A regularly stocked hat by New Era for all teams. It was my first fitted hat that I got after slowly moving from Dad Caps, then Truckers, then Snapbacks and Fitteds. Even though I don't wear it very often, it's one of my favourite caps in the collection and it's a great way to start getting into collecting hats for those uninitiated.

Since (at least) the New Era Flag era of MLB caps, every MLB team has had unique hats for their batting practice that serve as both a breathable headwear before the game and the base for their Spring Training cap. In 2022, the MLB came out with a new regulation for teams and their Batting Practice and Spring Training caps. On the field, the caps would have the team's main colour as the base with the stitching on the hat being the team's second colour. The back panels of the hat would be mesh as well making it one of the few official MLB-sold caps that are fitted Truckers. In the case of the Astros, the hat is navy with orange stitching making up the logo, New Era flag, and Batterman on the back. This is one of my favourite hats to wear just all the time because of its light weight and breathability.

In 2000, the Astros moved to Enron Field (later The Park at Union Station, now Minute Maid Park) and with that move came a new era of Astros baseball, and a new uniform to go with it. This new uniform is based on their last uniform which featured a navy and gold design with an uneven "shooting star" logo. Their subsequent uniform was black and red and the "shooting star" logo was evened out. In my opinion, this is the best regular uniform logo in Astros history and it also reminds me of watching Astros games as a small kid and walking down a very specific entrance into MMP to see the grandstand of the concourse. That is why this is my favourite hat to wear out. It's tied for the best fitting cap in my collection with the Texans 2023 Sideline cap. (Note that the image used is of a separate reprint made with a green under-visor which is not accurate to the original hat or the official reprint)

Down in Mexico, the Liga de Mexicana de Beisbol team in Monterrey called the Sultanes have a badass collection of hats, including this hat based on their past logo. The logo is the letter "S" with a baseball in the middle which features the "Sultanes" script. There is not much more that I can say about this hat other than it was a bitch to get because they're only sold in Mexico. (Fun Fact: New Era MX has hats for a cheaper price than in the US plus they constantly have official WBC Mexico gear in stock year-round)

Going back to Houston, I have a relatively simple Oilers hat with a black base and coloured logo (The NFL shield is cyan and the New Era flag is white if you care). While this hat is simple, my relationship with it is not as the same day I bought it, the Tennesee Titans revealed their Oilers unis for the year. As a firm hater of the Titans, especially their stance on Houston, I have elected to never wear this hat until the Texans surpass the Titans in the playoffs and cement themselves as the true owners of the "Oilers" name. (Note that while the image shown is of the same hat, its from Macy's and they fucked up the hat when they took the pic so blame them for how shit it looks)

This is the jewel of my fitted collection. On 713 Day in 2022, the Astros released a collection of fitted and snapback hats with colourways inspired by the Astrodome, the Killer B's, the Rockets' move to Houston, and the Oilers. Each hat had many unique details for each aspect they represented but I could only unfortunately get one hat, I chose the one that spoke to me the most. Each hat had a variation of the following details, the concept Astros logo on the front, a "Houston" script side patch in an era-specific font, a raised batter man in the design's complementing colour, a New Era flag in a different complementing colour, and a pin in the front right panel with an Astros logo which is from the hat's era (excluding the Astrodome hat which includes a pin of the "Astrodome Original" sidepatch). (Note that the hat was not sold online so the image is an image from the Astros site of the hat in my collection)

When the Texans drafted CJ Stroud and Will Anderson Jr back to back in the 2023 NFL Draft, I knew it was going to be a good season. When the NFL revealed the Sideline Collection for each team with a split carrousel design on the crown with the team colours (navy and red for the Texans), I knew I had to pick one up and in December I did, It's tied for the best fitting cap in my collection with the Astros 2000s reprint.

Continuing with the 2022 Rockets, I also had the script hat from the collection. This hat has a much different story behind it as it was actually gifted to me by my ex-boyfriend. The back of the hat on the sides of the snapback has an embroidery of my name and 713. For a while after breaking up with my boyfriend, I stopped wearing the hat and eventually, all Rockets gear and snapbacks I had. I didn't want to think about him at all. However, as I've gotten more accepting of what happened, I started to let myself like snapbacks again. I also have a jersey from the same collection which makes this a great combo to wear on gameday.

This is the jewel of my snapback collection. This hat was released by the Rockets quite a bit ago and at first glance, its a simple hat with 713 on the front and the Rockets logo on the side. However, part of the 713 collection is a design of the Houston roadmap in black and red which is printed on the bottom of the visor. This detail made me fall in love with this hat as it represents the city proudly and the map small detail would only be enjoyed by people who bought it. People from Houston. I love it.