Yeah, and I actually think it's the great look of the logo that underlies much of its appeal. Originally designed by Tiffany (the jewelry company) for some kind of cop medal, it's just a really good piece of design, and weirdly the Yankees organization has never messed with it much--less a question of good taste than bullheaded traditionalism I'd guess, but they're right. (Other great traditionalist aspects of the Yankees uniforms are the absence of players' names and the awesome looking NEW YORK across the chest of the road jerseys.)
Notice how sports franchises who are proud of their heritage don't change their uniforms. The Yankees are one. The Montreal Canadiens, who haven't won a Stanley Cup in decades, are another. The Red Sox and Dodgers. In football, the Steelers and Cowgirls. I haven't followed basketball for thirty years but I imagine the Celtics and Lakers have the same uniforms that they wore in the 80s when I cared to watch. Unconfident franchises play games with their uniforms because they are not confident in their past.
The last big uniform change for the Celtics was when management decreed they all had to wear black sneakers. Other teams have copied but the black sneakers with the green and white had a classic look.
I think that unconfident franchises are also trying to see shirts and hats. I know that's the case with the Royals, because they haven't hidden their campaign to sell hats. I shall risk seeming a fool in public, but I have two such hats.
Post-1960s, it seemed like that real NYCers who really knew baseball cheered for the Mets while poseurs/out-of-towners/NJ guys cheered for the Yankees. Bandwagoners.
For example, on Seinfeld Jerry was presented as a Mets fan so dedicated he taped games just to watch them on his VCR.
Also, the Keith Hernandez "second spitter" episode.
This would also explain the arc where George works for the Yankees, where Steinbrenner is presented as buffoonish and George the typical bad employee exploiting a shoddy management.
I am 46 and there has never been a team in my lifetime that captivated the city the way the 86 Mets did. People who weren't around at the time can't comprehend just how big they were. Oddly enough the closest one would be the 94 Rangers winning their first cup since 1940.
For some reason 1980-1986 seems to have been this weird 6-year era where every sports fan who lived through it saw their sport have an epic thing happen. Miracle on Ice, Mets-Red Sox in 86, Dodgers-Yankees, Phillies take their 1st ever world title, Fernandomania (yes, it reached outside LA), the Islanders dynasty and then the Gretzky-Oilers in hockey, the catapulting of the NBA with the Lakers-Celtics Bird-Magic amazingness (along with 76ers playing the third wheel of greatness), and the Joe Montana 49ers and Bill Parcells Giants. Absolute legendary stars, teams, and games.
If you extend it through to 1988, you also get Carl Lewis at the Olympics, Debbie Thomas as the first black female USA figure skating princess, as well as Katarina Witt and the colossal upset of USA basketball, which led to 1992's Dream Team.
Truly an amazing cramming of so much major sports history in a less-than-a-decade.
P.S. I'm forgetting a lot, but it keeps coming back to me. For example: in boxing, Mike Tyson becomes champ in 1986, but just a few years before in 1984 Ray Mancini puts Duk Koo Kim in a coma after a 14 round slugfest live on CBS, and Kim subsequently dies, and boxing stops having bouts go past 12 rounds. And these are just a few things you forget happened. The 80s were insane for sports history.
As much as I hate them, the Yankees are the gold standard for American pro sports. No other team in any other of the 4 big North American sports has been so dominant for so long. Arguably the Canadians in hockey were as or more dominant, but baseball is bigger than hockey. The Celtics, the Lakers, the Steelers, the Cowboys, etc. all have their moments of dominance but the Yankees were more dominant than them all.
Plus they play in America's most famous, coolest, and most desirable city (NYC) for outsiders to visit, so as you said foreigners want to identify with that cool.
And the Yankees lay claim to Babe Ruth, the all time greatest player so well he's up there with Pele as one of the two athletes everyone knows even if you don't watch his sport or are even from his country.
Finally, the Yankees hat is well-designed and handsome. Combined with the pinstripes its a great look. Arguably one of the best looking hats in baseball. Certainly no post-1960s expansion baseball team can rival that look of the hat.
But the major reason is that they win. Winning brings all sorts of bandwagon fans and makes merch sell. There has rarely been a decade in baseball since the 1920s when the Yankees weren't winning at least one World Series.
Now excuse me, I have to go vomit for admitting all that.
> Canadians in hockey were as or more dominant, but baseball is bigger than hockey.
Les Canadiens only had to worry about a dozen teams (or fewer) for a majority of their Stanley Cups, while the Yankees always played in a 16-team (or more) MLB era.
The White Sox saved themselves the ignominy of having the worst record in the expansion era by going 5-1 the last week of the season. While they have the most losses in MLB history, they ended up with one more win than the 1962 Mets, who had two games with their fellow expansion team Houston Colt .45s rained out and not made up.
> are probably still coasting on their 1990s black and white uniforms, which seemed to appeal to street gang members
Those 87-90 Script C caps were bad enough but the 80s Tony LaRussa uniforms they replaced were God awful. For an example, watch Tom Seaver win his 300th game, coincidentally enough in New York City.
Another fun fact about that game is that it was Phil Rizzuto Day where they retired his number. Seaver is also one of 3 men (Davey Johnson (69 Orioles) and Buddy Harrelson were the others) who were in uniform for both Mets World Series wins (was in uniform for Boston but inactive).
I don’t think the black guys who wear the caps are “fans” of the team in any real sense. For them and for the various people worldwide who wear the hats, it’s just a brand connoting success and glitz and a certain kind of cosmopolitanism. That Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, jammed into the city, gives the team a kind of urban cachet (read: black) that more pastoral ballparks lack.
I don't care about baseball but I root for the New England team to beat the Yankees, being from Hartford but I exclusively wear yankee hats on the rare occasion I wear a baseball cap- I think us black fellows just look good in them.
In college I was driving with friend to Wellesley to see a girl. We got lost and had to fo into gas station and ask for directions. Since I was going to see a lady I wore a Yankee fitted, this was when the Red Sox were in the world series against them. I forgot to take the hat off while asking for directions and of course they sent me the wrong day.
Hartford itself should be in this discussion as my late beloved Whalers have quite possibly the most iconic and popular logo in all of hockey despite their demise a quarter of a century back. It's virtually impossible to go to a hockey game anywhere and not see at least one person wearing Whalers gear.
Since the Yankees and Red Sox are both in the American League, they have never played against each other in the World Series. Perhaps you’re thinking of a meeting in the American League playoffs.
I would say that it's not played in most of the world, but I think it's known as ESPN broadcasts the World Series across the world. In addition, the most recent Little League World Series featured teams from the United States, Aruba, Australia, Canada, Cuba, Czechia, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and Venezuela. I concede most of those countries are from parts of the world you already mentioned, but Czechia did have to defeat the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany to qualify, and the European tournament itself is in Poland.
I was just curious is ESPN really did broadcast the World Series across the world, In reality, ESPN is one of many channels broadcasting the World Series across the world.
I live in Italy now. I think they wear it because it signifies New York City. Most of them have never even heard of the NY Yankees baseball team. Also I see it worn among all people not just black.
Also seen all over the world: tee shirts and sweatshirts celebrating Super Bowl championships by losing teams. They end up being given away through charities or sold for pennies on the dollar in Africa.
Another unspoken but fairly obvious reason for NY caps all around the world. The reason that the Yankees command the universal respect in MLB, and have for about a century now, is because they. are. WINNERS. It all started with Babe Ruth, the original straw that stirred the team into WS championships.
From there, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle helped build on the foundation that was first laid by Ruth. The winning continued.
Then in the 70's early '80's, the team's fortunes were revived with winning.
The reason that a borderline HOFer like Mattingly isn't viewed with the adoration of say, Jeter or Rivera, is because he didn't win. The reason that an average player but an excellent borderline HOF manager like Billy Martin was/is revered in NY...because he won.
NY's winning championships, and more than any professional sport in the world (or at least more htan any sports team on most continents), is the main reason that NY rose to national prominence. The MLB cap is iconic, unlike other sports' caps--they ape MLB's cap. When looking around for a great US team to emulate, folks want to go with the winners. There is only 1 team in MLB historically, that has won consistently across generations, and that's NY
For his entire life, Trump has been obsessed with...winning. He speaks of it often, and that's not BS to him. Anyone doubt that Trump won't be at Yankee Stadium during the WS to cheer on his hometown team?
Side note: earlier this yr, HOFer Mariano Rivera endorsed Trump.
Rap/hip hop stars have had songs calling out Trump back in the day with respect (as Steve mentioned a few yrs ago) because they viewed him as a big man, and of course, as a winner. The people's billionaire monniker exists for a reason.
NY = winning. NY is the US's most successful pro sports franchise, which translates to being a US symbol. So buying a NY cap in faraway parts of the globe, subconsciously, is a way for ordinary people to identify with the winners.
Vaguely reminiscent of the distinctive AD Albrecht Durer signature
Yeah, and I actually think it's the great look of the logo that underlies much of its appeal. Originally designed by Tiffany (the jewelry company) for some kind of cop medal, it's just a really good piece of design, and weirdly the Yankees organization has never messed with it much--less a question of good taste than bullheaded traditionalism I'd guess, but they're right. (Other great traditionalist aspects of the Yankees uniforms are the absence of players' names and the awesome looking NEW YORK across the chest of the road jerseys.)
Notice how sports franchises who are proud of their heritage don't change their uniforms. The Yankees are one. The Montreal Canadiens, who haven't won a Stanley Cup in decades, are another. The Red Sox and Dodgers. In football, the Steelers and Cowgirls. I haven't followed basketball for thirty years but I imagine the Celtics and Lakers have the same uniforms that they wore in the 80s when I cared to watch. Unconfident franchises play games with their uniforms because they are not confident in their past.
The last big uniform change for the Celtics was when management decreed they all had to wear black sneakers. Other teams have copied but the black sneakers with the green and white had a classic look.
I think that unconfident franchises are also trying to see shirts and hats. I know that's the case with the Royals, because they haven't hidden their campaign to sell hats. I shall risk seeming a fool in public, but I have two such hats.
Way back in the 80s a friend and hiking buddy wore a battered Yankees cap he always referred to as his Neil Young hat.😂
But what about the 86 Mets: a team of arrogant coke fueled brawlers who won it all?
Also there's the irony that the Yankees were actually one of the last teams to sign a black player (Elston Howard).
Post-1960s, it seemed like that real NYCers who really knew baseball cheered for the Mets while poseurs/out-of-towners/NJ guys cheered for the Yankees. Bandwagoners.
For example, on Seinfeld Jerry was presented as a Mets fan so dedicated he taped games just to watch them on his VCR.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c5w3sNLtFU
Also, the Keith Hernandez "second spitter" episode.
This would also explain the arc where George works for the Yankees, where Steinbrenner is presented as buffoonish and George the typical bad employee exploiting a shoddy management.
I am 46 and there has never been a team in my lifetime that captivated the city the way the 86 Mets did. People who weren't around at the time can't comprehend just how big they were. Oddly enough the closest one would be the 94 Rangers winning their first cup since 1940.
For some reason 1980-1986 seems to have been this weird 6-year era where every sports fan who lived through it saw their sport have an epic thing happen. Miracle on Ice, Mets-Red Sox in 86, Dodgers-Yankees, Phillies take their 1st ever world title, Fernandomania (yes, it reached outside LA), the Islanders dynasty and then the Gretzky-Oilers in hockey, the catapulting of the NBA with the Lakers-Celtics Bird-Magic amazingness (along with 76ers playing the third wheel of greatness), and the Joe Montana 49ers and Bill Parcells Giants. Absolute legendary stars, teams, and games.
If you extend it through to 1988, you also get Carl Lewis at the Olympics, Debbie Thomas as the first black female USA figure skating princess, as well as Katarina Witt and the colossal upset of USA basketball, which led to 1992's Dream Team.
Truly an amazing cramming of so much major sports history in a less-than-a-decade.
P.S. I'm forgetting a lot, but it keeps coming back to me. For example: in boxing, Mike Tyson becomes champ in 1986, but just a few years before in 1984 Ray Mancini puts Duk Koo Kim in a coma after a 14 round slugfest live on CBS, and Kim subsequently dies, and boxing stops having bouts go past 12 rounds. And these are just a few things you forget happened. The 80s were insane for sports history.
Because they win. Duh.
As much as I hate them, the Yankees are the gold standard for American pro sports. No other team in any other of the 4 big North American sports has been so dominant for so long. Arguably the Canadians in hockey were as or more dominant, but baseball is bigger than hockey. The Celtics, the Lakers, the Steelers, the Cowboys, etc. all have their moments of dominance but the Yankees were more dominant than them all.
Plus they play in America's most famous, coolest, and most desirable city (NYC) for outsiders to visit, so as you said foreigners want to identify with that cool.
And the Yankees lay claim to Babe Ruth, the all time greatest player so well he's up there with Pele as one of the two athletes everyone knows even if you don't watch his sport or are even from his country.
Finally, the Yankees hat is well-designed and handsome. Combined with the pinstripes its a great look. Arguably one of the best looking hats in baseball. Certainly no post-1960s expansion baseball team can rival that look of the hat.
But the major reason is that they win. Winning brings all sorts of bandwagon fans and makes merch sell. There has rarely been a decade in baseball since the 1920s when the Yankees weren't winning at least one World Series.
Now excuse me, I have to go vomit for admitting all that.
"Now excuse me, I have to go vomit for admitting all that."
After that fantastic summary of why the Yankees cap has such global appeal, your closing line made this Chicago sports fan ROTFLOL...
I am not reading all that, but this was the first result I got with ctrl+f "win"
Lets not over think this one.
> Canadians in hockey were as or more dominant, but baseball is bigger than hockey.
Les Canadiens only had to worry about a dozen teams (or fewer) for a majority of their Stanley Cups, while the Yankees always played in a 16-team (or more) MLB era.
Don't forget the Brady-Belichick Patriots
> The 41-121 White Sox
The White Sox saved themselves the ignominy of having the worst record in the expansion era by going 5-1 the last week of the season. While they have the most losses in MLB history, they ended up with one more win than the 1962 Mets, who had two games with their fellow expansion team Houston Colt .45s rained out and not made up.
> are probably still coasting on their 1990s black and white uniforms, which seemed to appeal to street gang members
Those 87-90 Script C caps were bad enough but the 80s Tony LaRussa uniforms they replaced were God awful. For an example, watch Tom Seaver win his 300th game, coincidentally enough in New York City.
Another fun fact about that game is that it was Phil Rizzuto Day where they retired his number. Seaver is also one of 3 men (Davey Johnson (69 Orioles) and Buddy Harrelson were the others) who were in uniform for both Mets World Series wins (was in uniform for Boston but inactive).
I don’t think the black guys who wear the caps are “fans” of the team in any real sense. For them and for the various people worldwide who wear the hats, it’s just a brand connoting success and glitz and a certain kind of cosmopolitanism. That Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, jammed into the city, gives the team a kind of urban cachet (read: black) that more pastoral ballparks lack.
Doesn’t hurt that it’s a snappy, clean logo.
I don't care about baseball but I root for the New England team to beat the Yankees, being from Hartford but I exclusively wear yankee hats on the rare occasion I wear a baseball cap- I think us black fellows just look good in them.
In college I was driving with friend to Wellesley to see a girl. We got lost and had to fo into gas station and ask for directions. Since I was going to see a lady I wore a Yankee fitted, this was when the Red Sox were in the world series against them. I forgot to take the hat off while asking for directions and of course they sent me the wrong day.
Hartford itself should be in this discussion as my late beloved Whalers have quite possibly the most iconic and popular logo in all of hockey despite their demise a quarter of a century back. It's virtually impossible to go to a hockey game anywhere and not see at least one person wearing Whalers gear.
The Whaler's logo is the best in sports history in my estimation
I also like their theme song, The Brass Bonanza
Agreed. Great nostalgia
Since the Yankees and Red Sox are both in the American League, they have never played against each other in the World Series. Perhaps you’re thinking of a meeting in the American League playoffs.
Likely. I don't follow baseball well enough to know tbh
> it’s pretty much unknown in most of the world
I would say that it's not played in most of the world, but I think it's known as ESPN broadcasts the World Series across the world. In addition, the most recent Little League World Series featured teams from the United States, Aruba, Australia, Canada, Cuba, Czechia, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and Venezuela. I concede most of those countries are from parts of the world you already mentioned, but Czechia did have to defeat the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany to qualify, and the European tournament itself is in Poland.
ESPN is just one of many who broadcast the World Series outside of the U.S.
https://www.mlb.com/postseason/international-broadcasters
This doesn't refute my overall point 🙄
I was just curious is ESPN really did broadcast the World Series across the world, In reality, ESPN is one of many channels broadcasting the World Series across the world.
I live in Italy now. I think they wear it because it signifies New York City. Most of them have never even heard of the NY Yankees baseball team. Also I see it worn among all people not just black.
Detroit Tigers hats are better. Iconic "D."
Also seen all over the world: tee shirts and sweatshirts celebrating Super Bowl championships by losing teams. They end up being given away through charities or sold for pennies on the dollar in Africa.
Deadspin report that this stopped several years ago. In the 1980's one could buy those losing team shirts at the outlet mall in the U.S.
Another unspoken but fairly obvious reason for NY caps all around the world. The reason that the Yankees command the universal respect in MLB, and have for about a century now, is because they. are. WINNERS. It all started with Babe Ruth, the original straw that stirred the team into WS championships.
From there, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle helped build on the foundation that was first laid by Ruth. The winning continued.
Then in the 70's early '80's, the team's fortunes were revived with winning.
The reason that a borderline HOFer like Mattingly isn't viewed with the adoration of say, Jeter or Rivera, is because he didn't win. The reason that an average player but an excellent borderline HOF manager like Billy Martin was/is revered in NY...because he won.
NY's winning championships, and more than any professional sport in the world (or at least more htan any sports team on most continents), is the main reason that NY rose to national prominence. The MLB cap is iconic, unlike other sports' caps--they ape MLB's cap. When looking around for a great US team to emulate, folks want to go with the winners. There is only 1 team in MLB historically, that has won consistently across generations, and that's NY
For his entire life, Trump has been obsessed with...winning. He speaks of it often, and that's not BS to him. Anyone doubt that Trump won't be at Yankee Stadium during the WS to cheer on his hometown team?
Side note: earlier this yr, HOFer Mariano Rivera endorsed Trump.
Rap/hip hop stars have had songs calling out Trump back in the day with respect (as Steve mentioned a few yrs ago) because they viewed him as a big man, and of course, as a winner. The people's billionaire monniker exists for a reason.
NY = winning. NY is the US's most successful pro sports franchise, which translates to being a US symbol. So buying a NY cap in faraway parts of the globe, subconsciously, is a way for ordinary people to identify with the winners.
"Americans LOVE a winner."--Gen. Patton