Keen eyes found this kind mention of Ball Cap Nation on the Lids blog:
http://blog.lids.com/hats/2009/09/new-book-ball-cap-nation.html
Thanks Hat World/Lids.
Hey, wouldn’t it be great if, in the many, many Hat World/Lids locations, you were able to buy a copy of Ball Cap Nation?
Just a thought.
As mentioned, Ball Cap Nation author James Lilliefors was a guest on The Nick Digilio Show this past weekend.
Nick called the book “…terrifically entertaining…” and said he “…couldn’t put it down…” (which, of course, we love to hear).
In case you don’t live in the WGN radio listening area or the show is on past your bedtime, here’s a link to the interview:
http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/nickd/wgnam-nickd-uncut-podcast-090912a,0,4611861.mp3file
BIG thanks to Nick and producer Andy Hermann for having James on the show.
For those night owls in the Chicagoland area, Ball Cap Nation author James Lilliefors will be a guest on WGN radio’s The Nick Digilio Show this Friday night/Saturday morning.
As you can see from the WGN site, Nick is something of a ball cap aficionado himself:
http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/nickd/
The Friday show airs from 11pm to 2am CENTRAL time and Lilliefors will discuss all things Ball Cap at the top of the midnight hour (1 am EDT).
Stay up late or set your alarm.
President John F. Kennedy and actor Tom Selleck each played an influential role in the nation’s headwearing habits. Kennedy was the first president not to wear a hat - and during his presidency and for many years afterward American men did not wear hats. Selleck was the first leading man/sex symbol to wear a baseball cap (the Detroit Tigers cap that he wore as Magnum, P.I., beginning in 1980). It was during the Magnum years that baseball caps caught on and became acceptable casual wear in America, and throughout the world. Kennedy’s hatless look prompted men to take off their hats; 20 years later, Selleck’s ball caps influenced men - and women – to don casual headwear.
The baseball cap (not the cowboy hat) is the only truly American hat. Where did it come from? The ball fields of America’s national game – back in the 1800s. According to Tom Shieber, senior curator at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, “We shouldn’t say baseball invented this cap but I think it would be fair to say that baseball solidified its place in our culture.” What was known as the Brooklyn-style cap, worn by the Brooklyn Excelsiors in the 1860s, could be said to be the forerunner of the modern-day ball cap. It did not become widely accepted in professional baseball until the late 1890s. The two key changes to the cap in the 20th century were the longer bill and the vertical crown. Read more about the history of the baseball cap in Ball Cap Nation.
Ball Cap Nation was featured last weekend on Harry Rinker’s nationally syndicated radio show Whatcha Got? Harry talked with author James Lilliefors about such notable cap collectors as David Wells and Buckey Legried. Earlier this summer, Kate Delaney (herself a formidable cap collector) featured Ball Cap Nation on her nationally syndicated late-night show America Tonight.
Calling it a “must-read”, Midwest Book Review was lavish with praise for Ball Cap Nation.
“Award-winning journalist (and ball cap collector) James Lilliefors presents Ball Cap Nation: A Journey Through the World of America’s National Hat, an amazing history of the baseball cap accessible to readers of all backgrounds, from sports enthusiasts to serious-minded scholars of fashion and headwear. Chapters cover the origin of the ball cap, how caps are made complete with a tour of a factory, the hobby of cap collection (which is practiced by such notable individuals as major league pitcher David Wells) and how to get started in it, the etiquette of where and where not to wear one’s ball cap, the best method for cleaning and preserving one’s caps, and much more. A “must-read” for anyone who loves or is intrigued by the classic icon of Americana that is [the] baseball cap.”
Is it okay to wear your ball cap to dinner at a casual restaurant? Etiquette writer Lizzy Post doesn’t think so. Says Post, the great great granddaughter of Emily Post, “At any sit-down restaurant, I think it’s a general courtesy toward the people you’re seated with and those in the restaurant to remove your cap.”
To those who consider wearing a ball cap a sign of personal expression, she says: “I think there’s a bigger issue than personal expression and that’s respect. You need to respect your community and your environment.”
