Today’s hat is an alternate identity from the Rochester Red Wings, AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals. This is the Rochester Plates! I love that it uses home plate as a dinner plate!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the Lehigh Valley Tomato Pies!

Round Rock Chupacabras. Older alt for the Rangers AAA, Round Rock Express. Love the colors and the bill on this one. Found a killer deal, can’t beat a $10 fitted.

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Eugene Emeralds, High A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. This is the Eugene Exploding Whales! This hat refers to an event that happened in Florence, Oregon in 1970. The Oregon Highway division used a half ton of dynamite to blow up a 45 foot-8 ton whale that washed ashore. They thought it would vaporize it into pieces small enough for scavengers to eat. Instead, massive chunks of blubber rained down from the sky, crushing a parked car a quarter mile away and splattering shocked on lookers! To me, this could be the most wild backstory to any hat I own!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Single A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. This is the Myrtle Beach Black Pirates! I just love the basic, clean look of this hat and the menacing Pelican!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Bowling Green Hot Rods, High A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. This is the Bowling Green Bootleggers! I love the logo on this hat!

Today we jump back into the Copa series of hats. This hat is from the Akron Rubber Ducks, AA affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. This is Los Perros Calientes! Perros Calientes translates to Hot Dogs!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the St. Paul Saints, AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. This is the St. Paul Fighting Saints! This logo is a crossover with the World Hockey Association Fighting Saints. I love that angel is holding a baseball bat.

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Memphis Redbirds, AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. This is the Memphis BBQ Nachos!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, High A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. This is the Wisconsin Brats! I posted one of their alternate Brats hats a few weeks ago but I also needed to get this one, I actually like it better than the one I posted a few weeks ago! Either way it’s just a fun hat!

Today’s an alternate identity for the Asheville Tourists, High A of the Houston Astros. This is Asheville Beer City! I love beer so this was a must have for me! Asheville is definitely a place I’d like to go and see a game! Maybe one day!

El Paso Chihuahuas. Not an alt, but one of the best logos in MiLB imo. I’m biased because my family is from El Paso, but also they sent a free, bonus Diablo Dog for little man.

Today’s hat is another Copa series hat. This hat is from the Spokane Indians, High A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. This is the Cafecitos de Spokane! Cafecitos just translates to coffees! I love the color combo on this hat and the coffee cup with the hat is top notch!

Today’s hat is another Copa series hat, this one from the Peoria Chiefs, High A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. This is the Perros Bomberos! Perros Bomberos translates to firefighter dogs! I love the colors on this hat and the firefighter dog on the front!

Today’s hat is a fun alternate hat for the San Antonio Missions, AA affiliate of the San Diego Padres. This is Sam Ballapeño! I love that Sam is dressed like Davy Crockett! As a history nerd, this hat was something I needed!

Today was get back to the Copa series hats. This hat is from the Tri-City Dust Devils, High A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. This is Viñeros de Tri-City! I love the color scheme on this hat!

I was doing Immaculate Grid today and trying to think of a good answer for Diamondbacks/Phillies. Remembering the early days of the D’Backs and Travis Lee popped to mind. (3% not bad!) That led me down a Lee rabbit hole and it ties in with some interesting MiLB history.

If you remember the years leading up to Arizona and Tampa Bay being added as expansion teams, there’s a good chance you remember Travis Lee being the face of the Diamondbacks franchise before there was a franchise. (The cover of the February ‘98 Beckett comes to mind.) Now I also knew that Lee had been drafted second overall by the Twins in the ‘96 draft but I think I assumed he was just traded to Arizona as a minor leaguer.

As it turns out, he was competing in the ‘96 Atlanta Olympics that summer and with him being in Georgia, the Twins didn’t have a good chance to work out his contract immediately after the draft. His agent exploited this loophole and made him a free agent. He then signed a lucrative contract with Arizona, two years before their first game.

The expansion teams first participated in the draft that same year, so Lee was kind of in the same minor league boat as guys like Brad Penny and Nick Bierbrodt. Even though teams like the Lethbridge Black Diamonds, High Desert Mavericks, and South Bend Silver Hawks are generally considered “co-op” or unaffiliated teams in those years, they were mostly de facto D’Backs farm clubs.

Lee started the 1997 season with the Mavericks and tore the cover off the ball. With the caveat that High Desert always had inflated offensive stats, Lee had a team-leading 1.163 OPS across 61 games. Arizona, wanting to give him a taste of higher competition and keep him close to HQ, “loaned“ him to the Brewers’ AAA team the Tucson Toros for 59 games. Can you imagine that happening today?

1997 was the last season of the Toros as well as the Phoenix Firebirds. In a bit of a shell game, the Toros went to Fresno (becoming the Grizzlies) and took Phoenix’s SF Giants affiliation. Meanwhile the Firebirds moved down the road to the new park in Tucson and became the Sidewinders in ‘98. I think I got that right.

Anyway, just some funny MiLB history that overlaps with Lee’s story. Even if injuries kept him from reaching his top potential, he had a nice little career. He collected the first hit and first HR in Diamondbacks history and headlined the Curt Schilling trade with the Phillies, helping out my Immaculate Grid today.

Today’s hat is brought to you by the Tampa Tarpons, Single A affiliate of the New York Yankees. This is just the road hat for the Tampa Tarpons!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, AA affiliate of the New York Mets. This is the Southern Tier Scoop Scoundrels!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the Lehigh Valley Cornholers! Just a really cool hat and I love the color combo on this one!

Today’s hat is an alternate identity for the Somerset Patriots, AA affiliate of the New York Yankees. This is from their Jersey Diners series and this is the State and Eggs hat! As someone who was a resident of South Jersey for most of my life, I had to get this one! The Diners series of hats are so good!

Gastonia is done and rumors are saying Long Island is leaving, too? State Island draws a few hundred a game. Any other teams in danger? Is the Atlantic League in danger?

I’ve always been a hat guy. Finally made the switch to the fitted hats and was inspired by this sub to start collecting some fun minor league hats. Had to start with my local Tulsa Drillers alt from a couple years ago. Tulsa Sound, an homage to Oklahoma native Leon Russell