The Cap of Authority

On Saturday and Monday I linked to some images suggesting that the manager and coaches on the 1973 Indians wore piping on their caps. But either of those shots could have been taken during spring training, and I remained unconvinced that the Tribe’s brain trust actually went with piping-clad headwear for the ’73 season. We’d never talked about it here on the site (at least not that I could recall), and it seemed like the kind of thing that would have surfaced in our discussions by now, no?

But now reader Mike Hersh has come up with two wire photos that conclusively prove that the Indians’ coaching staff — or at least skipper Ken Aspromonte — was piping-capped for 1973 games (note the cool ump caps, too).

Personally, I find this pretty stunning. We all know that the A’s coaches were wearing white caps around this same time — it’s a famous quirk, even reprised nowadays for Oakland’s throwback games — so how has the Cleveland piping managed to fly under the Uni Watch radar for so long? It’s a potent reminder that there’s a lot of relatively recent history out there that hasn’t been documented. Even those of us who think we know this stuff pretty well often don’t know squat.

This also got me thinking about coaches wearing specialized headwear. A few examples came to mind:

• The most obvious case, as noted above, would be the Oakland A’s, whose managers and coaches wore white caps during the late 1960s and early ’70s (although I’m unsure of the exact years — anyone..?). It was one of Charlie Finley’s many innovations.

• In 2004 and 2005, Texas Rangers skipper Buck Showalter and his coaches wore red caps — while the rest of the team wore blue — in spring training. I assume this was so the coaches could easily be picked out from the mass of humanity that forms during spring training workouts. It’ll be interesting to see if Showalter dusts off this idea next February when he convenes his first spring training camp with the Orioles.

• In football, offensive and defensive coordinators (or whoever’s sending in signals from the sideline) sometimes wear boldly colored caps, so the players on the field can quickly spot them. I can’t find a good photo of this, although I know they’re out there.

• Although this isn’t quite the same thing, the referee on a football officiating crew wears a white cap, while the other zebras wear black caps.

I’m sure there are other examples I’m overlooking. If you know of any, let’s hear ’em.

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