Dope new Yankees-Bad Bunny collaboration means much more than a fresh new hat

Inspired by the hit song, "NUEVAYoL" from his latest album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny, in conjunction with New Era, Puerto Rican clothing brand FRSH Company, and his record label, Rimas Entertainment, has come out with a must-see limited edition New York Yankees (and New York Mets) cap that has become one of the hottest baseball-related crossovers in recent memory.

The hat, which was created as a celebration of the Latin trap superstar's historic “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” residency in San Juan, Puerto Rico currently is only available for purchase in San Juan (and on the secondary market) until Sept. 14, when it will become available for purchase at the MLB Flagship store in New York, at the team store in Yankee Stadium, and online at MLBshop.com.

The hat, which features the classic interlocking NY that has become a global fashion staple, also features a patch of the character "Concho", who was created for the album, and the world "Nuevayol", a slang term for New York popular in Caribbean Spanish dialects, embroidered on the back above the MLB logo.

This fresh Bad Bunny-inspired Yankees cap can have ripple effects for the franchise on and off the field

There was a time when the New York Yankees were unquestionably the biggest global power in sports. For decades, youngsters growing up around Latin America, from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico to Venezuela and beyond, dreamed of donning pinstripes.

However, in recent years, the club has taken a step back from its global prominence. The Los Angeles Dodgers have cornered the emerging Asian market, snatching up seemingly every star coming out of Japan, Korea, and the like.

Elsewhere, the Boston Red Sox, thanks in large part to their employment of Dominican-born legends David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, and Manny Ramirez, have shot up in popularity in the small-but-potent baseball powerhouse of a nation. Stateside, the New York Mets' acquisition of Juan Soto has captured the attention of NYC's Latino diaspora.

Therefore, there are a couple of reasons why the collaboration with Bad Bunny can make a huge impact for the Yankees. The reggaetonero spent three years as Spotify's most-streamed artist in the world, becoming immensely popular not only in Puerto Rico and the mainland United States, but also throughout the entire Spanish-speaking world.

His collaborations with popular artists with roots in other Latin American nations, such as the Bronx-born Dominican-American bachata icon Romeo Santos and regional Mexican music powerhouse Grupo Frontera, have only served to raise his profile throughout the region, giving the Yankees a platform to cash in.

This will open up more business opportunities for the club throughout the region, but it can also have an impact that will be more directly felt on the field. While Puerto Rican-born players are subject to the MLB draft by virtue of the island being a U.S. territory, the raising of the Yankees' profile in hotbeds like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela will help the club build the influence necessary to construct a pipeline in those countries via the international amateur free-agent market, above and beyond what their heavy financial investment has already provided.

At the big league level, the embrace of the city's sizable Hispanic population can help attract star-level free agents to the Bronx. The same principle is at work in Los Angeles and the Dodgers, with the large Asian community there serving as a taste of home for the game's elite who hail from that part of the world.

Famously, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. opted to sign with the Los Angeles Angels back in 2004 in large part due to Angels owner Arte Moreno's Hispanic heritage (perhaps the first and last time that Moreno's ownership has ever been viewed as a positive development).

These cultural links matter. New York City has always been a hotbed for Latino culture. Salsa music, for example, flourished in New York thanks to immigrants from Puerto Rico and Cuba who blended their native styles and then exported that music back home, where it has become tremendously popular.

They matter on a human level as well. Large swaths of the city's population are Spanish-speaking, and inviting them into the mix via this collaboration will only serve to unify them in support of the team. Uniting us behind baseball, America's pastime, has always helped heal societal wounds and serves to bring us all closer together.

Promoting a mutual understanding through the power of music, language, and sports can have a tremendous positive impact on us all. It also serves to highlight that, despite our differences, we're more alike than we may appear on the surface.

Take Ben Rice as an example. The Yankee first baseman/catcher's surprising Spanish-speaking ability (something near and dear to my heart as an unexpected Spanish speaker myself) highlights just how much this cultural appreciation can bring us together, even if he'd be better off leaving the singing to Bad Bunny.

The new hat is much more than a dope new drop. For the Yankees, it's an opportunity that will have positive reverberations on multiple fronts.