Fathers Day Special

 6/15

Fathers Day...and the Dead

June 15 found me getting ready to head to Louisville for my denomination’s General Assembly. Which means yet once again the church would be taking me away from my family for an important event…something my boys would  find a way to make up for on my return. 

I’ promised not to do that again, but an assignment to moderate a  General Assembly committee for the first time after all these years made for an exception.

So for this week, I chose to go with my Pirates’ Fathers Day hat.  A few years ago, Major League Baseball, in what us primarily a marketing scheme, began creating different designs for different holidays, eg, pink for Mother’s Day, Stars and Stripes for the 4th of July and blue for Fathers’ Day.  One year they even made special uniforms but now its just a hat which can look kind of strange if your uniform is say, green and gold like the Oakland A’s or black and orange like the  Orioles and you're just sticking a blue hat on top. 

I actually own two Fathers Day cap, one gray with a blue letter

Fathers day cap...and troll

and the one I have on today with its tie dye look. And obviously to go with tie dye, what better than a Grateful Dead tribute shirt, ironically featuring the Pirates’ ’70’s era logo. Traditionally long haired and bearded, the Pirates’ logo figure got cleaned up in response to the rise of “hippie” long hair, beards, etc. But with his neatly sculpted hair, bandana and ear ring, this one became derisively known as the Bucco Gay Blade, no help in a culture warm and so fun for a Bucco Dead T.

It was this trend by MLB that finally defeated me. I had up to a point been a completist, ie, I owned one of every hat the Pirates had ever worn in an official game. But it's gotten to be too much, now in addition to the spring training hat, game hat and two alternates, there are at least 4 other special occasion hats a year. I can’t keep up. I give.Two Fathers Day hats are enough.

Hats off to fathers. Boys, I’ll see you soon.