Why, on Catfish Hunter's Hall of Fame plaque, is he not wearing a Kansas City, Oakland, or New York hat?

At the time a player was allowed to choose which cap would be memorialized on his Hall of Fame Plaque. Before and after his induction, Hunter spoke highly of his experiences with both the Athletics and Yankees and his appreciation for both team owners, Charlie Finley and George Steinbrenner. For this reason, he refused to choose a team and thus the plaque depicts him without an insignia on the cap.

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RE:

Why, on Catfish Hunter's Hall of Fame plaque, is he not wearing a Kansas City, Oakland, or New York hat?

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/img/hofers/plaqu...

Catfish Hunter Hall Of Fame

When Hunter went into the Hall, the players were the ones who decided what hat they wanted to wear and Hunter couldn't choose between the Yanks and A's so he said no hat. There have been a few players who've done that.

Around the mid-90s when players were selling the rights to the hat they would wear to whatever team would pay the highest (Boggs and Winfield were the two main culprits), the Hall made an official announcement that they would now be the ones who choose what hat the players wears, so now the players has zero say in what hat they wear. And if you remember, Clemens, before the steroid convertaversy, said he wanted to wear a Yankees hat and the Hall said, "we don't think so" and he had a big hubaloo about it (that's a moot point now).

You can choose which hat you want to wear. Catfish felt that he had a great career with Oakland and the Yanks, so he decided not to have a logo on his plaque.

It was his choice not to have a team represented. Back in those days, before players began attempting to sell their plaque cap logo (true) and the Hall stepped in and said No, Our Policy Is That It Is OUR Choice, the honored players had more say in the matter. Hunter didn't feel deeply affiliated with the Athletics (he deeply resented owner Finley) or with the Yankees, and asked the Hall to let his cap be blank. The Hall complied.