Team by Team: Washington Nationals

In 2005, the Washington Nationals became the first MLB team to relocate and change their logo, team name, and color scheme.  While I'm a history nerd and in particular a fan of worlds fairs, the Montreal Expos logo and uniforms were kind of a mess.  Naming a team name after a long completed World's Fair was probably doomed to fail from the start and with Washington's long history of baseball, the change made perfect sense.  

Washington's colors are (appropriately enough) red, white and blue.  As a sports fan, I think their caps and jerseys are rather attractive.  My personal favorites are the road blue cap and the throwback 1952-1960 cap, which feature a similar color scheme.  

A friend of mine has critiqued the primary, "curly W" logo of the Washington Nationals as looking exactly like the Walgreens logo.  After challenging him, I took another look at theWalgreens logo and was forced to concede . . . but I still think the blue caps are solid.  Well Dressed Sports Girl thinks the solid W in the throwback logos looks a bit too much like a George W. Bush ad campaign.  

Around the city of Washington D.C. - the solid red home hat is popular. If I lived in Washington, I'd consider picking one of these up to wear to games, but I don't think the home hat is something I'd wear anywhere else.  The Nats have also featured a solid green hat as part of an effort to advertise a new cable channel, which makes me want to puke a little.  

The solid red "DC" alternate caps are also popular around the city, as are the blacked out versions of these caps.  I'd rate these as their third best hats as I find the gold to be a bit excessive, but these hats are certainly an improvement over the green fiascos.  

The MLB Washington Nationals online store also features some incredible Senators jerseys, which can set you back a few bucks.  On the other hand, they also make you look like a hardcore fan. 

Finally, I'd submit that this sweatshirt is a nice option for night games.  D.C. is a shirt and tie sort of city and a sweet hoodie can tone down your outfit after a few beers on a September evening.  It is pretty damn hot in DC during the summer, so my guess is that you would only need a hoodie like this early and late in the season to wear to the ballpark, or in the offseason when you visit your parents in Wyoming.  

If you're a fan of the President's races (and how can you not be?) check out the fantastic Let Teddy Win! shirts. 

Final take: The Nationals are basking in the joy of a new stadium.  The bars in the outfield have become a great place to meet other young baseball fans from the Washington D.C. area. Grab an 5950 road cap, break it in for a week or two, find the right sunglasses, then head to the game and make some new friends.  

Breaking in a New 5950 Hat

*This is our most popular post.  We welcome the visitors interested in getting their New Era caps to fit perfectly!  For more tips on what to wear as a sports fan, click here.* 

We've recently added a second part to this post here. Once you're done with this post we will direct you to that page for more suggestions.  

In 2007, New Era Cap announced that it was modifying its official on the field 5950 baseball hat.  Spike Lee even directed a commercial where superstar players were waiting in line to get one.  The new caps marked several changes.  Most prominent perhaps, the new caps featured a black, glare reducing underbill, something the company had experimented with as far back as the late 1990s with their Spring Training hats.  Older hats featured a gray underbill.  

Aside from a few small visual changes (the MLB logo in the back is now much more prominent) the caps also had a few changes that would impact how sports fans would break in their new hat.  The new caps are shrink resistant, which, while sounding like a good thing at first, also means that the hats are harder to shrink down to the form of your head.  The goal is to look more like this.

Breaking in the New Era 5950 has been a topic of discussion for baseball fans for some time. Guys like me had worked it down to a science and the changes in the caps forced me to rethink my approach.  

If it sounds like I'm taking this seriously its because I am.   Breaking in a hat properly can be the difference between looking like a fan that knows what they are doing and looking like a total dork.  

Back in the day (that is, before 2007), official caps were made mostly of wool.  The key to breaking in a wool cap was warm water.  Some people swore by wearing them in the shower, others boiled water and poured it onto the dome of the cap before letting it cool and placing it on their head.  Others preferred to just sweat in the cap, letting it form naturally to their head. The key was to avoid getting water on the bill of the cap or anywhere near the logo, making the colors bleed.

If the bill of the hat is, in fact, grey underneath you can shrink the dome of the cap by bringing water to a boil - letting it cool down a bit - then slowly pouring the water around the area of the hat you'd like to have shrink, avoiding the logo on the front.  Then wait a minute or two for the hat to cool and put it on your head, holding your hands over the dome.  The hat will shrink to your head, but you'll smell like a wet sheep.  

Experts also went so far as to perform cap surgery on the old caps.  By cutting out the mesh at the front of the cap, the hat would lay closer to your dome, thus avoiding the Lou Pinella look.  But this approach came with a danger, if you pierced the material of the cap (which is an easy thing to do) it resulted in complete disaster.  Ok, maybe not complete disaster, but it was annoying to have holes in your new cap.  Once the mesh was taken out, you could yank out the plastic needles that held the shape of the cap thus encouraging it to rest closer to your head. The end result is that the cap had the cool 'official' look but it laid down on your head more like the Twins Enterprises Franchise hats.  

Since 2007, the caps are polyester, instead of wool, and are thus harder to shrink or form to your head.  Polyester won't shrink with the warm water treatment like cotton or wool.  The upshot of this minor frustration is the fact that the new caps are much more breathable and they still can be worked into the shape of your head.  

So you now have several options.  You can either choose to look like Dontrelle Willis, cut out the mesh of the cap (again, I don't recommend this), or sweat in the cap naturally and slightly curve the bill of the cap.  This doesn't shrink the polyester, but forms the plastic inside the mesh of the cap on the opposite side of the logo.  Obviously, a lot of people recently have gone with the flat bill look, but I think doing this makes me look like one of the Mario Brothers.  It might work for LaBron James - but odds are you're not as cool as LaBron.  

The best way to break in the new caps are heat and human sweat.  Take the hat to the beach, wear it while jogging, or wear it to the game.  Choosing a good pair of sunglasses to match the hat can help you look like less of a geek while working on breaking in the cap naturally.  When you start to sweat and the cap gets warm, press down on the dome to shape it to your head. This approach takes time, but it gives you the most natural looking broken in feel.  

Sweating in a cap will naturally loosen it enough to let it sit on your dome properly.  Hence why pro baseball players look better in these caps than most bleacher bums.  The new caps are more stain resistant than the old caps, but you can wash off the salty sweat stains with warm water if they start to appear.

Final take: If you're a hardcore baseball fan, there is no better way to show your loyalty to a particular team than the New Era 5950.  Pick one up and sweat in it to break it in.  Think about picking up a Perfect Curve from Lids to shape the bill of the cap to your liking.   At first, I was unsure about the changes to the 5950, but now I've decided the extra work breaking in the cap is worth the cooler feel on top of my head on a hot summer day.  

Alternatively, you can look for a 5950 "low crown" edition.  Admittedly, I find that these are getting harder and harder to find as New Era only makes them for a few select teams.

If you're more of a casual fan, go with the already broken in "crushed" hats discussed in depth here.  

For more tips on how to break in a 5950, check out part two of this post here. 

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Choose the Right Sunglasses for the Game

It is a beautiful sunny day outside, not a cloud in the sky, and you're heading off to the ballpark.  You grab your favorite hat and extra sunscreen, but something is missing.  The perfect pair of shades can top off your sun protection at the ballpark. If worn properly, they can also make you look cool.

While I've heard some criticism of ballplayers wearing their sunglasses on top of the bill of their caps, this trick is super convenient for holding your sunglasses when you step inside, a cloud passes over, or for when you've become locked in deep concentration with someone over the infield fly rule.  

Pro-golfers have been doing this for years and making it look pretty darn good along the way.

The sunglasses company Oakley, long a favorite with athletes and sports fans, has decided to try to cash in on this trend by issuing a new line of shades featuring the colors of your favorite team.  While I love the idea of team colored sunglasses, in practice, they sometimes look a bit over the top.  So far, Oakley has produced 11 versions of MLB shades.  Blue and white Dodger shades, great.  Orange and blue Mets shades, notsomuch.

If you're a hardcore baseball fan and like a team with more subtle colors, the new line of Oakley MLB Flak Jacket sunglasses might be right for you.  Otherwise, stick to something you can wear every day without looking like a total geek.

If you're opting for the on the field official caps that the MLB players wear go for more athletic looking sunglasses to match.  If you've gone for a crushed or broken in hat (see our entry on these hats here) go for a more casual looking set of shades to match.  

Enjoying the sunshine!  

All-Star Game Edition

Baseball season is half way through and we've arrived at the Midsummer Classic.  All-Star Week means a few new options for the Well Dressed Sports Fan, but not much to go crazy about.  All-Star Week, which includes a Futures Game, Home Run Derby, and the matchup of the American League against the National League.

The logos and designs of All Star game are based on the host team's uniforms.  This year, the host team is the New York Yankees, so the uniforms, hats, and shirts are navy blue and white.  In 2007, the All Star game was played in San Francisco, utilizing the orange and black color scheme of the San Francisco Giants.  

This year's logo incorporates the famed white frieze of Yankee Stadium.  The words "American" and "National" adorn the front of the jerseys as they have for years.  

While the logo looks sleek this year, I find the Yankee colors to be pretty plain.  Grey jersey's, typically worn by baseball teams on the road, look a bit sharper with bright accents in the numbers and/letters.  With the plain blue and white adorning this year's jersey, it doesn't really grab your attention.  

Well Dressed Girlfriend's Take: In theory, I like plain colors for jerseys.  In practice, at least with this example, I have to agree that the jersey is simply dull.  It reminds me of a fake jersey purchased in the children's section of a department store.  If that's the look you're going for, though, great.  It would also be alright to own (and wear) this jersey if going to the All-Star game was somehow incredibly special to you.  As for the hat, it's nearly impossible to read and two-tone to boot.  Wear a traditional NYY cap instead for extra style, and show the fair weather fans you've been there since the 80s.

Final take: If you're a Yankee fan, grab a commemorative hat or shirt.  Despite the fact that this will be the last All Star Week in Yankee stadium, I can't see myself wearing one of these jerseys over and over again for years to come.  

If you're a Yankee fan and love Derek Jeter, it might be worth picking one of these jerseys up. These jerseys will help you stand out from the crowds and crowds of Yankee fans adorned in pinstripes.    

Throwback or Throw It Back?

Not all jerseys are created equal. If you're a casual sports fan, you might be tempted to think they all look same, but believe me, they do not.

Swing by one of my favorite blogs, Uniwatch to learn a bit about the history of all types of sports uniforms. The main author of Uniwatch, Paul Lukas, also writes columns for ESPN.com's Page 2. Check out, for example his column on the history of Chicago Cubs uniforms.

Uniwatch points to some of the more unfortunate occurrences in Cubs uniform history. Sporting a throwback uniform to a game or the pub can really show off your dedication to your team, but I wouldn't recommend running out and snagging a jersey like the one pictured in the last link.

Some jerseys from the 1970s and 1980s were unfortunate then and they still look awful now. Others, can look very cool and stylish.

Throwbacks are typically more expensive than regular authentic jerseys, but they come with special advantages. First, they show off your ardent dedication to your favorite team. Fairweather fans, or bandwagon fans rarely own throwback jerseys. So you're jersey will set you apart from other fans at the game.

The second advantage of throwback jerseys is the fact that the players featured on the back of the jersey are nearly always retired, meaning that they will never be traded to another team, making some jerseys look out of touch.

And a tip: if you decide to drop your hard earned money on a throwback, make sure you know a thing or two about the player on the back. You might have an old timer strike up a conversation with you about Tony Oliva or Johnny Bench. I'm not saying you have to memorize statistics, just learn a little bit about who the dude was, when he played, and if he or she made the Hall of Fame of their respective sport.

Also, avoid buying a throwback two or three sizes too large. Buy the same size you normally would.

There are a couple of sources for throwback uniforms. The official sites of Major League Baseball and the National Football League feature various kinds of throwbacks. Mitchell and Ness, bills itself as a "nostalgia company," whatever that means. While a bit pricey, Mitchell and Ness jerseys are of extremely high quality.

Ebbets Field Flannels provides some amazing (and hard to find) throwbacks. These are a bit pricier than even the Mitchell and Ness jerseys, but can be pretty amazing. A Willie Mays 1951 Minneapolis Millers will really impress your hardcore San Francisco Giants fans, but it will set you back $175.

A throwback jersey can really set you apart from the crowd. Don't invest in one if your only a casual fan. Grab a throwback t-shirt from a site like Distant Replays instead. But if you're a hardcore sports fan and want to show of your undying love for your team, grab a unique flannel and your friends as well as other fans at the park, will be impressed.

Bonus tip: on a cold evening, you can slide a hoodie underneath the jersey, just make sure it matches the colors of the uniform itself.

Rule Number 1: "Crushed" Hats and the Well Dressed Sports Fan

A few days ago, the Well Dressed Girlfriend and I were sitting at an evening baseball game.  We sat watching the local squad under the lights, sipping on a couple of brews and chatting.  We noticed that a large number of the fans in our section looked like total geeks.  Oversized t-shirts, jerseys for teams that weren't even playing or for players long since traded to other squads, and various shades of hideous pink logos.

On the other hand, we also saw a fair number of sports fans who looked pretty good.  A nice looking jersey, cool hat, and matching jeans made single guys look attractive.  If a cute girl wears the right hat, she can look extremely sexy.  Certain ballparks have become the "hot" place in town to meet people.  Some parks even feature "Singles Nights".

Don't get me wrong, we aren't fashion or design professionals.  I'm just a huge sports fan that often  says, "Hey, how does this look?" before walking out the door for the day.   The Well Dressed Girlfriend seems to appreciate this and since it encourages her to keep dating me, which is always a plus.

Plan on meeting a girl or guy at the stadium?  Only go to ballgames once a year and always wonder what the heck you should wear?  Are you a hardcore spots fan that wants to show off your loyalty to your team?  This is a good blog to bookmark. 

Let's get started by talking about hats, aka "caps".

One of the first things I notice about sports fans are their hats.  I collect hats like crazy, so I can be a little particular about how they look on people.  A poorly fitting hat can make you look like a 70 year old skipper.  This works when you have Hall of Fame credentials, but not when you're trying to pick up chicks at the stadium.   A poorly fitting hat on a hot girl just looks like a missed opportunity. 

Let's say you are a casual sports fan.  You go to a couple of games a year and want to avoid looking like a total geek when you're at the ballpark.  Invest in a Twins Enterprises "The Franchise" hat.  A few years ago, people would have called these hats, "crushed" or "broken in". These hats are good for new sports fans for a couple of reasons.  First, they come in only a few sizes.  Small, medium, large, xl, etc.  The caps that baseball players wear on the field come on sizes based on the exact size of your head and are harder to break in (which is the subject for another post).  A "fitted" Twins enterprise hat ("fitted" meaning they don't have an adjustable strap on the back) already looks broken in and fits closer to the dome of your head than the official caps.  In this shot, the guy on the left gets the fit right and the guy on the right rocks the hat with a nice casual sweater.

Rock this cap with a solid color polo shirt and some jeans or khakis and you will look like a well dressed, but casual fan.  If you're going for the more hardcore look, match the hat with a jersey (we will get into matching hats to jerseys later on).  

If you're buying this as a gift for someone, go ahead and grab an adjustable version of the cap.  You can't tell the difference from the front and both look just fine.  Girls tend to like to versatility of adjustable hats, since they can wear ponytails through the opening in the back.

Well Dressed Girlfriend's take: All crushed hats remind me of that Boston Red Sox fan who is comfortable with spending a little time on Saturday night picking out the right Oxford, but likes to watch ESPN and drink a beer on Sundays.  Wearing the crushed hat, of course.  Note: this hat is versatile and not overbearing, but you lose all style points if it's not impeccably clean.  You're not 12 anymore, even if you still love that hat as much as you did then.

Keep in mind these hats fade in the sun.  This can look really great if you keep it clean and clear of sweat stains.  Hand washing the hat with warm water now and again should keep it smelling clean and free of stains.  Avoid throwing hats in either the dish or clothes washer.   

Think about picking up a crushed hat before heading to the ballpark, but be sure to try on their sizes in a store to make sure it fits properly on your dome.  Match it with a solid t-shirt, polo, or oxford, to achieve the preppy look, but don't over do it.  A long sleeve tee, crew sweatshirt or oxford will look more like Nich Lachey than a 70 year old manager.  While we encourage you keep it simple (and to keep your hat clean!) the crushed hat can help you ease in the world of the sports fan.

Click here for a few more tips regarding crushed hats.