Played ball from a very early age, so yes on the hat thing even though I inherited thick hair
from mama's side of the family, so it ain't about hiding bald spots - I still have to cut it every
two weeks (yes, I cut it myself - figured out 30 years ago that I could pay someone else $20
to screw it up or do it free of charge myself!)
I can relate to
@Sahara about having a huge melon with lots of hair, too - it's difficult to just
buy a hat at the local sporting goods as a result. I typically have to order them online.
I've owned various Mopar hats of course, but the mainstay for some decades now is an Atlanta
Braves cap - usually the one the players actually wear for home games currently.
I have a "working on the farm" one that's usually a really old, nasty one I'm not worried about
trashing; then there's the well-kept current one for wearin' to town and such.
The "public" one gets changed out at the end of each MLB season - and this is going to sound silly to
a lot of you, but there's a reason:
My dad was a baseball guy and we grew up in Atlanta, where he was big into the local Little League,
eventually volunteering to be President of the regions' chapter when no one else would.
As such, we were big Braves fans, something he and I could bond over and did for decades, even if
other parts of life didn't always see us agreeing on other things sometimes - we always had the
Braves to talk about.
Anyways...I got into the habit of buying a new cap each spring and wearing it until the Braves were
either officially out of any chances for the World Series or actually won it (hey, it happened once!).
Pop was in on this little ritual of mine and rather than find it silly, he "got it" - and he knew it was a
way for me to show a little bit of a nod to him in the process, too.
When Pop passed in 2010, I didn't want to do the hat thing anymore....didn't see the purpose anymore?
It took my wife (of all people!) to gently push me back to wearing one again, so I agreed - and I have
been ever since yet again, this time wearing the Braves cap until they're eliminated each year out
of honoring Pop.
When that day comes, I take the cap, put it in one of those plastic display cases and leave it at Pops'
grave, usually with a note saying something like "we'll get 'em next year, Pop".
The cemetery caretakers know what I'm doing and respect it, leaving the hat there until winter comes,
then taking it away to wherever old flags, flowers and such go from gravesites.
I told you it was silly - but it's just something I have to do.