• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

JoeFavorito.com

JoeFavorito.com

SPORTS PUBLICITY, MARKETING & BRAND BUILDING IN A NEW AGE: WITH JOE FAVORITO

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Joe In The News
  • My Book
  • Services
  • Links & Feeds
    • Get involved
    • Legends of sports publicity
    • Sports Movies and Books
  • Contact
    • RSS Feed
  • MLB
  • MLS
  • NASCAR
  • NCAA
  • NFL
  • NHL
  • PBR
  • PGA Tour
  • Tennis
  • Crisis Management
  • Gaming
  • NBA Teams
  • Olympics

A Tradition That Works Around The World…MLB City Initials and Hats…

May 13, 2022 by Joe Favorito
Spread the love

The best observations are literally sitting there right in front of you, but you get too caught up in all the what if’s to realize them.

I was catching up with some UK colleagues this past week in New York, and we were talking about MLB’s decision to continue to expand its footprint into the UK over the next few years. It is a good effort on the part of baseball to raise not just awareness, but marketing activations across the Atlantic, and London has been an accepting safe haven for American sport as we have seen. However they pointed out, baseball has had a built in brand advantage from a sales and identity standpoint that no other sport has, one I had never fully considered.

“The world loves caps, especially American caps, and no matter where you go in the world you see MLB caps. Why? They are the only business in the world who traditionally have the initials of the city they play in right there for all to buy. If you like New York, you have the Yankees, NY. LA, there is the Dodgers cap, San Francisco or Chicago, you have those cities in whatever color you want. It doesn’t have much to do with baseball, but it is a great subtle way to see how caps show up around the world, unlike any branding spend any team can do. Whoever came up with the idea over 100 years ago should get a royalty!”

Even with team rebranding…the Indians to the Guardians for example, the “C’ stayed front and center on the hat. The Nationals have rolled now new styles this year, all with a “W” right in the middle. If it sells, keep it there. It’s what people like.

It reminded me of an urban legend I had heard about several years ago, as the New York Yankees and Manchester United created a first-ever global business partnership, one which fizzled pretty quickly. What was the impetus? The story goes that the late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, was travelling in Europe as part of his role with the US Olympic Committee and saw all these Yankees caps in every color wherever he went. He assumed that somehow all these random people were Yankees fans. In reality they just liked the cap because of the interlocking NY.”

The conversation was a stark reminder of how necessity and simple needs take precedence over even the buzzworthy of campaigns. People like hats, we sell them hats. People like American cities we put initials on the front and leave it at that. Sure we can have new niche styles, and there are three teams…The White Sox, the Brewers and the Blue Jays who have the team logo as their primary cap…but the reality is the city letters identify and sell with people regardless of if they have ever picked up a baseball, and that’s a nice little intangible MLB has in places even where the only diamond, is one in a wedding ring.

Hat’s off MLB, rather be lucky than good sometimes.

Category: Ambush Marketing, College Baseball, Minor League Baseball, MLB, Past PostsTag: Jerry Seinfeld, LeBron James, Manchester United, MLB, Yankees

About Joe Favorito

Previous Post:Grad Advice Taken From Tom Brady…And Joey Zanaboni…Exploit Your Skills, And Enjoy the Path…
Next Post:Simple, Actionable…Red Nose Day Returns In Full Force…

Sidebar

About Me

Joe has over 35 years of strategic communications / marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. He is a producer of award winning and cutting edge programs designed to increase ROI and minimize cost.

Follow Me On Twitter

Tweets by @joefav

CATEGORIES

  • Ambush Marketing
  • Boston Globe
  • Boxing
  • Business
  • CBS
  • Cinema
  • College Baseball
  • College Basketball
  • College Football
  • Crisis Management
  • Current Events
  • Darren Rovell
  • ESPN
  • ESPN/ABC
  • FEATURED STORY
  • FIFA
  • Fox
  • Fox Sports.com
  • Gaming
  • Horse Racing
  • Indy Car
  • Jobs
  • Lacrosse
  • lifestyle
  • Miami Herald
  • Minor League Baseball
  • Minor League Hockey
  • Mixed Martial Arts
  • MLB
  • MLS
  • Most Recent Posts
  • Moving the Needle
  • NASCAR
  • NBA Teams
  • NBDL
  • NCAA
  • New York Post
  • New York Times
  • news
  • NFL
  • NHL
  • NLL
  • Olympics
  • Past Posts
  • PBR
  • PGA Tour
  • Photography
  • SI.com
  • sport
  • Tennis
  • Tips
  • Uncategorized
  • Washington Post
  • WNBA

TAGS

Adam Silver cause marketing CBS Sports Columbia Columbia University CoSIDA Dana White David Stern Don Garber ESPN Esports FIFA Fordham University Fox Sports Gaming LeBron James Madison Square Garden March Madness Mets MiLB MLB MLS MMA NASCAR NBA NBC Sports NCAA New York Jets New York Mets New York Yankees NFL NHL NWSL Olympics PBR Prudential Center Roger Goodell Super Bowl Ted Leonsis twitter UFC USOC USTA WNBA World Cup

CATEGORIES

  • Ambush Marketing
  • Boston Globe
  • Boxing
  • Business
  • CBS
  • Cinema
  • College Baseball
  • College Basketball
  • College Football
  • Crisis Management
  • Current Events
  • Darren Rovell
  • ESPN
  • ESPN/ABC
  • FEATURED STORY
  • FIFA
  • Fox
  • Fox Sports.com
  • Gaming
  • Horse Racing
  • Indy Car
  • Jobs
  • Lacrosse
  • lifestyle
  • Miami Herald
  • Minor League Baseball
  • Minor League Hockey
  • Mixed Martial Arts
  • MLB
  • MLS
  • Most Recent Posts
  • Moving the Needle
  • NASCAR
  • NBA Teams
  • NBDL
  • NCAA
  • New York Post
  • New York Times
  • news
  • NFL
  • NHL
  • NLL
  • Olympics
  • Past Posts
  • PBR
  • PGA Tour
  • Photography
  • SI.com
  • sport
  • Tennis
  • Tips
  • Uncategorized
  • Washington Post
  • WNBA

TAGS

Adam Silver cause marketing CBS Sports Columbia Columbia University CoSIDA Dana White David Stern Don Garber ESPN Esports FIFA Fordham University Fox Sports Gaming LeBron James Madison Square Garden March Madness Mets MiLB MLB MLS MMA NASCAR NBA NBC Sports NCAA New York Jets New York Mets New York Yankees NFL NHL NWSL Olympics PBR Prudential Center Roger Goodell Super Bowl Ted Leonsis twitter UFC USOC USTA WNBA World Cup

Contact Me

JOE FAVORITO
joefavorito1@yahoo.com

Joefavorito.com

Board Member

  • Weinstein Carnegie Group
  • NY Sports Venture Capital

School Affiliations

  • Drexel University Sport Business Advisory Board 
  • Columbia University Sports Management program

Newsletter

Sign up to get free resources, tips, and articles of our station.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS Feed

Copyright © 2025 · JoeFavorito.com · All Rights Reserved – RSS Feed