Capshot: San Diego Old English Script 59Fifty

One of the more classic looks in the archive is this take on a city cap with old (or is it olde?) English script.

First, a disclaimer for font fanatics: I’m using “old English” as a catchall term for this font though you may know it as Gothic or perhaps a form of blackletter I can’t ascribe to anything other than old English for the sake of term familiarity. I apologize in advance.

Old English lettering has appeared in baseball since its earliest days and has been a constant in design and fashion far longer than that. Many teams chose to utilize the font in many different applications; as a cap logo, a jersey logo, or in many cases both. While some clubs have moved on from old English on their uniforms many still hang their figurative hat on the look (Detroit Tigers) and some bring it back for a retro look (Cincinnati Reds, Miami Hurricanes baseball). The White Sox’s current cap is one of the better examples of a baseball cap that has utilized an older font in a design that caught on with street fashion thanks to Easy-E’s adoption of the cap with N.W.A.

Today’s example is a fashion look that makes great use of the old English look:

Black crown and brim
White San Diego and New Era logo

This cap relies on the classic black/white colorway. The San Diego logo takes up much of the front of the cap. Speaking of…

Here’s a better look at the logo and the font. Through browsing on Wikipedia as research for this piece I learned that the “old English” font is a mix of various blackletter forms, some developed sooner than others in an amalgamation of a font we consider to be “old looking.” Despite the connotations such font carries it’s hard to argue that this letter design has become timeless in fashion and streetwear.

The rear of the cap features San Diego’s area code. This is another streetwise touch that works well with the cap.

The underbrim and sweatband are unsurprisingly black to match the rest of the cap.

Cap Availability Status: Discontinued

I purchased this cap from our friends over at Billion Creation a fair while back. While this cap may not be available anymore, there is a possibility of it making a return if enough people would like to add it to their own rotations.