Why do so many Americans wear baseball caps?

I guess there’s a flurry of reasons that would qualify as an answer, but then again, the same reasons would just as easily justify wearing other kinds of caps (flat cap, bell boy cap, Castro cap etc.).

But if one is going to wear any head wear, there is to my mind one very good reason to prefer a cap over a hat, and that is that it is wearable while seated in a car. Its rim doesn’t interfere with the head supports. And of all caps, the baseball cap - its original purpose being that of a sports accessory - is inherently designed for easy wear and sun blocking efficiency, which goes a long way in explaining why, if you are going to need a cap for day-to-day use, it has found its way to many an American head.

However, this of course leaves us with a new question: why would you need a cap for day-to-day use in the first place?

Cap wear used to be big in Europe too. If you look at pictures of the Titanic work force, they’re all wearing caps. Back in those days, housing was poor and could be drafty, including during summers, and catching a cold had the potential of doing you in. So reasons abound. Though no longer so in post-industrial society, and year-round cap use has indeed all but disappeared in Europe. Granted, hats survived a bit longer, but vanished overnight when Kennedy (an American) stopped wearing them. Proof that at that time they had already dwindled to merely being a fashion statement. There has been something of a revival lately. Today you will still see caps and hats in the streets of the Old Continent, in all shapes and sizes but, crucially, only when it’s cold.

So male Americans are short of an excuse for keeping their tops adorned with a colorful variety of baseball caps throughout the seasons, both indoors and outdoors, and regardless their age or baldness.