The "So, What's In Your Collection?" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just putting my hats away from vacation. If you haven't noticed by now, I'm bald! Because of that, I usually wear a hat year round. In the winter I wear a stocking hat that I can pull down over my ears, but during the summer I wear a baseball hat. Not necessarily with a baseball team logo on it, but the baseball hat variety. Many people collect many different things; some collect stamps, coins, antiques, cook books, shoes, etc. Did I hit your collection yet? Well, I collect baseball hats. I have close to 50 that I have collected over the years. Quite a few are sports hats from teams I played on or have coached while a few are Philadelphia sports team's hats such as the Phillies and Eagles. Have 2 freebies from the Phils; one a blue hat with a red "P" while the other is a red and blue one from Modell's Sporting Goods Store. My most prized hats are from my trips I have taken to the Caribbean. I have two hats advertising "Woody's"; one from Woody's Crab House in North East, MD and the other from Woody's Seafood Saloon in St. Johns, US Virgin Islands. I have hats from: Barbados, Turks and Caicos, Jimmy Buffett'sMargaritaville in Key West,Caymen Islands and Jamaica, from Maui and Oahu in Hawaii, from Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, from Buck Island in St. Croix, from Belize, and Orient Beach in St. Martin as well as Dock Maarten's inSint Maarten. I do have my favorites, though. The hats that fit me the best and are the most comfortable to wear are: a red hat from the Chesapeake Inn located in Chesapeake City, MD; a purple hat from Dock Maarten's Marina, Restaurant and Shops in Sint Maarten; a gray hat from Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in Jamaica; a light blue hat from Sunset Beach Bar in Sint Maarten, Dutch West Indies; and my most favorite hat to wear, a gray hat from Poipu Beach in Hawaii. You can tell I wear them quite often from the perspiration stains on them. I also have a few that are quite unique. One hat from St. John's, USVI features a pair of dolphins on it as the sun sets. Never saw anything like it before. Another hat I purchased the same day on St. John's at a beach bar on Coral Bay that was called "Skinny Legs". It gives the longitude and latitude of the place as 18.7 N by 64.7 W. A year or two later I saw a guy walking on the streets of North East, MD with the same hat on. I have an orange hat that I bought at a bait shop in Provo, Turks and Caicos that features a fish hook and the words "Master Baits - Provo" on it. That usually just sits on the shelf in my closet. My most expensive hat came from Bankie Banx's Dune Preserve in Anguilla in 2007. It says "Jimmy Buffett - Tunes on the Dunes" and is from a Buffett concert that was played on Rendezvous Beach at the Dune Preserve. Paid $40 for that one. One hat that I just got about a half year ago is one of the most colorful. A bright yellow one that will get a good workout this coming summer; came from Aruba, DWI. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Favorites: purple from Dock Maarten in Sint Maarten, gray Margaritaville from Jamaica, red from Chesapeake Inn, Chesapeake City, MD, gray from Poipu Beach, Hawaii, and blue Sunset Beach Hat from Sint Maarten, DWI.

Special hats: light blue hat from St Johns, hat with blue brim from "Skinny Legs", "Tunes on the Dunes" hat from Anguilla, and Master Baits hat from Provo.