Baseball Caps

In 1860, the Brooklyn Excelsiors (an amateur baseball team that played in Brooklyn, New York) wore the ancestor of the modern rounded-top baseball cap, and by 1900, the "Brooklyn style" cap became popular. During the 1940s, latex rubber became the stiffening material inside the hat and the modern baseball cap was born. The peak was designed to protect a player's eyes from the sun. Typically, the peak was much shorter in the earlier days of the baseball hat. Also, the hat has become more structured, versus the overall "floppy" cap of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The basic shape, including curved peak, is similar to some styles of 19th century sun bonnets.