The Secret of Hats

Abner Doubleday was the inventor of baseball but not of the baseball cap. He was not considered stylish even during the 1860s as his facial hair was thought to be way too restrained.

The first hats were not stylin'. Many of the early ball players wore "fedoras" out of embarassment. Note the unhappy looks on the players faces.

The later hats were not a guarantee of style. If you were a fat slob you still looked like a fat slob. Now we realize that even a drunken fat guy can be made significantly cooler merely by wearing the right things.

With the arrival of the Womens' Rights Movement it became possible for the ladies to enjoy men's headgear. Chicks began to wear "fedoras", "bowlers" and "tophats". But it was not until recently that truly hip happening hot young celebrities began to embrace the baseball hat as a signifier of high style.

Johnny Bench was really the first guy to wear his cap backwards. It is for this that he is in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. For that and, no doubt, for the coining of the term "lid". (Only as it refers to head gear.)

Since Bench the style has evolved needless to say. It is no longer even necessary to be a ball player in order to wear one. In fact one doesn't need to be even marginally athletic.

The secrets of angle

The gradual movement of the hat over the last five years has been to go higher and further to the right. This is known as "rushing" or "Going Rush" after noted radio personality Rush Limbaugh.

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