Baseball caps are worn by everyone now a days, its great for pulling an outfit together, if you are having a bad hair day, or if you are trying to block out the sun. 50 said something along the the lines “N****s wearing hats cause the colors match they clothes, they get caught in the wrong hood, and filled up with holes” except he said flags instead of hats.

In all seriousness though, some baseball hats you do not want to wear in some certain areas in California, or even in some other states and cities now.

Hats have become a gang symbol just like bandanas, gangs have claimed some sports teams gear, like the Fresno Bulldogs have claimed the states football mascot and logo, and they are never getting it back.

History behind Gang Symbols

When street gangs first started popping up, gangs would create a symbols based of their clothes that represented the gang. The gangs of New York in the early 1900s would even use clothes and style to represent their gang, using fashion is nothing new in gang life.

When Hispanic gangs started popping up, they also dressed in certain ways to symbolize their gang lifestyle or cholo culture. They are also the first types of gangs to start using spray paint and tags to represent their hoods.

Hispanic gangs were the first types of street gangs to be very territorial and would use graffiti to mark their territory.

Black gangs in California adopted this type of symbolism to mark their territory of turf in their respective hoods.

As more gangs started popping up, they started claiming colors. Gang colors would mark gang affiliation. Colored bandanas would also be chosen as a flag for gang membership.

As fashion developed and modernized, clothing was used more and more in determining the what Hood gang members were from.

Today, Gang Members would using, sports team to symbolize there gang. Hats and other sporting merchandise would be claimed by gangs.

Lets take a look at some gang affiliated hats and what each hat symbolizes for each gang.

Hats you shouldn’t wear in some hoods

Since gangs are very territorial, wearing the wrong color can get you killed. Make sure to not wear these types of hats if you are visiting these hoods in California or anywhere there are street gangs, you may attract some unwanted attention.

LA Dodgers Hat

Gang affiliation – Crips, Surenos, Gangster Disciples

Reason – The Blue LA Dodgers hat is a very recognizable hat, royal blue with white lettering. Its a choice favorite for people who live in LA as it can be paired with anything. In gang culture, this hat is known to be worn by a lot of Crips. So be careful where you wear this if you are visiting California as you might get some pressure from the locals. Surenos will also wear a lot of blue so this hat is part of the uniform. The Dodgers hats with the D, are used by the gangster Disciples.

Cincinnati Reds

Gang affiliation – Bloods, Cedar Block Piru, Campanella Park Piru

Reason – The Red Cincinnati Reds baseball hat are mainly worn by bloods due to the color. But to get more specific, the blood set that reps this hat is the Cedar Block Pirus. One of their famous members, rapper The Game would wear this hat a lot when he first jumped on the rap scene.

Houston Astros

Gang affiliation – Hoover Criminals, People Nation, Folk Nation, Puro Tago Blast, Bloods, Harpys 13

Reason – The Hoovers wear the astros hats as it sports the H, Both People and Folk Nation wear the Astros hat as it has the five pointed star on it, Puro Tango Blast due to the houston home town, and the Bloods will wear the red alternate version due to the color.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Gang affiliation – Piru Bloods, Latin King

Reason – Piru gang members will wear it for the P, and Latin kings will wear it for the black and yellow colors.

Seattle Mariners

Gang affiliation – Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips, Sons of Samoa

Reason – The S on the hat symbolizes the Sixty

Oakland A’s

Gang affiliation – Asian Boyz Crips, Almighty Ambrose Nation, Orchestra Albany, Spanish Cobras

Reason – The A represents the letter for the gang, Asian Boyz have adopted this logo specifically and members of the ABZ have this tattoo

Boston Red Sox

Gang affiliation – Bloods, Brims

Reason – They B for bloods as well as the colors on the hat really symbolized the Blood Gang

Los Angeles Angels

Gang affiliation – Athens Park Bloods, Hells Angels

Reason – Like most gang affiliated hats, this hat represents the Athen Park Bloods due to the letter A. Some other bloods will wear this hat as well due to the color. The members of the Hells Angels will also wear this hat, due to the name of course.

Texas Rangers

Gang affiliation – Eight Tray Gangster Crips, Rollin 20s Bloods, Eight Tray Hoovers

Reason – The Texas Rangers hat is most affiliated with the Eight Tray Gangsters for the big T on the front. If you see dudes with this hat on, watch out, ETGC are nothing to play with.

Kansas City Royals

Gang affiliation – Kitchen Crips

Reason – The KC is all you need to know, thats Kitchen Crip!

Minnesota Twins

Gang affiliation – Crenshaw Mafia Bloods, Maniac Latin Disciples

Reason – The M lettering stands for Mafia and Maniac

San Francisco 49ers

Gang affiliation – Family Swans Bloods, Nortenos

Reason – The Family Swans have the letters on the front of the hat, and Nortenos wear this as the colors represent the Nortenos.

St. Louis Cardinals

Gang affiliation – Black P Stones

Reason – Members of the gang believe the logo looks like the initials of the gang

Philadelphia Phillies

Gang affiliation – Piru sets

Reason – Pirus will usually wear maroon instead of red, so this hat matches, it also has the big P on the front.