Padres Floppy Hat (SGA 6/21/03)

Now I’m not a huge fan of floppy hats. Unless your a fisherman, albino or old man you probably shouldn’t be wearing them too. But I have to admit this one does look pretty cool. Now you’ve heard me rant and rave about how great the 2003 season was for stadium giveaways before but guess what, it ain’t over yet. This item was given away during the fabled (for giveaways….not the team) 2003 season. It is the wonderful brown and yellow that everyone loves and you can even reverse it and wear the Friar side if you want. It was given away on June 21st, 2003 against the Seattle Mariners. The game was a pitchers duel between Adam Eaton & Joel Pineiro in which not single run was scored from the bottom of the 2nd to the end of the game. Of the 6 overall runs scored in the game only 2 were scored off of hits (2 walks, 1 WP & 1 SF). The Padres lost yet again 4-2.

1991-2003 Padres Hat

So I noticed on my stats page that I go from about 50+ viewers a day M-F to around 10 for the whole weekend. So for the small handful of people that will see this today I’m going to amaze you with this item. A hat. Blows your mind doesn’t it? I figured in keeping with the ’90’s flashback theme I’d complete the uni by showing the hat that they wore from 1991-2003.

1969-1972 Padres Hat

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.

Triple A Home Run Derby/All-Star Game in Portland (7/13/09 & 7/15/09)

Once again if you want the 411 on the actual game head on over to my other site SDPads1 where I will be posting it all tomorrow. So I’ll have to admit that I kind of went a little Beaver crazy (ummm what?) in Portland. Not only did I get the standard programs & tickets but I also got an All-Star game hat (FOR FREE!!!) as well. Then I  went full force and got both the Beavers home & away hats as well as the red & black model that they used from 2001-2007. Then as I was waiting in line I said “Hey there’s a jersey…what the heck!” and got the home jersey as well. The Home Run Derby took place on July 13th, 2009 with the Beavers own Chad Huffman taking home the crown & the All-Star game took place on July 15th, 2009 as the Pacific Coast League lost to the International League 6-5. Both took place in Portland’s beautiful PGE Park.

Single A All-Star Game in Lake Elsinore (6/23/09)

So if you want the lowdown on the actual game you can mosey on over to my other site SDPads1 and see some pictures and feedback from this game. Here I have the program (that was handed out free when you first walked in), my ticket (which was a hard plastic ticket hooked to a lanyard) & a Lake Elsinore Storm road hat that I bought while I was there. The Storm logo is consistently ranked as one of the best in all the minor leagues year after year and I figured I might as well finally expand my Padres collection to include some minor league Padres stuff. The game took place on June 23rd, 2009 at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore which is an awesome ballpark that every Padre fan should visit at least once. The California League defeated the Carolina League in 10 innings 2-1.