Editing Baseball cap (section)

== History ==
[[File:1863 Harry Wright.png|thumb|upright|Baseball player [[Harry Wright]] wearing a cap, circa 1863]]
In 1860, the [[Brooklyn Excelsiors]] wore the ancestor of the modern rounded-top baseball cap, which featured a long peak and a button on top, and by 1900, the "Brooklyn-style" cap became popular.<ref name="USAToday">{{cite web|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2006-07-25-cap_x.htm|title=Baseball cap has endured generations as the all-American hat|access-date=2014-04-26}}</ref> The merino cap topped with a star-like pattern was made by the New York sporting goods company [[Andrew Peck (businessman)|Peck & Snyder]].<ref name="clair"/>

In the late 1880s, a [[Pillbox hat|pillbox]] version of the cap became popular, which would morph into the modern six-paneled round cap; five teams revived the pillbox form in 1976 in celebration of the US Bicentennial. Team monograms first appeared in 1894 when the Boston Baseball Club (the [[Boston Braves]]) — now the [[Atlanta Braves]] — became the first team to wear letterforms when they added a monogram-style device to their caps, followed by three more teams in the next season. The [[Detroit Tigers]] of 1901 were the first major league team to have a mascot — a red tiger on a dark background — on their ballcap. It was replaced by the letter "D" in 1903, and their iconic [[blackletter]] letterform appeared a year later.<ref name="clair"/>

During the 1940s, latex rubber became the stiffening material inside the hat and the modern baseball cap was born. The peak, also known in certain areas as the "bill" or "brim", was designed to protect a player's eyes from the sun. Typically, the peak was much shorter in the earlier days of the baseball hat. Also, the hat has become more structured, versus the overall "floppy" cap of the 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref name="clair"/> The baseball cap was and still is an important means by which to identify a team. Often the logo, [[mascot]], team's, city or country initial was placed on the cap. Usually, the cap was also fashioned in the official colors of a particular team.

Since 1993, the [[New Era Cap Company]] of Buffalo, N.Y. has been the exclusive baseball cap supplier for Major League Baseball.<ref name="clair"/>

The basic shape, including curved peak, is similar to some styles of 19th-century sunbonnets.<ref name=bonnet>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3660333.stm BBC – Happy 59th, baseball caps] 18 December 2008</ref>