Major League Baseball and New Era have launched the 2024 Batting Practice cap collection, a unique design for each team inspired by the franchise histories of all thirty MLB ballclubs.
In total, 34 caps are a part of the collection (the White Sox, Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees each have two), with many teams using old logos, adding horizontal striping, a combination of old designs with new colours, it’s almost like a baseball version of the successful Reverse Retro we saw in the NHL.
SHOP: 2024 MLB Batting Practice caps are available now!
“New Era collaborated with every MLB club to create individual designs for their respective Batting Practice caps,” read the press release from New Era. “Worn by players on the field while they take their pre-game swings, each cap has team-specific design elements and colour choices to convey meaningful milestones in franchise histories.”
Here, take a look at all 34 cap designs:
“The goal was for each team to create official headwear that performs for players while intersecting team heritage and fitted cap culture,” said Tim Shanahan, Senior Director of Licensed Products at New Era Cap, in the press release. “Every Batting Practice cap design is inspired by iconic players, eras, or moments in that franchise’s history. While the designs are unique to each team, the common thread unifying the collection is the power of storytelling through caps that deliver superior athletic function.”
In the past, the same cap was worn during Spring Training and batting practice — this will no longer be the case in 2024. These caps, which appear to be made of the same material as the new Spring Training caps, will be worn specifically for regular season practices.
SHOP: 2024 MLB Batting Practice caps are available now!
Let’s take a closer look, broken down by division.
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
In the AL East, the Baltimore Orioles kick things off with a throwback logo, the perched oriole bird worn during the regular season back in the early 1990s, but worn on the modern cap style with the white front panel. The Boston Red Sox brought back their red cap design from the 1970s, the New York Yankees with a home and road option, and the team’s primary logo making a very rare on-cap appearance on the roadie. In Tampa Bay, the Devil Rays live again as the club breaks out their original cap logo worn from 1998 to 2000 but in a simplified colour style. Toronto wraps up the East with a simple baby blue-crowned version of their usual home and roads.
AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL
The Chicago White Sox have two versions, both using the team’s secondary sock on a ball diamond logo, with the blue and red version presumably reserved for their throwback Sunday home games. The Cleveland Guardians incorporate the racing stripes which were once worn down the sleeves of their uniforms from the 1980s, the Detroit Tigers doing exactly the same, bringing back the stripes from the 1990s road jersey. Kansas City gives us a throwback logo on the crown, the older version of their primary logo, which featured an “R” rather than just the “KC” as it does now. The Minnesota Twins take their road cap “M-Star” logo and place it on a white pinstriped crown.
AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
A big “yes!” to the Houston Astros for bringing back the “Tequila Sunrise” once again on this design, the front panel of the crown making reference to the striping that once graced the front of their loud uniforms of the 1970s. The Los Angeles Angels going with a navy blue crown on a red visor, similar to what the California Angels did up until the late ’90s — it feels like what the Angels cap should look like. The Oakland Athletics take their usual cap style and place their sunglasses-clad elephant logo on the front. Seattle combines the “S” cap logo worn in the late 1980s with the colour scheme of today, and the World Champion Texas Rangers give us their 1990s “T” logo, think Nolan Ryan, on a white front-panel cap.
NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
The Atlanta Braves updated their 1970s cap, bringing it into today with the modern, darker colour scheme. The Miami Marlins look to break the Internet by giving us teal pinstripes, evoking memories of the old Florida Marlins. There are more old racing stripes on caps from the New York Mets, who take their 1980s home jerseys and put them on a ballcap, along with their road BP cap, which similarly uses the scripted “New York” from their 1987 road jersey. The Philadelphia Phillies go way outside the box and use the head of their famous mascot, the Phanatic, on the front of a royal blue crown. The Washington Nationals are going red and black with the “DC” logo from their first few seasons in Washington back in the mid-2000s.
NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
In the NL Central, the Chicago Cubs revive the excellent “Angry Cub” logo on a simple royal blue cap. The Cincinnati Reds take the sleeve striping from their old pullover jerseys along with the black-free version of their primary logo on the crown. Milwaukee goes powder blue and slaps on the Beer Barrell Man logo on the front, a part of their primary logo from their first years in Milwaukee in the 1970s. Pittsburgh’s “Stargell Stars” are back, the stars once awarded by Willie Stargell to teammates. St. Louis ends the division with a throwback to a simpler era of design and their navy blue cap of the 1950s.
NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
Finally, in the NL West, the Arizona Diamondbacks start things off with their snake head logo in a colour scheme that takes their modern blue and mixes it with the black and bronze the club wore on the road in the late 1990s. Colorado is next with a purple cap with black pinstripes and a black-and-white version of their mountain-flying ball logo. The Los Angeles Dodgers go with a home and road version of their scripted “D” cap logo, a very similar design to what they’re wearing during the Spring (the Dodgers logo on the side is a nice touch). San Diego takes the bell-shaped front panel they wore in the 1980s and recolors it to that sand grey they wore rather than yellow. Lastly, the San Francisco Giants have simply taken their primary logo from the 1980s and 1990s and stuck it on the front of a black cap.
The 2024 New Era MLB Batting Practice cap collection is available for purchase as of Tuesday, February 20th. Click here to get yours today! They will be available in 59FIFTY, Low Profile 59FIFTY (my favourite), 39THIRTY and 9TWENTY silhouettes. New Era says that the stories behind each of the designs will be shared by the teams themselves in the coming days.
SHOP: 2024 MLB Batting Practice caps are available now!
Revisit the launch of the 2024 Spring Training cap collection here