MLB 4th of July hats for 2025: What fans need to know

There are few better ways to spend the July 4 holiday than heading to the ballpark and watching your favorite MLB team play. Independence Day has always been a cause for celebration around the league; baseball is the only game in town in early July, and all 30 teams are always in action. And this year, the Majors are pulling out all the stops to make sure that fans can spend the day in style.

For almost two decades now, MLB has released exclusive hats to be worn on the field on the Fourth of July. This year's design was dropped last month; here's everything to know about how your favorite team will look, and where you can get one of your own.

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MLB unveils exclusive new July 4 hats for all 30 teams

As they do every year, each team's cap will boast a stars-and-stripes logo in the center. (Save for the Toronto Blue Jays, that is, which will be red and white in celebration of the Canadian flag.) This year, each hat is a nice baby blue; some teams will have a blue brim, while others will have a red one. There's also string between the bill and the front panel, which is a nice retro look.

If you're looking to pick one of these up for yourself, you're in luck: They're already on sale on MLB Shop, Fanatics, New Era and other vendors. Low-profile fits are available, and you can get them either fitted or as a snapback.

When did MLB's July 4 hat tradition begin?

From 2002-07, MLB acknowledged Independence Day with a simple American flag patch on players' hats. In 2008, though, they decided to experiment with custom hats. At first it was just navy blue with a stars-and-stripes logo for each team; the next year the hats were red, and the year after that was, you guessed it, white.

That kicked off a several years of iterating, with some ideas better than others. (The less said about the the camouflage or the star pattern that just wound up looking like leopard print, the better.) Comparatively speaking, this year feels like a win: Baby blue is always a welcome color, and while the uniformity does make it hard for each team to stand out on its own, there are some nice touches here.

There's a full slate of MLB action on tap on Friday, with the schedule fittingly getting underway in the nation's capital with an 11:05 a.m. ET start between the Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals. We also have the Subway Series between the New York Mets and New York Yankees and a huge interleague showdown between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers.