Commentary: Forgive this Wooster pitcher’s straight brim

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By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer 9:58 PM Saturday, June 6, 2009

There’s just something about straight ball-cap bills that makes me uncomfortable.

Plenty of traditionalists feel the same way, like it’s silly to not leave a new cap in between two cups for a night to bend the bill just right. A baseball cap is sacred, after all.

But even if you feel that way, let’s forgive College of Wooster pitcher Mark Miller. In this week’s Sports Illustrated, Miller is featured in a large photograph moments after Wooster lost the Division III national championship to the University of St. Thomas. His brim is straight.

We could allow Miller his ironed look, if nothing else, because of his performance. The senior from Convoy pitched all 111/3 innings of the final game, allowing three runs on two hits. The loss dropped his record to 11-2.

But Miller also wears his hat that way for a reason. Before his sophomore season, Miller’s grandfather, to whom he was very close, died. The grandfather always wore his cap with no bend.

“That’s the best way I thought I could honor him,” Miller told the Times Bulletin of Van Wert last week.

It’s a small thing, of course, but few things about baseball upset longtime fans more than the fresh-from-the-store hat look, particularly when it seems a younger person is bucking tradition.

Miller, though, gets a pass.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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