My 2005 Nats hat. Not the original, which I bought at Union Station the day in 2004 they announced the team name — that one sadly lost in the booth of a Mexican restaurant on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis.

That first year nobody knew what the hat was. But wearing a bright red hat with a big W on it in 2005 got you some funny looks. I remember seeing my first one in the wild: at the very tip of the bristlecone pine trail at the very end of (wait for it) Bryce Canyon Natl Park.

Today’s hat is, in its own special ways, an upgrade.

One of my favorite things from last year was this thread and all the replies... rememberin’ some caps.

After a year, my World Series hat looks like a 10-year veteran. Fits right in.