and when I received it it was as orange as can be and I promptly returned it. Please tell me why MLB continues to sell this thing as a “1969-1973” hat? First of all the Padres didn’t even wear the hat in 1973. Second from ’69-’72 the hat was brown and YELLOW (see numerous examples from baseball cards through the years above). The Padres even wore brown and YELLOW hats on ’69 throwback night earlier this year. Back when they gave out ’69 throwback hats for a stadium giveaway it was brown and YELLOW. So why do the Padres (I’ve seen it in the Padre store) & MLB continue to sell this rubbish? Anyways now that the rant is over back to the hat pictured. I finally found a real brown and YELLOW hat on ebay a year or so ago in my size and swooped it up. I was a happy camper once again.
.400 in '94 
I own that orange and brown hat. Yeah, don’t laugh. I remember looking around for old retro hats and seeing that and thinking “they didn’t have orange back then” but I just assumed that maybe they got the years wrong and the had that hat in the PCL or something. I just liked the orange. When I went to the 1969 retro game I felt stupid wearing it around when it was so clearly wrong. I still like it though and will continue to wear it until I decide not to.
HAHA I thought the same thing….”perhaps they meant PCL Padres??” But now that it’s been on sale as the 1969 hat for a few years now that idea went out the window. I guess MLB just doesn’t really pay attention to detail when it comes to the Padres.
If anyone knows where to purchase a hat like the one pictured, please post. As mentioned, the only ones that are being sold right now are the brown/orange hats. I would like to get a brown/yellow. Thanks
Hey Mike what I did was save my search on ebay that way anytime a new hat was posted I would get notified via e-mail. It was a tough find that’s for sure. Good luck!
As of Opening Day 2010 they are selling the 1969 hats in the right color again. The one pictured in this thread is actually not 100% correct either. The “S” on the 1969 hat should not have that little jot on the top end of it and the spacing of the letters isn’t quite right. I used to have one just like it and loved it none the less. Here’s a photo of a 1969 hat: http://www.thatsmyboy03.com/images/sdpdavis.jpg
Amen brother. I am so sick of people trying to push the oranged SD as the 1969 hat when it wasn’t usend until 1985!
Matt’s right about that ’69 Padres hat shown in this thread. It’s just not quite right and doesn’t look as good as the official hat. It’s like they deliberately try to get it wrong because of some contract or rules. A great many Padres caps listed on the net as “replica’s” are completely inaccurate, especially the ones with the so-called “Taco Bell” design. And Padres caps are not the only ones that are remade inaccurately.