More on the double serif, I asked Jeff Scott from birdbats.com if he knew anything about the double serif caps shown to us in our previous article.
Jeff gave us some great information we didn’t know. Here’s what he had to say…
That photo is from the 1984-88 period because I can see #16 Nick Leyva in the reflection of his glasses. It’s definitely an unusual style. Can’t find anything like it (though, admittedly, I haven’t spent hours looking). It’s possible the variation has something to do with the manufacturer.
Back in the mid ’60s, some guys wore Harry Walker-branded caps and others wore New Era, the two styles being slightly different.
In the early ’70s, some wore KM Pro and others wore New Era, each featuring a different logo (see Gibby shots, circa ’73, and note the pointy S on the KM Pro cap).
In the early ’80s, a few guys opted for Roman Pro caps. During the period the Herzog photo was taken, they wore BP jerseys from three manufacturers — Majestic, Sand Knit and Rawlings … all slightly different. Sometimes, you’d see different styles in the same photos… So, maybe that explains why it’s an outlier. Honestly, though, that’s just a guess.
Interesting stuff! So what Jeff is saying is, back before Major League Baseball took control over all garment contracts, the teams were likely free to use whichever manufacturer they wanted. What gets weirder, is that they were allowed to use different manufacturers in the same season? And it was player preference? If that is the case, then it would corroborate the following two photos of Bob Gibson that Jeff provided in his email.
So naturally I went ahead and started researching these brands. I found some good images when I searched for KM Pro Cardinals caps.
And while those caps are not the 1980s double serif logo, they also do corroborate a logo from the 1970s we have known about, but never knew why it existed, similar to the 80s double serif.
Hopefully soon I can dig up some research and specifics on cap manufacturers from 1983-1988 and find out who was producing the slightly alternate logo, and get some examples to post. But until then, at least we know the reason, because manufacturers seemingly just decided to do it.
Thanks to everyone who sent in photos and helped research this topic.
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 