It’s not the same cap the BoSox wear at Fenway Park, but it’s a fine replica, one I found unexpectedly in an antique store in Burlington, New Jersey, last weekend. Burlington is about 25 miles south of our home, and my wife and I go there a few times each year to visit a couple of antique stores that we like.

I always like tagging along because I just might find something I like — an old diecast car, a vintage pair of cuff links or just about anything that might strike my fancy. As my wife was getting her purchase rung up at the checkout counter, I spotted a rack around the corner that I hadn’t previously seen.

To my surprise, it had stacks of new baseball caps, a lot of Yankees, Mets and Phillies as befits Burlington, on the outskirts of Philadelphia and still within the media radius of the Big Apple. There were caps from other teams, too, and I grabbed one of the two remaining classic Red Sox caps. For $12, I couldn’t resist.

Then I saw the sign that said buy two, pay $20. Such a deal! I grabbed a Phillies City Connect cap, the one with the liberty bell on it. I don’t lack for ball caps, as anyone who reads this blog knows and a point not lost on my wife. She rolled her eyes and relented with a smile and let me add the caps to our purchase.

Afterwards, she took a couple of photos of me outside the store so I could send one to our daughter-in-law, a die-hard Red Sox fan from Massachusetts.

She was pleased, I was happy, and my wife had some new ice cream dishes to add to her collection of glassware. I’ll take a day like that any time.

TSN was the “Bible of Baseball,” and I was an acolyte, buying their annual publications like the Baseball Guide.

The publication has changed hands several times since the Spink family gave up ownership, and I even visited the latter-day offices once when I was an Associated Press executive. Long removed from its headquarters in downtown St. Louis, the publication had moved to sterile quarters in an office park or strip mall. (Is there a difference?)

I go to the Sporting News website every now and then, hoping to find something that reminds me of the old days when the publication broadened my perspective on big-league (and even minor league) baseball beyond the Cleveland Indians and the American League.

This evening, I thought I’d give it another look. I went straight to the MLB landing page and what did I see? Lead items on Kalshi and Polymarket betting sites, with come-ons for Sporting News-sponsored sign-ups. I even spotted the “Betting” link in the main navigation bar.

Say it ain’t so!

I went no further.

It disgusts me that baseball — the once honorable game that banished Shoeless Joe Jackson and his Black Sox teammates for the 1919 World Series betting scandal — has cozied up to gambling establishments. I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to bet on a game, but the game should not sully itself by associating with elements that were anathema decades ago.

At least our federal government hasn’t stooped to craven levels where top executives line their pockets with ill-gotten gains.

On second thought, strike that.

PitchCom, the secure way for hurlers to get instructions on the next pitch from the catcher or a coach, has been in use in Major League Baseball games since 2002. It’s a fixture at college games, too.

I well recognized that the encrypted system to prevent sign stealing meant catchers no longer stick their fingers down to call fastball or curve, but I hadn’t realized I haven’t been seeing pitchers shake off pitches.

Until recent seasons, part of the game was a pitcher leaning over and peering toward his battery mate, nodding to agree to the pitch call or shaking his head to say, “Not that.” A scowling Bob Gibson or an ornery Gaylord Perry might shake off two or three pitches before getting the one he wanted.

Those days are gone. Now, pitchers receive the instructions audibly through their caps and glance quickly at a wristband display before winding up or coming set. The photo leading this post shows Princeton’s James Beasley checking the wrist unit yesterday when readying to pitch against a batter from Siena University.

Beasely pitched well, scattering five hits over six innings without allowing a run. The Tigers won 5-1 over over Siena, whose head coach is former Princeton assistant coach Alex Jurczynski. It was great to see him again at Clarke Field.

One of the highlights of the game was watching Princeton pitcher Ethan Hsu, who has played sparingly, lock up the victory in the ninth inning. His teammates were cheering mightily for the 6-foot-4 senior, and he delivered, giving up only a walk with one strikeout in the scoreless frame.

Well done, Ethan.

An ugly 9-11 start doomed Thomson, who I hope gets another chance to manage in the big leagues if he’d like to do so.

As for the Phils, I haven’t paid rapt attention to them this season. I suppose I’ll get back on the bandwagon if they start winning under interim manager Don Mattingly.

Good luck, Donny Baseball.

I roamed the sidelines as I always do, but today was the first time I shot a few frames from inside the Princeton dugout. The coaches and players were gracious in letting me shoot from there, and I took advantage of the lower angle the dugout afforded me. I was also glad to be able to shoot the pitchers with the scoreboard behind them.

For as much hitting as there was, I got relatively few decent shots of batters swinging. Nor did I get much fielding action beyond first-base shots from behind and from across the diamond.

This was a non-conference game, so the loss didn’t sting quite as badly as it would have in an Ivy League game. But it still smarted.

The Lions play at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium at Columbia’s sports complex in Inwood, the tippy-top portion of Manhattan. I’d never visited there before, and the park looked great in the Sunday sunshine.

The game was a good battle. Princeton got six strong innings from starter Justin Kim, who gave up two runs on four hits, with nine strikeouts. Reliever Ryan Penney got the save for the final three innings. He held the Lions scoreless on one hit with three strikeouts.

Robertson Field limits fans to nice seats stretching from halfway up the first base line to just up from home plate on the third base line. While I have plenty of places to roam and shoot for Princeton home games, my choices were limited in New York. I was able to shoot from above third base on the running track encircling the field at the football stadium, which abuts the baseball field.

For many of my shots, rather than shooting at eye level to the players, I shot from a higher angle. Many of my photos were taken through the screen that protects the fans in the seats from foul balls. Even with the more challenging shooting positions, I enjoyed not only the game, but the challenge of shooting in a new environment.

Yes, Brewers marketing team, I understand your wanting to stress that all of America’s Dairyland and not just the city of Milwaukee embraces the team. But Wisco?

In the five years I lived in Milwaukee and during all the years since I have never seen or heard anyone refer to the Badger State as “Wisco.” “‘Sconsin?” Yes. But not Wisco.

Apparently, the term is of recent vintage. Milwaukee Magazine wrote about it in 2001, noting that Wisco was gaining popularity with a portion of the population while revolting most of the good burghers of the Cream City. Count me among the revolted.

As for the full uniform and cap, I like the dominant blue. It’s not far off from the Phillies City Connect uniforms, to which I warmed up after seeing them in person.

Of the other teams’ City Connect uniforms revealed today, I like the “Tejas” on the Rangers’ version and the scraggly “Pirates” on the Pittsburgh uniforms. Atlanta’s powder blue is nice, too. The others — Reds, Royals, Orioles and Padres — don’t do much for me.

With retirement on the horizon, I hope to do a bit of traveling to stadia I have yet to visit. I aim to work around the City Connect games.

The games were hard fought, and Princeton nearly pulled off a victory in the finale during Saturday’s doubleheader. Chased by what turned out to be a brief rain shower, I missed the last six innings but took in full the Friday afternoon opener and the first game Satuday.

At some point Friday, I discovered that I had accidentally tripped an exposure adjustment that made many of my shots darker than they should have been. With the reset, my photos improved, and I didn’t have to do nearly as much fiddling in Lightroom. Decent light also helped both days.

I have nothing against a few night games on Opening Day, as long as some of the games are played in daylight. I grew up when the game officially started the season with an afternoon game in Cincinnati, home of the longest continually playing Major League team.

This year, not only do we get one measly game at night, but it’s being broadcast on the Netflix subscription service. That’s great for subscribers, but for many other baseball fans like me, we’re excluded.

In a low-level manner of protest, I decided not to wear my 1980s-vintage MLB team logo tie today. I’ll save that for tomorrow when it’s truly Opening Day for the American and National leagues. I did wear one of my San Francisco caps to work today, not only to support the Giants but to passively aggress any passing Yankees fans.

I intend to catch the game via the Giants radio broadcast carried on the MLB app on my iPhone. I promise not to kvetch that it’s an inter-league matchup.

One positive: at least the game is being played on North American soil, not 10 time zones away in some soccer stadium draped with Vodaphone and Emirates logos.

We had nice Spring weather both days. The bright sunshine on Saturday made for some tricky shadows as I pointed my Canon at the action on Clarke Field. Some cloud cover toned down the lighting Sunday, which made shooting a bit easier.

During the first two games I concentrated on getting back into the baseball rythm — following hunches on where the next plays might come to get into the best position to shoot. On Sunday, I switched lenses every couple of innings to look for fresh angles, something I’m aiming to do all season. I don’t want to fall into the trap of shooting the same images (sometimes of the same players) over and over again.

In any event, it was good to get back and watch some entertaining baseball. I’m hoping to sharpen my shooting as the season progresses.

Princeton’s Charlie Wolf delivers a pitch.

Princeton catcher Will Robbins stretches to put the tag on a Cornell running trying (and failing) to score.