I know the Kenny Rogers / pinetar topic has been played out in every way possible, but I found a new angle to this that hasn't been publicized outside of the sports uniform geek community - which I happen to be a part of.

The Tigers have both "game" hats and batting practice hats. For the most part, these hats look exactly the same except for a few differences. They are made of different materials (gamer is wool; BP is polyester). The front edge of the brim for the game hat is the same color as the rest of the brim, but the BP hats have front edges that are colored - white at home and orange on the road. Finally, the underbrim on the game hat is gray while the BP hat has a black underbrim.

But here's the interesting part... Kenny Rogers wears the BP hat during games.

In order to do this, he has to go through the effort to color the edge of the brim with a dark marker because MLB regulations won't let the colored edge of the brim appear in games. Why would someone want to go through the effort?

Since the BP hats are made of polyester mesh, maybe they are cooler to wear than the wool. Rogers wore the BP hat all year and excessive heat hardly seems like a problem in Detroit in April. So are there any other reasons to do this?

Let's say after spring training, you move back north to Detroit and you are having a hard time gripping the ball in the crisp April evenings. You quickly realize that a little dab of pinetar helps your grip beyond your expectations. But being a banned substance, how do you get it to the mound and keep it hidden? You come up with an idea that a perfect place would be the underbill of your cap. It's hidden most of the time, and just by adjusting your cap, you can get a little dab on your thumb, quickly rub it into your first two fingers and let it fly. There's only one problem...the gray underbill of your cap doesn't hide the dark pinetar if anyone would get too close. Luckily, your batting practice caps have a black underbill.

Hopefully, if we get the Tigers again in the World Series next year, maybe TLR will insist that The Gambler wear the regulation cap for games.