2011 Atlanta Braves On-Fields

As many of you know, one of my passions is hats, stemming from my love for the game of baseball, specifically the Atlanta Braves.

Most of you know the traditional set of hats, the home navy hat with the iconic white 'A' featuring a red brim, the all navy road hat, and the Sunday alternate hat featuring the 'A' with a tomahawk passing through it. But those three hats were only 1/4th of the hats the the Braves wore last year. Yes, the Braves featured 9 other 'On-Field' hats in the 2011 season. Let us explore them!

Jair Jurrjens wearing the Boston Braves hat.

Boston Braves TBTC hat.

The first non-traditional hat that the Braves wore was against the Dodgers on April 21st. The Dodgers let the fans pick which uniforms and the Braves, I assume, decided shortly before the game to join in on the Turn Back The Clock fun donning uniforms and caps from the Boston Braves era. I say this because the caps are made by Bobcat Athletic, a company out of California that specializes in vintage-era reproductions of hats. Other companies such as California Custom Caps and Ebbets Field Flannels do the same. I assume that the Braves decided to join this TBTC promotion late because the hats are Bobcat Athletic. Normally for a TBTC game, New Era (official MLB On-Field supplier) would make the hats, but other companies, such as Bobcat, CCC, or Ebbets get the call when New Era simply doesn't have the time to make these hats. The Boston Braves hats are not at all the same as New Era hats. The hats feature non-raised embroidery on the logo, traditional of the time, and a non-structured fit.

If you own a modern New Era hat, you will notice that the front two panels have a material (buckram) that gives the hat the structured fit that fans and baseball players alike have grown accustom to. This hat does not feature this buckram support, and fits lower on the head that modern New Era hats. These hats are still available in limited sizes at the Braves Clubhouse Store located in the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Former Brave Alex Gonzalez.

The Civil Rights Game was played on May 15th 2011 between the Phillies and the Braves. These teams donned throwbacks from 37 years earlier to honor Hank Aaron and his 715th home run with the Braves in 1974. However, these teams also wore Negro League throwbacks the day before to honor baseball roots in each of their respective towns. The Phillies wore Philadelphia Stars uniforms and the Braves honored the Atlanta Black Crackers by wearing TBTC era hats of the 20's and 30's ABC teams. This hat is made by California Custom Caps, and features an 'A' that is different from the modern Atlanta A but still a very cool hat. This hat, like the Boston Braves TBTC, is unstructured, and is one of the most comfortable hats that I own. Also, like the Boston Braves TBTC hat, this one can be found in the CNN Center Braves store. If you are interested in this logo on a more modern fitted hat, there are multiple websites that sell hats with this logo.

Jason Heyward in the Civil Rights Game uniform.

A closer look.

The 1974 throwbacks that the Braves and Phillies wore featured the ever popular lowercase 'a' of the Hank Aaron days. These hats were made by New Era and feature a block lettering reading "Civil Rights Game" on the left side of the hat. This has the the fit of a modern New Era hat with buckram support. The Civil Rights Game hats were limited edition, and sold out very quickly. Hopefully you got one, but if not, the Braves are hosting the 2012 Civil Rights game as well, and there will be more hats.

Tommy Hanson!

On Memorial Day, 2011, the Braves, as well as the rest of MLB wore the 'Stars and Stripes' collection during their games. These hats are either loved or hated by fans, one side loving the patriotic nature of the hats, the other disliking how the hat fits in with the uniform set. The Braves version features white front panels and navy on the rest of the panels, with the traditional Atlanta 'A' being filled in with, well, stars and stripes. The traditional MLB Batter-man on the back of the hat also features stars and stripes. Once again, made by New Era, these hats fit like a modern baseball hat, and are still available some places. Get yours fast, because stores are making room for the 2012 Stars & Stripes hats, which are digi-camo if you haven't heard about or seen them! The 2011 S&S hats were also worn on July 4th games.

Close up of the 2011 ASG Patch.

2011 Futures Game Patch

The next two hats that were worn by the Braves weren't actually worn by all members of the Braves. Only five Atlanta Braves got to wear the 2011 All Star Patch Hat; McCann, Jurrjens, Kimbrel, Venters, Jones. While only two wore the 2011 Futures Game hat; Julio Teheran and Arodys Vizcaino. Both hats are essentially the traditional home Atlanta Braves hat with a patch on the left side. Both are made by New Era and both, especially the Futures Game hat were limited release. No worries if you didn't get them, both versions of these for the 2012 All Star Game should be coming out soon.

Freddie Freeman.

9/11 Atlanta Braves Set

Of the last three 'On-Field' for the Braves, only one of them was actually worn in a game. Instead of wearing the 2011 Stars & Stripes hats on September 11th, as traditionally done in years past of the S&S campaign, MLB decided to do something special in remembrance of the 10th year anniversary of September 11th. All the teams would wear their normal hats, except with an American Flag side patch. There were three of them for the Braves; home, road, and Sunday alternate. The Braves played in St. Louis that day and thus wore their road hat with the American Flag Patch. All three versions of these hats were for sale though. The home and Sunday Alt hat are still available, but the road version is sold out in all stores that I can tell.

The complete 2011 Atlanta Braves On-Field Collection!