Holiday Hat Ideas For The Detroit Tigers Fan In Your Life

Whether you wear a fitted cap or a snapback, Detroit Tigers fans have plenty of choices for hats.

As Christmas is around the corner, I decided it would be a good time to bring up Detroit Tigers hats.  For the past 11 years, I have collected fitted hats from all across the minor leagues including all of the Detroit Tigers minor league affiliates teams. In total, the collection is around 65 total hats. As there are many sneakerheads out there, I am sure there are some hat collectors out there who understand that once you collect one, it does not stop.

So I started thinking about how in the past few seasons, the Tigers have had some new releases out there. The move to a bigger “D”  on the hat was just the third change to the cap since 1972 (the idea did not work well at all). While the home hat stayed the same since 1968, the away cap went with a thicker “D” from 1972 to 1982. From 1995 to 1997, the Tigers had the Tiger through the Old English D (while rocking the pinstripes on the sleeves and pants side)  and the one-time navy jersey that was scrapped quickly. 

For the Detroit Tigers fan in your house, here are some ideas for the holiday season that you may not thought of before.

The Norwich Sea Unicorns were once the Connecticut Tigers, the Tigers short-season Low-A team. They recently changed their name to be more reflective of the city’s nautical history. If you are new to collecting hats, I would highly suggest this awesome update. More teams are using their cities history to draw inspiration for new ideas. This one stands out as one of my new favorite must-have caps.

The Low-A affiliate, the West Michigan Whitecaps, released the Beer City Bung Hammers, a cue to the great local breweries in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area that came to national attention in 2016 and 2017 as the Unites States best beer scene. In addition, the team was one of the first in the Tigers system to participate in the “Copa De La Diversion” or “Fun Cup”.  The Las Calaveras Caps are a complete departure from the normal West Michigan Whitecaps hats as they feature orange as the primary color. 

The Erie SeaWolves’ entry into the Fun Cup was the Piñatas de Erie. According to the SeaWolves website, the inspiration came from the owner

“This season, the SeaWolves will play four games as the Erie Piñatas, an alternate identity inspired by team owner Fernando Aguirre’s childhood playing baseball and celebrating with friends and family in Mexico.”

The SeaWolves home and away caps are now updated and are sound choices but if you can find one of the old caps that feature the first variation of the SeaWolves logo, you can see how much it has changed.

The Toledo Mud Hens have one of the most iconic logos on their hats. They added a new addition in 2006 with a feather and a new version of the Mud Hen but the classic T with the Mud Hen swinging the bat is still the regular home cap and one of my oldest caps. If you are going to go watch Casey Mize and the rest of the talented pitching staff in Toledo this year, I suggest adding this one quickly.