Capshot: Águilas de Mexicali 2016-2017 Championship 59Fifty

My second favorite professional baseball team doesn’t reside in Major League Baseball, or even in the same country. The Águilas de Mexicali (Mexicali Eagles) reside just south of the border from the Imperial Valley and will be celebrating a championship season this October: they took the Liga Mexicana del Pacifico (Mexican Pacific League) crown last year and represented Mexico in the Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series). Though the Mexican team would go on to lose in the one-game final to a white-hot Puerto Rico squad, the Águilas have plenty to celebrate with their fourth championship in team history.

Navy crown, brim, and squatcho
White interlocking MA and New Era logo

You can see I have a thing for teams with interlocking logos, right?

This particular cap debuted last year for the Águilas and was worn interchangeably with their uniform set, most commonly with their throwback uniform (the Águilas celebrated 40 years last season).

Adorning the wearer’s right (cap left) is the Águilas Campeones (champions) Chroma patch. The background represents their stadium, Estadio B’Air. Because the Mexican Pacific League is a winter league the teams typically play well into January and February should they advance into the Caribbean series. Temporada (season) 2016-2017 is followed by the LMP logo underneath.

The LMP logo adorns the rear of the cap.

The underbrim matches the navy of the cap and the sweatband is standard black.

Of note and new this year is the inclusion of a LMP brand patch; typically these caps lacked such a designation. The label reads “Gorra oficial de juego”, or in usual cap jargon “official game cap”. Eagle-eyed readers will also notice a white tag beneath the materials label that labels said materials in Spanish.

Cap Availability Status: Import

Yep, you’ll have to find someone who can import this cap from across the border as it is not available in the United States. Last I visited El Nido (The Nest, the stadium’s nickname) there was a plethora of these caps though they were priced high thanks to a slight resurgence of the peso (this cap was about $41 USD) and I can guarantee they will disappear quickly as the season kicks off the second week of October.