I've realized that I have a lot of hats with a single letter P on them. Don't know why it's such a common letter in the minor leagues. Portland, Princeton, Pawtucket, Pulaski, Phoenix, etc... This letter was one of the toughest to choose from, because there are two caps that could have easily been the one to represent the letter P. You'll see that there are a lot of great caps to choose from. But in the end I had to roll with this defunct Angels rookie league affiliate:
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| Provo Angels. Pleasantly periwinkle. |
Keep in mind that this was during the Angels Disney phase, so this shade of blue was prominent in that organization. Despite that, I don't really consider this to be an incorporation of the parent club's look. In fact, the cap is really not too exciting at a glance. Solid P in front of triangle shaped peak, presumably representing the Wasatch Mountains of Central Utah. So I'll have to explain why I chose this cap.
The Provo (Utah) Angels began play in June 2001 in the Pioneer League. Happened to be the same year the Casper (Wyoming) Rockies also began play in the same league. As I have family ties to Wyoming and a fondness for Utah, I was pretty anxious to get both of these caps. And really, acquiring those caps began the current wave of cap collecting for me. The urge to collect would explode in 2002, and I can honestly say getting those caps really started it. So this cap is really special to me.
In fact, here is a rare archive shot from early 2002.
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| Cap Wall - Spring 2002 |
A few of these were stolen during the Capocalypse of 2007, but replaced. I still have most of these same caps pictured here.
And I still love The Cure, New Order and Tears For Fears. Still have those posters, in fact, but as my cap collection grew, I no longer have room for the posters.
The Provo Angels would win a Pioneer League Championship in 2005, then promptly relocate to nearby Orem to become the Orem Owlz. Before that happened, I did manage to acquire a couple of other Provo Angels items. I got these jerseys:
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| Home jersey |
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| Road jersey |
They also had a road cap which is even more sparse, if that seems possible.
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| Fantastic. |
On a side note, on the occasion I would wear the road jersey, it rarely failed that someone would approach me and ask if I was Mormon. Fair enough. It is pretty obscure. I'd always have to explain that it was a baseball jersey etc... and they almost always got that eyes-glazed-over like they were sorry they asked.
For anyone wondering why I chose the home cap over the more simplistic road cap, it's simply because it was the first, and in many ways is symbolic (along with the Casper cap) of the collector that I would become. My only regret with that cap is that unlike the Casper Rockies cap, where I bought two additional caps, I never bought a duplicate Provo Angels cap.
And that is why I chose this cap to represent Letter P.
And now for the ones that didn't make the cut.
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| That's a lot of P. |
The Pawtucket Red Sox cap is as close as I intend on ever coming to owning a Boston Red Sox cap.
The Pulaski Mariners cap (middle row, left - in case it's not obvious) is one of my favorite caps in my minor league collection. A perfect blend of parent team logo and local uniqueness. The metallic silver P, outlined in teal, with the compass attached to it. The visor is grey, not the metallic silver of the Seattle alternate cap from years back, but still, seeing this cap up close is a thing of beauty. And if it had not been for the attachment I have for the Provo cap, the Pulaski Mariners cap would have been the choice.
But there can only be one...
Willing to sell your provo angels hat?
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