Alright, let’s talk about this Oakland Athletics black hat I got recently. It wasn’t exactly straightforward, let me tell you.
So, I decided I needed a new cap. Not just any cap, mind you. I specifically wanted an Oakland A’s one. Simple enough, right? Wrong. See, I had my mind set on a black one. The classic green and gold is fine, everyone has that, but I wanted the black version. Thought it looked sharper, cleaner.
First place I looked was online, obviously. Scrolled through the big sports apparel sites. Found plenty of A’s gear, sure. Green hats, gold hats, hats with weird alternate logos I didn’t even recognize. But the plain, standard logo black hat? Kept hitting dead ends. Sold out. Not available. Or listed, but when you clicked, poof, gone. Spent a good hour or two just clicking around, getting more annoyed by the minute. Felt like they were hiding it on purpose.
Figured maybe going old school would work. Drove down to that big sporting goods store over by the highway. Walked in, went straight to the hats section. They had maybe three A’s hats total, all green. Asked the kid working there, looked about sixteen, if they had any black ones in the back. He just stared at me blankly for a second, then mumbled something about checking the inventory system. Came back after five minutes, said “Nope, guess not.” Real helpful.
Tried another smaller shop downtown, the one that usually has more obscure stuff. Same story. Lots of Giants gear, some Warriors stuff, but hardly any A’s things, and definitely no black hats. The owner, nice enough guy, said they just don’t get much call for the black A’s hats anymore. Seemed weird to me, but what do I know?
Was getting pretty discouraged, thinking I’d have to settle for green or just give up. Then I was talking to my buddy Dave, mentioned my hat hunt struggle. He goes, “Oh yeah, those black ones are tough to find sometimes. Did you check that little collector’s shop website? The one based out east?” Never heard of it. He sent me the name, no link, just the name.
Found the site. Looked a bit basic, not fancy like the big retailers. But sure enough, buried in their baseball section, there it was. Oakland Athletics Black Basic 59FIFTY Fitted Cap. Looked exactly right. The price was reasonable too, not jacked up like some places.
Took a chance, put in my order. Paid. Got the confirmation email. Then waited. You know how it is ordering from smaller places, sometimes it feels like your order goes into a black hole. But about four days later, a package showed up. Opened it up.
And there it was. The hat. Simple. Black. A’s logo stitched clean on the front. Tried it on. Fit perfectly. Good quality material too, feels like it’ll last. Not like some of the cheap flimsy things you get sometimes.
So yeah. Mission accomplished. Got my Oakland A’s black hat. Took way more digging than I expected for just a baseball cap. But hey, sometimes you just get a specific thing stuck in your head, and you gotta see it through, right? Happy I finally tracked it down.