Grading the World Baseball Classic Caps: PART I

Not every team has the talent to win, or even qualify, for the World Baseball Classic. But every team, made up of the best and brightest that the country has to offer, should at least look good. Sadly, this is not always the case.

With the qualifiers starting up this Wednesday, September 19th, I thought it would be fun to walk through the caps that will be adorning the players heads and judging them on strength of style and quality. A word of caution: I am not, and have never been accused of being, a designer. So there will be plenty of “the thingie doesn’t flange enough for my tastes.”

One final note before we go knocking on fashion’s door: All of the logos appear to be way too large like the New Marlins caps. Hopefully that’s just the images and not a horrible new style directive.

Here are the first half of the caps, the rest come tomorrow:

AUSTRALIA

I like this one. The hunter green is bold, the white and gold pops, and I even enjoy the stars which tie the cap back in with the Australian flag. It’s a little busy for my taste, but it’s a strong hat to match a strong team. Plus, if Peter Moylan doesn’t deserve a few stars, who the hell does?

GRADE: B

BRAZIL

I absolutely love it. The blue and gold, throwback Brewers colors, look great together, and the B is simple yet in a font I’ve never seen on a cap before. I hope Brazil surprises so I can gaze at this creature a little longer.

GRADE: A-

CANADA

Ugh. Okay, I like the red and I like the inclusion of the maple leaf. I can even excuse the use of the baseball in the logo, but after that, what is the ‘C’ made of? Is that a road? Why is Canada represented by a road? And why are there three different images on the front of the cap? I feel confused, the way a senior citizen crossing the border for prescription drugs probably feels.

With paneled caps coming back into fashion, I think the team should switch to a red cap with a white front panel and a maple leaf. That’ s it. Make the cap a literal translation of the flag. Boom. Call me, Canada.

GRADE: D

CHINA

Meh. Not a whole lot to get excited about. It’s a red cap with gold letters. If I were rooting for China, I wouldn’t have a problem wearing this alternate dimension Tigers cap. That said, nothing about it really excites me, either.

GRADE: C

CHINESE TAIPEI

The color scheme is fine, if standard, though that darker blue doesn’t get nearly enough play. I also like how they managed to fit a few baseball seams in there, that’s inspired. Otherwise, this looks like the logo for a Connecticut high school summer team.

GRADE: C+

COLOMBIA

You probably think I’d find this hat boring. And you’d be wrong, dead wrong. A lighter blue than the Chinese Taipei cap, but that thin C with the little ‘thingies’ in the middle keeps it interesting.

Columbia does unfairly score a few points with how good their flag looks on the side, but I don’t see a reason to punish the country for having the good sense to have a flag that looks great on a cap. Shouldn’t all countries design their flags for hat patches?

GRADE: B

CUBA

Cuba, you’re great at baseball, but terrible at cap design. I love the Cuban flag, but this hat doesn’t capture any of that spirit. Just kind of blah.

GRADE: C

CZECH REPUBLIC

This cap is amazing. No, it’s not one that I would choose to wear, with it’s overly intense block letters on a black and red cap, almost like the cap for some post-hardcore band coming out of Delaware, but its intimidating with its own unique identity. You’re not going to confuse this cap with any others out there and sometimes, to quote Simon de Pury of the unfortunately canceled Work of Art: ”Be Bold. Be Brave. Amazing.”

GRADE: A

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Another great one. The font is classic and the letter placement interesting. I usually prefer single colored hats, but with the red cap topper, I actually like the dual color cap.

GRADE: A

FRANCE

On first glance, I liked this cap. Then I could’t stop thinking that Friendly’s employees probably have to wear them while serving up greasy chicken finger sandwiches, removing them just to smoke weed and make out in the parking lot during their fifteen minute break. And now I can’t stop thinking about chicken fingers. So…

GRADE: C

GERMANY

Eh, this one is incredibly boring, though I like that they went for Deutchsland and not Germany. The font is boring, the colors are basic, just boring.

GRADE: C-

GREAT BRITAIN:

Oh man, this hat is an absolute mess. The font looks like that of a software company, one that went out of business in 1999, and the letters don’t even intersect. The Union Jack is full of sharp, intersecting lines which would have been really interesting for the logo to play with, but instead we get giant, goofy bubble letters. Boo.

GRADE: D-

ISRAEL

For those that like designs on their hat, this is a great way to do it. Israel finds an interesting way to include the Star of David and, going against every other hat we’ve seen, actually shrinks down their letter. The colors, though simple, are sharp, and the gray and white play nicely together.

GRADE: B+

ITALY

Did Italy just take a 1980s Texas Rangers cap and remove the ‘T’ cross? I never dug the Rangers cap because it looked like the letters on a graphing calculator, but whether it’s because of the other hats on the list or simply because a block-letter ‘I’ looks really strange, I kind of dig it.

But let’s not go crazy.

GRADE: C+.

JAPAN

I don’t…I don’t understand. Did this hat accidentally get selected from a Japanese tourist shop? Take a look at all the amazing caps the NPB teams wear and then look at this monstrosity. Wha-what happened?

GRADE: F

Part II, with ‘MERICA, comes tomorrow.