Apparently, what it actually makes people think is "Where did you get that blue Boston hat?" or "You're a Red Sox fan? What are you doing here?...Oh...Brooklyn...So you're a Yankees fan then!" And frankly, I am sick of it.
So here is a photo of my Brooklyn hat next to Justin's Boston hat. There is a huge difference, at least visible to me, and it goes beyond the color. The Brooklyn B is in an obviously different font that is wider and has a cutout at the back of the B. The Boston B also has an outline. The Brooklyn B is all white. Is it just me who sees this? Or can others tell the difference when they are side by side?Also, it bothers me that most people's reaction when I said Brooklyn was to immediately think Yankees. The Yankees have NEVER played in Brooklyn. There was a time in the 70s when their stadium was being remodeled that they played in Queens. (Poor Shea, two baseball teams and two football teams. I feel for that grounds crew and hope they got a big bonus those years.) The Yankees play in the Bronx, which for you non-New Yorkers, is NOT Brooklyn. Also, the Dodgers were National League. The Yankees play in the American League. The Dodgers moved to California in 1958. The Yankees have gone nowhere. The Brooklyn Dodgers won just one World Series while they were in New York. We all know how many the Yankees won (several against the Brooklyn Dodgers).
So, in conclusion ladies and gentlemen, my Brooklyn hat does not mean I am a Red Sox fan (though I have been known to root for them to win when they are not playing the Mets). It also doesn't mean that I am a Yankee fan (I have never once rooted for them to win). It means that I am a fan of the game itself. I am a fan of history. It means that I can actually take pleasure in watching a game that involves two awful teams, because it is not the teams that matter to me. It is the game itself. That is what I enjoy. I could watch the New Britain Rock Cats and be just as happy as I am at a major league game. Because I enjoy the game. That is what my Brooklyn hat means. So please, if you don't know what that B is, just keep your mouth shut. I am so sick of hearing "Boston? Oh, then Yankees?" That I could scream. And I really don't want to scream at you. So keep it in your head. Thanks.
I'm an LA Dodgers fan and a Yankees fan and I greatly appreciate your post! I have the B Dodgers hat and I people always ask if it's a Boston hat, which drives me nuts, being a Yankees fan.
ReplyDeleteAs a wearer of a Brooklyn Dodger hat myself, My response to the Boston comments is usually "youre not really much of a baseball fan, Are you??"
ReplyDeleteExactly
DeleteI can understand being incredulous that nobody knows the Brooklyn Dodgers logo, but then again it hasn't been in use in nearly 60 years, so maybe go a bit easier on those making the mistake?
ReplyDeleteThe B's you show are extremely similar. To say there is a huge difference is a bit overdone. There are many different variations of hats sold today, so I can understand why someone thinks it's a non-standard Boston hat (which usually is blue so I'm not sure why people ask for a blue Boston hat). I have more than one Red Sox hat that is a non-standard blue (though none are Dodger blue) and one has an all white B. The triangle cutout is the only thing consistently different in the Dodgers logo. That's a particular detail even avid Brooklyn fans don't universally know. If they did know it, they would know that it's supposed to be a void between the white embroidery rather than applied blue stitching...
Another issue is that the B used on today's replicas bears only vague resemblance to the B on actual Brooklyn hats of 60 years ago. Those B's have high variation due to the handmade embroidery, but they almost always are more like figure 8's with a curved backline. THAT B is much more unique and un-Boston-like. By comparison, your B might as well be from an off-color Sox hat.
As for people outside of NY assuming someone from NYC is a Yankees fan probably has less to do with mistaking the boroughs and more to do with the only occasional relevance of the Mets compared to the Yankees. As well as Dodgers fans largely switched allegiances to either the Yanks or the new Mets. Even if they didn't, their children and grandchildren (you?) did.
My advice when someone says "Sox? Yanks?" is to take a deep breath and say "I can understand why you might think that, but..." It's dangerous to accuse others of ignorance because there's enough of that to go around...
Just received my first B dodgers hat... thanks for the tips everyone. ;P (4 years in the future)
ReplyDeleteThe logo's are so similar which team had it first?
ReplyDeleteNot mentioned in any entry and the most distinctive difference in the Brooklyn B and the Boston B is the top and bottom of the Brooklyn B. The Brooklyn B corners curve up and down away from the B. The corners of the Boston B curve down and up into the B. Check out an old Brooklyn Baseball card and you will immediately see what I mean.
ReplyDeleteToday I purchased what I thought was a Black Brooklyn Dodgers cap with Black stiched logo. I walked out of the store and went to eat nextdoor. 20 minutes into my meal, I scanned the receipt and read "BOSTON RS Blk on Blk"!!!! I to am a Dodgers(Love) & Yankees(Really Like) fan so when I read that and looked at the cap(which I looked at in the store around 15 times) I quickly team back to the store and returned it!!! I got fooled BECAUSE I didn't see the triangle cutout on the "B" liked on a regular WHITE on BLUE cap. Funny, lol. Even I got fooled.
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