Headwear piece with crown opening

Claim 1

A baseball-style headwear piece comprising: a crown for replacement on the head of a wearer and having a front and rear and a top and bottom, said crown being defined at least in part by first and second panels defined at least in part from a flexible fabric and joined to each other; a bill on the headwear piece projecting forwardly of the crown, there being means on the crown for gripping the head of a wearer to maintain the headwear piece in place on a wearer's head, said crown having a front wall with a forwardly facing surface, said front wall blending into a top wall that is angularly disposed to the front wall, extends rearwardly and terminates at an edge that bounds an opening in the crown through which a substantial portion of a wearer's head can be exposed with the headwear piece in place on a wearer's head, said top wall having at least a portion that extends substantially horizontally to abut to a wearer's head to maintain the headwear piece in a consistent location on a wearer'head, at least one of said first and second panels being pre-formed into a shape to define a portion of the front and top wall and joined to the other of the first and second panel along a vertical seam so that the other of the first and second panels retains the pre-formed shape of the one of the first and second panels, said front wall curving into laterally spaced side walls, said front wall, top wall, and side walls being configured to cause the appearance of the headwear piece from the front thereof to be substantially the same as that of a conventional baseball-style cap, said top wall edge extending from the front of the crown no more than one half the distance between the front and rear of the crown.