Look at a crowd at almost any baseball game from the seventies and you can find the A's fans instantly. Their caps are the only ones that look like they were dipped in two different paint cans: a green crown and a bright gold brim, with the letters set in white across the front. Next to the navy and red of most teams, that cap looked like a joke at first. It became one of the most recognisable pieces of headwear in sport.
This post is about that cap and its relatives. The first time we wrote about vintage Oakland Athletics clothing, we covered the whole wardrobe. Here the focus is narrower: the caps themselves, how they changed across the Oakland decades, what to check on an old one, and how to wear green and gold on your head without feeling like you are holding a sign.
A cap that broke the rules
For most of baseball history, caps were solid and sober. A dark crown, a matching brim, a simple letter or two. The Athletics under owner Charlie Finley tore that up, bringing kelly green and gold into the uniform and turning the cap into a two-colour object. The gold brim in particular made the whole thing feel cheerful and deliberately loud.
That cap arrived with the team in Oakland and became the symbol of the early-seventies dynasty. When people picture the moustached A's teams that won three straight World Series, they usually picture those caps along with the facial hair. The design has been revived many times since, which tells you how firmly it lodged in people's memories.
For a collector, the two-tone cap is the obvious starting point. It is also the one most often reproduced, so it is worth knowing what an older example tends to look and feel like before getting attached to the first one you see.
How the cap changed over the Oakland years
It helps to think of A's caps in loose families rather than exact dates. The bright two-tone version, with a vivid green crown and a gold or yellow brim, belongs most closely to the seventies and has been brought back repeatedly as a throwback. Through the eighties and nineties, the team leaned more on darker, richer green, and all-green caps with a white or gold logo became common alongside two-tone versions.
The elephant has also appeared on caps, both as the main graphic and on the side, in versions ranging from a fairly realistic standing animal to a friendlier cartoon. Elephant caps are a good reminder of how proud the club was of its mascot, and they tend to appeal to people who want something a little less obvious than the letters.
Because colours and logos were revisited so often, the design alone is not enough to date a cap. Use it as a starting point, then look at construction, materials and the tag. As with any vintage MLB apparel, no single detail proves age.
Snapbacks, fitteds and the trucker years
Vintage A's caps come in several constructions, and each wears differently.
- Mesh-back trucker caps. Common in the seventies and early eighties, with a foam front panel and plastic snap closure. Light and breezy, but the foam can crumble with age.
- Wool and wool-blend fitted caps. Structured, with a stiffened front and a sized fit. Look at the inside tag for the size and check that it suits your head before anything else.
- Cotton or twill snapbacks. Very common in the late eighties and nineties licensed boom, with a plastic adjustable strap. Easy to wear and forgiving on fit.
- Strapbacks. Adjustable with a fabric or leather strap and a metal buckle. Often softer and lower in the crown, which suits a relaxed look.
The construction you choose shapes the whole outfit. A tall, structured fitted cap reads sporty and sharp. A softer, unstructured strapback sits lower and looks more casual, almost like a dad cap. Try both if you can, because how a cap sits on your head matters more than its age.
Most caps are a colour. The old A's cap is a mood, and the mood is a sunny afternoon in the bleachers.
The Bay Area connection
The A's cap has always been more than a fan item in Oakland. It became part of the wider East Bay look, worn by people who might not follow every game but liked what the green and gold said about where they came from. Musicians from the area wore it too; MC Hammer famously worked as a young batboy around the A's clubhouse before his music career, and the team stayed part of his story.
That local pride gives vintage Oakland Athletics caps a weight that goes beyond baseball. With the team having left Oakland after the 2024 season, older caps have become something like heirlooms for people from the area, a way to wear a place as much as a team. If you are wearing one in Toronto, you are wearing a bit of that story as well, which is part of what makes a good one feel special.
Checking an old A's cap
Caps take more direct abuse than almost any other garment. They absorb sweat, get crushed in bags, sit in car windows in the sun, and go through washing machines they were never meant to see. When you pick one up, go through it slowly.
Sweatband
Turn the cap over and look inside. Older sweatbands may be cracked, stiff, stained or coming away from the crown. Light discolouration is normal and easy to live with. Heavy cracking or a band that is falling apart will make the cap uncomfortable and may not be worth repairing.
Crown and front panel
Press the front panels gently. A structured cap should hold its shape. Collapsed or creased fronts can sometimes be coaxed back, but deep folds rarely disappear completely. On trucker caps, feel for crumbling foam behind the front panel, which can shed small pieces.
Brim and colour
Look at the brim from the side. Some curve is fine and often desirable, but a brim with a hard crease or a broken insert will not sit well. Compare the colour of the brim and crown with the protected areas under the button and inside the seams. Gold brims often fade toward a paler lemon, and green can drift toward a softer, slightly bluish tone. Even fading looks good; blotchy patches less so.
Embroidery and closure
Check the logo for loose or missing threads, and test the snap strap or buckle. Old plastic snaps can crack, especially in cold weather.
Wearing green and gold on your head
A two-tone A's cap is a bright accessory, and the best way to wear it is to give it room. Think of it as the one colourful item in an otherwise calm outfit. White tees, grey sweatshirts, navy jackets, black trousers, light-wash denim and tan chinos all let the green and gold stand out without competing.
If you want a connected look, repeat a muted version of one colour elsewhere: an olive overshirt, a mustard sock, a forest green knit. Avoid matching the cap's bright kelly green exactly with another item, which can look like a uniform. A darker or softer shade feels more natural.
Darker all-green caps are easier still. They work almost like a navy cap and sit comfortably with earth tones such as brown, cream and khaki. Pair one with a corduroy jacket and loose jeans, and it reads as a thoughtful outdoorsy choice rather than team gear.
- Two-tone cap, plain white tee, light-wash straight jeans, white sneakers.
- All-green cap, grey hoodie, khaki work trousers, brown boots.
- Elephant cap, navy crewneck, olive cargos, canvas high-tops.
- Faded two-tone trucker, striped short-sleeve shirt, cream shorts on a summer weekend.
Looking after it
Keep vintage caps out of the washing machine and dryer, which can warp the brim, shrink the crown and loosen the stitching. Spot-clean marks with a soft brush or cloth and a little mild soap, rinse with a damp cloth, and let the cap dry on a rounded shape, such as a bowl or a ball, so it keeps its form. For sweatbands, a gentle wipe after warm days does more good than an occasional deep clean.
Store caps where they will not be crushed, ideally on a shelf or hook rather than at the bottom of a bag. Keep them out of strong sunlight, which fades green and gold faster than most colours. If you own several, rotate them, so no single cap carries all the sweat of a summer.
One cap, worn often
There is a temptation to treat an old A's cap as a collector's object, placed on a shelf and admired. Some caps deserve that, particularly very fragile ones. But most were made to be worn in the sun, and they look best with a little life in them: a softened brim, a crown that has found the shape of someone's head, a faded patch where a thumb always grabbed the peak.
If you find one that fits and makes you smile, wear it. Shops like Throwback Vault turn over new pieces every week, and you never quite know when green and gold will appear among the navy and black. When it does, try it on, check the sweatband, and picture it on a sunny Saturday. That is where it belongs.
