NewEra Unveils 8 New *Alternate BP* Caps for 2014

It’s hard to believe there was a point in time when most Major League Baseball clubs wore just one cap from the beginning of Spring Training straight through the end of the World Series.

Today, NewEra, the exclusive provider of on-field caps for MLB unveiled new *alternate batting practice caps* for three different teams and (accidentally?) also showed the new caps of five other teams in their online shop.

Much like the new BP caps introduced before the 2013 season, these caps can and probably will be used during regular season games. They are not intended to replace the existing BP cap each of these teams already use.

Let’s take a look at these new lids:

ATLANTA BRAVES

“Pays tribute to the 40th anniversary of a legendary record-breaking season, and this design reflects the style and logo of the cap the team wore at that time.”

A nice move by the Braves after last seasons batting practice cap debacle, they reached back into their past again just a not-so-offensive one this time. The Braves originally wore a version this cap in regular season play from 1972-1980, the shade of blue was much lighter back in those days.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

“Takes elements of the team’s popular retro batterman logo from 1976-1990 and introduces a deconstructed design”

The White Sox introduced this logo, a far departure from what they wear today, for the 1976 season but never once wore it on their cap while it was their primary logo. Instead the team switched between “SOX” written horizontally and a script “C”. As the statement reads, it’s a deconstructed version of the logo, the original logo had the team script below the “batterman”.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

“Takes inspiration from the team’s current logo, and the new design incorporates the colors of the Canadian flag.”

Now Blue Jays fans who want a batting practice cap have their choice between “Canada.” and “CANADA!!”, sorry if you expected to find one which represents your team in any way… like their blue version of this same cap there is a tiny Blue Jays logo on the back above the MLB patch.

These other five caps were also spotted on their online shop but were not part of NewEra’s news release today:

PITTSBURGH PIRATES

This one might be the nicest of the lot, like the White Sox cap above, this is another cap featuring a retro team logo which was never actually worn on a cap before. The Pirates used this version of the Jolly Roger from 1968-1986.

SAN DIEGO PADRES

San Diego’s new alternate BP cap is a simple reversal of their 2013 cap, what was blue is now white, what was white is now blue… except for the bill, that remains blue.

TEXAS RANGERS

The new Rangers cap is the same as 2013’s just with the state flag of Texas removed, there’s one right on the front of the “T” on the Rangers’ regular BP cap.

CHICAGO CUBS

I’m gonna be honest here… I see no difference between the new Cubs cap and the one they wore in 2013. Alas, it’s listed as “NEW!”, so here she is, in all her “we saw this one already” glory.

NEW YORK METS

Basically a clone of their regular season blue and orange cap but now done in the BP style. Their regular BP cap from 2013 features a running Mr. Met mascot design on the front instead of the classic “NY” logo above.

A close up shot of the construction of the new cap, as you can see they’re exactly the same as the DiamondEra 59FIFTY’s introduced before last season:

What the above caps tell me is we can expect to see throwback uniforms from the Pirates, White Sox, and Braves at some point in 2014 and that the Jays will be going back to wearing red caps on Canada Day.