Beginning on Sunday — Derek Jeter Day at Yankees Stadium — the Yankees will be wearing special Derek Jeter patches on their hats and jerseys for the rest of the season. Derek Jeter will also be presumably wearing the patches. Which is akin to being able to attend your own funeral.

While it may be a great way to sell more merchandise, it comes at a pretty inopportune time as there is a growing narrative that Jeter, who is still technically alive, is effectively killing the Yankees season with his poor play.

Jeter’s never been a good defensive shortstop. Now at 40 — an age at which few men have ever played baseball’s most challenging position on a regular basis– he’s pretty awful.  While his hitting, which used to more than make up for his lack of range in the field, has been shaky all year, it’s fallen off a cliff as of late; Captain Clutch is OPSing .207/.226/.261 in his last 116 plate appearances.

Jeter probably isn’t the worst player in baseball, but he is probably the worst in the American League who plays regularly while batting in the top half of the lineup. (Ryan Howard has that prize in the National League.)

Jeter is the third player to get the full on retirement treatment over the last three years.  While his former teammate Mariano Rivera and Braves third baseman Chipper Jones were still playing at a (legitimate) All-Star levels during their farewell tour, Jeter’s presence may end up costing the over-achieving Yankees a shot at the playoffs.

Maybe once Jeter is memorialized everyday in the Yankees game day duds, manager Joe Girardi will finally be comfortable with batting the 40-year old down in the lineup and giving him a healthy dose of off days. However, with New York sitting five games out of the final wildcard spot, it may be too late to make a difference.

The popular slugger was still basking in the afterglow of leading the Red Sox to a World Series win. In fact, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia had the second most jersey sales back in April and Sox closer Koji Uehara and 2013 center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury also made the top 20.

Fast forward to midseason, and things are a bit different in the jersey sales race. Ortiz and Pedroia are still in the top five, despite the Red Sox’s struggles. But now it’s a member of the hated Yankees at number one. We run down the top 20 selling jerseys, including their rank at the beginning of the season, below.

20. Yu Darvish Texas Rangers (ranked 19th in April)
The Japanese import sells out on both sides of the Pacific

19. Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants (unranked)
Mr. Cy Young Award has become Mr. No-Hitter. (Although the Giants would probably prefer Mr. Cy Young.

18. Hyun-Jin Ryu Los Angeles Dodgers (unranked)
More proof of the power of the Asian market.

17. Bryce Harper Washington Nationals (12)
Eye black sold separately.

16. Manny Machado Baltimore Orioles (10)
New notoriety has led to a down tick in sales.

15. Anthony Rizzo Chicago Cubs (unranked)
At least Cubs fans have one thing to cheer about.

14. Masahiro Tanaka New York Yankees (unranked)
Injury to their rookie ace could derail the Yankees season and fast.

13. Robinson Cano Seattle Mariners (9)
Power might be gone, but his new team is surprisingly good. Still probably not worth the money.

12. Freddie Freeman Atlanta Braves (unranked)
Becoming a legit middle of the order presence, which the Braves really, really need.

11. Andrew McCutchen Pittsburgh Pirates (6)
Quietly putting up better numbers than he did in his 2013 National League MVP season.

10. Miguel Cabrera Detroit Tigers (13)
Even in a down year he still rakes.

9. Yasiel Puig Los Angeles Dodgers (11)
When you want to say “I’m exciting and unpredictable and give my manager ulcers.”

8. David Wright New York Mets (8)
“Captain America” remains a bit hit with the jersey buying public.

7. Mike Trout Anaheim Angles (14)
The best player in the world looks like he will win his first MVP in 2014; maybe then he can also top jersey sales by the end of the year.

6. Yadier Molina St. Louis Cardinals (4)
A Molina jersey will never look right without the corresponding aggressive neck tattoo.

5. Dustin Pedroia Boston Red Sox (2)
Sox fans aren’t blaming the laser show for their team’s dismal season.

4. David Ortiz Boston Red Sox (1)
Nor have they turned on Big Papi.

3. Clayton Kershaw Los Angeles Dodgers (5)
23.1 more innings to break Orel Hershisher’s scoreless struck of 59. If you were starting a team would you rather have Trout or Kershaw? Some question don’t have proper answers.

2. Buster Posey San Francisco Giants (7)
Giants fans always support their main man.

1. Derek Jeter New York Yankees (3)
To his credit, the retiring Hall of Famer has been keeping his head above water lately.

Dropped out of the 20: Koji Uehara, Jacoby Ellsbury, Adam Wainwright, Prince Fielder, Matt Harvey,

That’s the lesson we can take away from the list of bestselling jerseys at MLB.com from this offseason, which is measured from October 31, 2013 to March 30 2014.

The biggest seller was Boston Red Sox’s slugger David Ortiz, whose number 34 Majestic jersey was up 932 percent from the same time period last year. His teammate Dustin Pedroia took the second spot, with his sales up 379 percent.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Robinson Cano and Prince Fielder all changed teams this offseason and made the top 20 list.

Rookie Yasiel Puig was also in the top 20, as were young stars Mike Trout, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper.

You can see the entire list below. So don’t buy any of these jerseys if you want to be original.

20. Jacoby Ellsbury New York Yankees
Move to the Bronx has triggered run of jersey sales.

19. Yu Darvish Texas Rangers
Japanese import is popular on both sides of the pacific.

18. Koji Uehara Boston Red Sox
So is post-season hero Uehara.

17. Adam Wainwright St. Louis Cardinals
The perennial Cy Young candidate is also a hit at the sporting goods store.

16. Prince Fielder Texas Rangers
Switching teams is a good way to generate jersey sales.

15. Matt Harvey New York Mets
Mets fans wish they could swap their Harvey jersey for the real thing.

14. Mike Trout Los Angeles Angels
Baseball’s best player only 14th in jersey sales.

13. Miguel Cabrera Detroit Tigers
To be accurate, you have to buy it in XXL.

12. Bryce Harper Washington Nationals
Eye black sold separately.

11. Yasiel Puig Los Angeles Dodgers
It’s no surprise the Cuban sensation sold some jerseys.

10. Manny Machado Baltimore Orioles
Machado tops Trout and Harper in jersey sales.

9. Robinson Cano Seattle Marines
Another team changer pops up on the list.

8. David Wright New York Mets
We’re thinking a lot of wannabe Mrs. Wright’s purchased a Mets #5.

7. Buster Posey San Francisco Giants
The clutch catcher has certainly earned his popularity.

6. Andrew McCutchen Pittsburgh Pirates
Win an MVP and suddenly everyone wants your jersey.

5. Clayton Kershaw Los Angeles Dodgers
Dodgers hope the left hander’s jersey will be relevant for years to come.

4. Yadier Molina St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis fans again show they know their stuff by buying Molina gear.

3. Derek Jeter New York Yankees
Something tells us they’ll let you buy Jeter jersey after he retires.

2. Dustin Pedroia Boston Red Sox
The Laser Show is a hero to normal-sized humans everywhere.

1. David Ortiz Boston Red Sox
Big Papi is Numero Uno when it comes to jersey sales.

One of baseball longest lasting gifts to culture is the baseball hat. Once just adorning the heads of the men and boys who take to the diamond, the baseball cap has became part of the American costume.

The classic baseball hat is still baseball themed and replicates  the caps worn on the field by Major Leaguers, Minor Leaguers and college players. However the only time you will see this type of hats as the predominant hat among a group is when you are looking at the crowd taking in a game at the ballpark. (Or looking at the players on the field.)

These days baseball hats are just as likely to feature a logo from another sport than they are baseball. And that’s not even getting into the literally ten of thousands different types of non-sports related baseball hats, which include everything from hats with interesting artistic designs to lids that have the name of the latest Hollywood blockbuster embroidered on it. The universe of baseball hats is vast and almost limitless.

But what about the blank baseball hat? The kind that has no logo, symbol or promotional material above the its brim. Is that the kind of hat you’d be interested in wearing?

There are many reasons somebody would want to wear a blank baseball. The simplest are the same as the non-baseball related reasons that you’d want to wear a regular baseball hat. These would include you want to hide your messy hair; you want to protect your eyes from the sun; you think you look better with a hat and/or the color of your hat brings out your eyes or matches other items of clothing.

But then there are also more specific reasons you’d want to wear a blank baseball hat. Maybe you are anxious about advertising something on your head and prefer not to be a walking billboard — whether it be for a baseball team or the local bar and grill. Maybe you think wearing a blank baseball hat is “ironic.” Which would make wearing a blank trucker hat so overwhelmingly ironic that it could allow famous misunderstander of irony Alanis Morissette to  finally get a handle on the word’s definition. Or maybe you just think blank baseball hats look cool.

Whatever your reason for wanting a blank baseball hat you are in luck. They are readily available and usually cost less than regular baseball hats. You can buy large lots of blank baseball hats for little as $1.50 each and a quick tour of Amazon reveals that you can purchase individual adjustable blank baseball hats that look sturdy for as little as $3.50.

Blank baseball hats are available in just about any style and color regular baseball hats are. Famous wearers of blank baseball hats include Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe.

Rowe, who just about always wears a baseball cap of some kind, is often seen sporting a grey baseball hat that has no logos or embroidery above the brim or anywhere on the hat. That’s blank baseball hat style.

Many a young boy goes to bed at night and dreams of baseball. So why not help that process along with baseball bedding, which is a stylish addition to any school-aged baseball fan’s bedroom.

Baseball bedding can feature a whole host of themes. It can be repeating bats, repeating gloves or repeating balls. Or it can be a mix of these three essential pieces of baseball equipment. One popular set of baseball bedding features the logos of all 30 baseball teams — which would be good for a Major League Baseball fan who doesn’t necessarily have a favorite teams.

But perhaps the most popular kind of baseball bedding is team specific. For example a set of New York Yankee bedding that would feature the Bronx Bomber’s navy blue, white and grey team colors and their iconic intertwined NY logo. You can get baseball bedding for any major league team.

Typically baseball bedding comes in twin size, often as a five piece set that includes a comforter. Although you can also find baseball crib linings for the littlest fans and baseball bedding for bed sizes larger than twin for those who aren’t kids anymore.

While baseball bedding is a good idea for a married couple who both share an affinity for the sport or for the same big league team, it is not necessarily a great choice for a single adult baseball fan because it might signal to a potential romantic partner that the displayer of such sports-themed sheets is not ready for a mature relationship.

It would also be a little creepy for a fan of any age to have baseball bedding of their favorite player, rather than just their favorite team. Perhaps this is the reason there doesn’t seem to be any Derek Jeter baseball sets, to use an example of a popular player who you can’t have embroidered on your sheets.

You can buy baseball bedding just about anywhere you can buy regular bedding, most sporting goods stores, Major League Baseball’s website and on your favorite team’s official website. Baseball bedding should run between $25 and $150 depending on the size and the quality of the set. Make sure to use the Internet to price baseball bedding before making a final purchase. Sweet baseball dreams!

There was a time long, long ago that baseball caps were just used to play baseball in. These days, however, if you own a baseball cap you are much more likely to be wearing it off the diamond. People do all sorts of activities in their baseball cap, including those that will get the cap both dirty from the inside (perspiration) and the outside (dirt, debris, paint and unfortunate bird droppings.)

Before cleaning your baseball cap you have to determine if it is even worth cleaning. If your hat is cheaply made — meaning it has a cardboard brim and loose stitching — you are probably better off just buying another cheap baseball hat, as the inexpensive design and material isn’t likely to survive a thorough washing.

Most baseball caps manufactured  in the last five or ten years are solidly made, however, with plastic brims. And you can and should wash them when needed. The first thing to do when you have a washable hat is simply check for a label with washing instructions. Many have one and if it does you should just follow whatever it says.

For well-made hats that don’t come with washing instructions, remember that cotton, twill and polyester hats can be washed in a washing machine. If the hat is badly stained you should first apply a pre-wash. Don’t use bleach. Never put a baseball hat in the dryer unless you want to give it to a young relative. Instead air dry it. It is a good idea to stick something like a can or pot or a balloon in the hat during drying so it will keep its form. Or if you are really worried about your hat becoming deformed through washing there are special forms that you can stick in the hat before drying.

If you are weary of sticking your favorite lid in fast moving electronic appliance you can also just wash it by hand with warm water and a mild detergent. Then rinse it off with cool water.

Wool hats always need to be hand washed. And when you do so you would be wise to use a detergent that is specifically approved for wool. Don’t scrub too hard. Make sure to hand a dry wool hat as much as possible after washing and always leave it to dry on something head-shaped to avoid deformation. (Drying it on your head is actually a pretty good idea if you don’t mind wet hair.)

Particular care is needed when washing a New Era hat if you want to keep the New Era sticker in tact. The best way to do this is to tape a piece of plastic wrap around the sticker and then scrub the hat with a toothbrush.

Before washing a very old hat (which should be done by hand) perform a color test with whatever detergent you are going to use. Dip a small amount of the detergent on an unseen part of the hat. If the color changes you are going to just have to wash the hat with water. If not, proceed with the detergent.

Some have suggested using a dishwasher instead of a washing machine to clean sturdy hats because a dishwasher should provide a less abrasive wash and also do a bit of heat drying at the end of the cycle. You can also use the dishwasher tray to position the baseball cap in a way that mimics the head.

Baseball caps are for way more than just playing baseball in. They are also a great way to promote your business, charity or cultural event. Promotional baseball hats are a win win situation for everybody. People like baseball caps and they also like free things. So why not stick your logo on a baseball cap and give these lids away at conferences, conventions, fairs or movie openings. You can and should also give these hats to those whom you do business with.

If you’re lucky, and you have a well-designed cap, the recipient of you gift will wear the hat around town and suddenly you have some free advertising.

Well, not exactly free. You do have to pay for the productions of the hats. But luckily that’s not that much. Promotional baseball hats purchased in bulk range from about a dollar to about ten bucks each, depending on the style and quality of the hat. During the process of buying a promotional hat you send the seller the design you want printed on the space above the brim.

There are many websites on the internet that sell promotional hats and you should look no further than the World Wide Web if you are interested in purchasing a lot of promotional baseball caps. When you do, make sure to comparison shop and be mindful of differences in material quality and any hidden fees that might be included in the logo design process of the hat’s production.

Once you get that all straight you are one step closer to making the general public your walking billboards. And that’s a strategy any business owner or person in charge of company’s marketing decisions should be able to get behind. (And underneath.)

We have no idea how many different types of baseball caps there are in the world. A million? That sounds like too many. But surely there are hundreds of thousands. The point is if you want to own a lot of different baseball hats you certainly have the opportunity to.

And if you do own a lot of baseball caps, you will need a place to store them as nobody likes a baseball cap owner who just throws his hats all haphazardly all over the house. There are many different styles of baseball cap racks that can both organize your sports lids and keep your room in order. We’ve listed the different styles of baseball cap racks and an explanation of each of them below. Hopefully this will help you decide which baseball cap rack is right for you and your baseball cap collection.

Baseball cap rack stand tower
This is the granddaddy of all baseball cap racks. It is a solidly built wire tower, often extending more than six feet in the air. The tower will have between eight and fourteen tiers. You can put one baseball or hat on each tier, or up to six caps on each tier if you stack them on top of each other. Meaning some baseball cap hat racks can store over a hundred hats. This type of rack is often used in commercial settings — like a sporting goods shop or college bookstore. But for the serious baseball cap collector it would be appropriate for home use. Baseball cap hat rack stands generally cost between eighty and one hundred and twenty dollars, depending on their size.

Door hanging cap racks Baseball 
You’ve probably seen one of these hanging on the back of the closet of your frattiest bro. Door hanging cap racks are a great way to organize a medium sized baseball cap collections. To set up a door hanging cap rack you strap it to the top of a door. There should also be a lower strap which stabilizes it to the bottom of the door. Then there are clips or hooks on which you can hang between eight and ten hats. (Many door hanging cap racks come in sets of two, so you can strap them next to each other and double the overall capacity.) These type of cap racks will run between about ten and twenty five dollars. However you might want to opt for the more expensive types as the straps on the cheaper ones can be a bit flimsy.

Peg hat rack system
This is the old school way to hang your hats. A peg hat rack systems is made from hardwood or stainless steel and can sometimes be expanded. It is nailed or screwed into the wall and can be positioned vertically or horizontally. The number of pegs depends on the size of the piece. In addition to baseball caps, peg hat racks system can also house more flimsy lids, such as wool hats. These hat racks range in price between $10 and $25 depending on their size and material.

Cap storage bag
Not a hat rack, per see, but it can be used as one. A hat storage bag is primarily a way to transport your hats. (Which is good for a guy who wants to go on vacation and mix things up by wearing a different hat every day.) But when you aren’t using the storage bag to move your caps around it works pretty well as a place to, well, store them. Cap storage bags usually cost between ten and twenty dollars.

These are the basic types of cap racks, but they certainly aren’t the totality of the cap rack market. There are many variations of these hat racks — for example there is hanging hat rack that attaches to a closet rod. There are also cap racks that crazy cap rack geniuses are currently dreaming up and will soon hit the market. You can buy hat racks at brick at mortar retailers like Bed, Bath and Beyond, The Container Store and Dick’s Sporting Goods. There is also a wide selection of baseball cap racks on online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.

In this day and age, there is no reason not to have a rack to hang your hat on.

Baseball savings is an online one-stop shop for baseball equipment and apparel. It was founded in 2006 and its mailing address is in Wichita, Kansas, where they also have one retail store there. Baseball Savings is the number one baseball only retailer on the Internet.

Baseball Saving is famous for guaranteeing the lowest price on any baseball bat. If you find a lower price on any bat Baseball Savings carries, they will match the price.

According to Baseball Savings they also have the widest selection of bats on the Internet. These include Easton, DeMARINI, Marucci, Mizuno, Louisville Slugger, Nike, Rawlings, RIP-IT, Miken, Anderson, Mattingly and Reebok. The also have every kind of bat from wood to composite to fungo to fast pitch softball to custom. One of the neat things about Baseball Savings website is that there is a an easy to use function which displays bats by association regulations.

So if, for example, your league is under the ASA umbrella you can just click on ASA and see all the bats that meet that association’s standards. This is also a separate section for BBCOR bats, which are used in college and high school baseball and always feature -three drops. (The drop is difference between the bat’s length in inches and weight in ounces.)

When you click on an individual bat Baseball Saving’s website will give you a bullet point list of all the bat’s features which would include what material the bat is made of, its specs and any warranty information.

Of course Baseball savings is about more than just bats. They sell just about any piece equipment that a baseball player would need, including the field equipment that builds and keeps the diamond in shape. The websites also feature just about any item of NCAA or Major League baseball apparel that a fan would want. Additionally the online market place offers a custom logo service that would be great for corporations, charities and events.

If you are in any way dissatisfied with any product you purchase from Baseball Savings you can get a hundred percent refund as long as you return it within a thirty day period and the product is still in its original packaging and in “new, unused and original” condition. The shipping fee, however, is non-refundable. Custom orders, closeouts, demo items and personalized items or not eligible for this refund.

Orders to Baseball Savings can either be done through their website or over the phone. Baseball Savings offers a $6.99 flat rate standard shipping fee. (It is two dollars more for delivery to “rural” areas, seven to fifteen dollars more to ship to Alaska and three to five dollars more to send something to Hawaii.) Next business day shipping is $22.99, and second day is $14.99.

These shipping prices only apply to orders under seventy five pounds. Saturday and Sunday don’t count as shipping days and any order received after noon on Friday will go out on Sunday.

Baseball Savings only charges sales tax when shipping to Kansas, California or Washington State. However your state my require you to report your purchase and then pay the appropriate sales tax on it.

A baseball stirrup is a kind of sock that is part of the traditional baseball uniform. When baseball began, a high sock was necessary because for pants players wore knickers, which fit just over the knee and reigned as the style of the day.

Back in the mid-19th century it was thought the dyes isnsocks would cause health risk. So players would wear white socks — called sanitaries — like we would wear regular socks, covering the area between their shoes and the bottom of their knickers. Then on top of their sanitary socks they would wear stirrups, which would include color. Instead of having a proper sock bottom these stirrups would hook under the players foot, exposing some of the white sock. Ostensibly the sanitary would protect the player from the harmful dyes in the stirrup. The baseball stirrup tended to have a larger loop than the traditional stirrup — exposing even more of the white under-sock than the typical fashionable knicker wearer would show during that time period and creating a unique baseball stirrup look.

While the hysteria over sock dye soon died down, the baseball stirrup quickly became a crucial part of the baseball uniform. In fact teams, such as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Red Sox got their names because of the color of their stirrups. Throughout most of baseball history players would wear their stirrups proudly. And if the didn’t, managers such as Leo Durocher would take out a ruling stick and measure the stirrup loop to make sure it conformed to team and league standards.

However in the 80s players starting wearing stirrups with such large loops all you would see is the white under-sock and the stirrup loops. While this was technically a violation of many teams and league standards, enforcement became lax.

Then in the 90s things started going in the completely opposite direction, and players showed less and less stirrup because they were wearing their pants down to their shoes. Slugger Gary Sheffield even devised a system in which his pants hooked under his feet, completely eliminating the need for stirrups.

These days there are some players who embrace the traditional stirrup, with Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants and Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals the leading proponents of the now retro style. Most college programs use traditional stirrups, and many minor league teams require them as a way to show team unity. There has also been a trend among high school and youth players to adopt the old school stirrup look.

Some of these new stirrup wearers are actually adorned in what are called 2-n’-1s, which is one piece sock that mimics the stirrup look by having a stirrup design either painted or showed onto their side.

Stirrups can be purchased at your local sporting good store or an an online retailer like Amazon.com. They tend to be between $3 and $8 dollars per pair, and come in all sorts of colors and sizes between 4 inches (meaning the loop) and 7 inches. 2-’n-1s can be bought from the same places, if you prefer that style, and cost about the some per pair.