In the past 10 years, there has been a noticeable amount of chatter regarding what color caps the Cardinals should wear on the road. What is hard for me to tell is whether there is a big uproar over this, or if it’s a vocal minority making themselves known, especially when you consider how many Cardinals fans exist. I just don’t know how many fans are complaining about this, and how many total fans exist.
The main complaint we hear is that the Cardinals do not wear the solid navy blue caps as much as they did pre-2013. Those who take exception to the navy cap’s diminishment frequently point at the now infamous Red Or Blue vote. After unveiling new stitching techniques and a new alternate jersey, the Cardinals decided to solicit input from the fans in the week before the 2013 season.
The Cardinals asked fans for their opinions on what they wanted to see for the road caps.
Option 1, Red Caps Home, Blue Caps Road
Option 2, Red Caps Home, Red Caps Road
Option 3, Red Caps Home, Red Caps Road Primary, Blue Caps vs Red teams
Option 4, Red Caps Home, Red Caps Road Primary, Blue Caps on getaway days
Unfortunately it only garnered 51,000 votes, which in my opinion is 1, not nearly big enough of a sample size to make a solid determination, and 2, not exactly determinant of a fan vote when considering this was held exclusively on the internet. I think there are better ways to ask fans for input, such as targeted focus groups, or simply asking fans who come through the gate at Busch Stadium to take a look at a few uniform drawings before casting their vote.
The result of the vote is shown in the image below, the non-rounded percentages are as follows.
Blue Road Caps 38.728%
Red Road Caps, 38.383%
Blue Caps vs Red Teams, 11.983%
Blue Caps on Getaway days, 10.906%
The non-rounded numbers show that red was less than 0.5% away from blue. And even still, the overall numbers are skewed because the Red v Blue option and the Blue Getaway option both need to be qualified and redistributed into red or blue. Let’s split the Blue v Red games in half, give 6% to the blue caps and 6% to the red caps. And split the Getaways 2:1, give 7.333% to the red caps and give 3.666% to the blue caps. And you get…
Red Caps: 51.333%
Blue Caps: 48.666%
And while I fudged the numbers to make red caps in the lead, I still wouldn’t consider that to be a very dominating victory. My biggest gripe with this vote is that I don’t think it’s a good statistical analysis on Cardinals fans. There was only 51,000 votes. I don’t think that is representative of the greater fan base.
But even still, looking at the original categories, the leading vote count went to All Blue Road Caps all the time. And something frequently heard from the Blue Cappers is that this fan vote was completely swept under the rug and never given any consideration when making the decision of what colors to wear. Well, I think there is a reason for that. I’ll say it again, I don’t think relying on 51,000 random internet votes constitutes good decision making. And while I don’t know this, I surmise that Bill DeWitt III who is a very analytical, methodical, and calculated person, may have had similar thoughts.
DeWitt III was quoted in a Derrick Goold article on STL Today from April 2013, DeWitt said, “[The vote] painted a murky picture… We heard the fans and it was a mixed bag. Not one option got a clear majority with more than 50 percent... My gut reaction was the vote was wishy-washy and, because of the options, wasn’t able to give us a clear answer. It’s been 19 years since fans have seen what the red caps look like with the road grays, so this road trip is the first time they can really see that look. Maybe that changes their mind. Maybe it brings even more votes for the blue hats. The blue is still in play.” And DeWitt is right, the blue caps still make some appearances against red teams.
Another topic to consider in the Red vs Blue debate is historical precedent. From what I’ve read and heard, historical precedent seems to be a core tenet for those advocating for the blue caps. I’ve heard people say things like…
“The Cardinals used to always wear blue caps on the road.”
“The Cardinals had their best years wearing the blue caps.”
“The Cardinals blue cap was the main cap they wore all the time back in the day”
So with historical precedent in mind, I decided to make a chart to see what the real historical precedent is. The following chart shows how many times have the Cardinals worn Red Caps, Blue Caps, White/Gray-Red Caps, or Blue-Red Caps.
And the following chart shows you the breakdown of how many times the caps were worn. The total counts are simply how many cells are red, how many are blue, how many are two-tone white/gray-red, and how many are two-tone blue-red. This accounts for home, road, and alternates.
You’ll see that Red dominates the amount of times the Cardinals have worn red caps in their history. Even if you consider adding the two Blue categories together, they still don’t equal Red.
The reason why I split these out between 1899-2012 and 2013-2024 is because of when the official change happened in 2013.
If we also decide to ignore 2013 and forward, Red still comes out on top as the historical precedent. Red was also worn first, long before blue ever came into play. If we exclude the two wacky years of 1918 and 1919, the Cardinals never wore a blue cap until 1940. That’s 40 years of being a pure red team before we starting incorporating Blue as a featured color.
To give Bill DeWitt III his credit, I know he doesn’t make these decisions randomly. I know that he is a very logical thinker, and that he doesn’t make any decisions regarding the team’s brand without taking a hard look at the history of the team. And if we’re going off the history of the team, the Red caps have a much bigger claim for the all around caps than any blue cap.
So what do I think about the blue caps? I agree with Bill, I think we should be a red team. We are the Cardinals. Cardinals are red. And we were named for the color, not the bird. Not only do I think we should be a red team, I think we should drop blue and yellow from the brand completely. Two uniforms, white and gray, red caps all around, drop all blue outlines, change beaks to red. Don’t @ me. I’m gonna die on this hill. But that’s just one person’s opinion.
And the last question that hasn’t been asked, What looks best? How much blue should we wear? Here’s a quick mockup to show different amounts of blue in the uniform. What say you?
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 
I appreciate the time, thought, and commentary in this post. You make some very fair points.
I, too, wish the fan vote had been handled differently. I’m positive if you held it now, red would blow navy out of the water, and I think that would be due in part to recency bias. It also wouldn’t shock me if you did another fan vote and found that people between the ages of 45-60, and those born after 2006 skewed heavily towards red on the road because that’s what they grew up with. Conversely it wouldn’t shock me if people my age (late 30s/early 40s) skewed navy because that’s what we grew up with. The Cardinals switching from the Pajama Unis to button-downs and navy road caps took place right as I was becoming aware of baseball and uniform aesthetics, and I have no doubt that plays a huge part in my love for the the NRC.
As I have noted many times here and elsewhere, I am the polar opposite of you and Bill DeWitt III when it comes to the navy road caps, and that is the hill that I will die on. I also cannot fathom the idea of dropping the yellow and any and all blue from the uniforms. I am curious to see a mock-up of what your ideal Cardinals uniform set would be. What color would the bat be in your perfect world? Numbers on the front, or no? I assume black outlines? Would the road uni say “St. Louis” or “Cardinals”? Do you have any opinion on matte vs. glossy batting helmets?
My main argument for navy caps on the road is largely rooted in that I just genuinely hate red and gray as a color combination. I find the Angels, Reds, and Phillies road getups to be quite uninteresting. With the Cardinals’ shade of red, I always feel like I’m looking at a tomato sitting on a newspaper during most road games, and I find that very unappealing. I do think there needs to be SOME red in the road uniforms, and I really don’t like the all navy sleeves/accessories look many players have taken to wearing with the navy caps. The middle uniform in that series of five is my ideal road getup. I feel like the red sleeves and shoes adds a nice contrast and balance to the navy cap and belt, but that’s what I grew up with and thus it’s what feels right to me. I could live with the red belt being used, especially since there is historical precedence for that, but it wouldn’t be my favorite.
Speaking of historical precedence for navy caps, you’re right in saying that red caps have been worn more frequently throughout the Cardinals’ history. (Though from 1910 – 1939 the caps were mostly white or gray with red accents, which I don’t view in the same way as I do a solid red cap, but that’s probably a moot point.)
I do think you can make a pretty solid argument that navy caps are more closely associated with greater club success than is solid red, especially post-1940.
Both caps have seen the Cardinals blow two, 3-1 postseason series leads (1968 World Series, 1985 World Series for red; 1996 NLCS, 2012 NLCS for navy), both caps have seen the Cardinals make seemingly miraculous postseason comebacks (2014 NLDS Game One for red, 2012 NLDS Game Five for navy), but I think navy caps have a much larger stamp on indelible road Postseason moments in Cardinals history post-1940 than do the red.
Ken Boyer’s 6th Inning Grand Slam in Game Four of the 1964 World Series. Tim McCarver’s go-ahead three run homer in the top of the 10th in Game Five the next day. Brian Jordan’s go-ahead homer in the 9th off Trevor Hoffman in the decisive Game Three of the ’96 NLDS. Gary Gaetti’s Grand Slam off of Greg Maddux in Game Two of the ’96 NLCS. Albert Pujols’ go-ahead bomb off Brad Lidge in the 9th inning of Game Five of the ’05 NLCS. The Scott Spiezio two-out, game-tying 7th inning triple and the 9th inning So Taguchi go-ahead homer off of Billy Wagner in Game Two of the 2006 NLCS. Yadier Molina’s 9th inning go-ahead homer, and Adam Wainwright freezing Carlos Beltran to send the Cardinals to the World Series in Game Seven of that same LCS. Anthony Reyes coming out of nowhere to turn in an incredible 8-inning performance in Game One of the 2006 World Series. The Cardinals coming back from a 4-0 deficit against Cliff Lee and the Phillies in Game Two of the 2011 NLDS. Chris Carpenter out-dueling Roy Halladay in a 1-0 clincher in Game Five of that same series. Albert Pujols’ two-homer game in Game Two of the 2011 NLCS. David Freese’s three-run homer, Jon Jay’s catch, and the Cardinals winning the Pennant in Game Six of that LCS. Albert Pujols’ three home run game in Game Three of the 2011 World Series. The Infield Fly call in the 2012 Wild Card Game. The Cardinals’ amazing comeback from a 6-0 deficit in Game Five of the 2012 NLDS against Washington, specifically the Pete Kozma hit down the right field line to put them ahead in the 9th.
Great road red cap postseason moments that come to my mind are: Bob Gibson’s Game One and Game Seven performances in the 1967 World Series, Willie McGee’s two homer display (and possible HR robbing catch) in Game Three of the 1982 World Series, Jack Clark’s Three-Run Homer in Game Six of the 1985 NLCS, the comeback victory in Game Three of the 1987 NLCS, Michael Wacha’s performance in Game Four of the 2013 NLDS, Shane Robinson’s pinch-hit homer in the 2013 NLCS, and the eight-run 7th inning in Game One of the 2014 NLDS.
Personally, I’d take that first bunch over the latter any day.
My primary beef with the navy cap usage is the lack of consistency. The How and When has never been formally announced. The “Blue vs. Red” rule has seemingly just been a suggestion for the last three years. What defines a team as a “Red” team? Is it a club that has a primary cap that is red, and if team has a red alternate cap that they wear at home regularly (like Texas), why don’t they count? Since 2013, the Cardinals have gone Navy vs. Red 139 times, Navy vs. Non-Red 23 times, and Red vs. Red 21 times. The most times they wore navy caps was 24 in 2016, with the fewest (in a full season) being seven in 2021.
As I have said before, if you’re going to have both red and navy caps used on the road, it would be simpler, easier, and more balanced to wear the red caps when the other team is wearing blue, and the navy caps the rest of the time. Using the 2024 schedule as the template, assuming the Saturday Road unis ever get delivered, and that opponents never wear an alternate cap, using the Red vs. Blue model means the Cardinals would wear red caps 45 times on the road, and navy 36 times. That seems much more equitable, all things considered. If both cap sets are with the team on every road trip contrasting would be so much easier. If they’re in Washington, for example, and the Nationals wear their navy caps in the first game of the series, the Cardinals could wear their red caps. If the Nationals then wear their red caps or the tri-colored cap and red helmets in game two, St. Louis could wear the navy.
I will never understand how the navy cap can be used less often than the Powder Blues. They only wore the navy caps eight times last season. EIGHT! If recent trends continue, it’ll be 11 this year. I’ll take that over nothing, but son of a bitch …
Long live the Navy Road Caps!
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In fairness, just remembered another red cap great postseason moment: 2019 NLDS Game Five – ten run first inning.
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