Capshot: San Diego Padres Heritage Series 19Twenty

One of the more interesting caps I’ve come across is this Heritage Series 19Twenty cap. The term 59Fifty refers to the style and cut of the flagship New Era product. A 9Fifty is the snapback model, a 39Thirty is flexfit, and so on. The 19Twenty model refers to a take on the vintage style of baseball cap: short bill, unstructured crown, flat stitching. I haven’t seen any Padres examples of a 19Twenty cap simply because this style is reserved for MLB teams that existed in the 1930s-1940s, the Padres of course being a PCL team at the time. This is indeed a unique find:

Brown crown and brim
Yellow and orange flat-stitched ’69-era interlocking SD
White New Era logo

While not entirely noticeable from first glance, this cap is an unstructured cap in that it does not have a stiff interior buckram to support the front two panels of the crown. The embroidery does some of the work in maintaining the crown’s shape, but upon feeling the cap you’ll notice the front is very soft and flexible.

While not an entirely accurate use of the interlocking SD (they didn’t use a layered version until 1984), it makes for a great retro look otherwise and adds a little more visual pop to the classic logo. I don’t take much umbrage with the logo accuracy here since there is no source material to reference for the 1930s-1940s besides the PCL Padres and they wore either black or navy.

You’ll also notice the brim is truncated and much boxier compared to your usual cap. It’s more akin to the “A-Frame” style of brim you see on older snapback/trucker caps from the 90s besides the length.

The rear of the cap features a flat-stitched MLB Batterman logo in white, brown, and yellow. Technically the Batterman logo wouldn’t have existed on caps in this era (they were added in 1992) but it doesn’t detract from the cap as a whole.

Outside of the green underbrim are interesting details; cloth white taping and a very comfortable suede sweatband. If you’ve never tried on a cap with a suede sweatband, you’re missing out; the soft feel makes you forget you’re wearing a cap at all. Even though vintage caps had leather sweatbands, this is a nice luxury compromise.

You’ll also see there’s no interior buckram as previously mentioned.

Here’s a closer look at the interior details. New Era went with their “retro” tagging for the size and brand tags. Of note is the size here: I had to go up a size in this cap due to the style. I recommend giving yours a try before buying.

Cap Availability Status: Common

I found this cap at our friends at Billion Creation; it is available in store and should be available online shortly. I recommend snagging it if you need a different style for your archive. It’s the first Padres cap in this style that I’ve seen so far.