Even the Soviets Have Signed Up : World’s Ballplayers Doff Caps of Irvine Firm

George Bush, First Sportsman, is a man who has worn many hats: Stetson, fisherman’s cap, football helmet.

But on Thursday, Bush received what could be the most unusual athletic attire of his sporting life--an All-American baseball cap embroidered with CCCP, the Cyrillic alphabet initials for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

And he owes it all to glasnost and Sports Specialties Corp., the Irvine maker of Pro brand baseball caps.

Sports Specialties has moved quickly into international sales with separate contracts to supply caps to the national baseball teams of 80 countries and to the Soviet national baseball team for its U.S. tour, which began Monday.

Sports Specialties supplied the Soviet national baseball team with caps for its current tour and also became one of three sponsors of the team’s 3-week trip, which included a stop Thursday at the White House where the Soviet team gave President Bush one of its caps, replete with CCCP logo.

Other sponsors of the tour are Taco Bell in Irvine and Russell Athletic Co. in Alexander City, Ala.

The company also signed an exclusive 4-year pact last month with the International Baseball Assn., an agreement that is expected to bring Sports Specialties $25 million in revenue: $10 million from sales of the national teams’ caps to fans in 80 countries and $15 million from foreign sales of caps bearing the logos of U.S. professional and collegiate teams, said James H. Warsaw, the company’s president.

The privately owned company does not disclose profits.

Warsaw said he could not estimate his company’s revenue from sales of the CCCP caps to Soviet fans over the next 4 years.

But he said Friday that with the unexpectedly quick move into foreign markets, his company should get about 15% of its revenue this year from international sales. In December, Warsaw said about 2% of 1988 revenue came from foreign sales and that 1989 foreign sales were expected to account for about 10% of revenues.

“These two contracts will make us a global sports head-wear company,” he said Friday. “My ballpark estimate is that foreign sales will account for 35% to 40% of our revenues in 4 years.”

Sports Specialties already is one of the few companies licensed to make caps for professional and collegiate baseball, football, basketball and hockey teams, as well as for other collegiate sports. It also holds the license to provide the U.S. national baseball team caps for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.