Why the button on top of baseball caps is smarter than it looks

The “squatchee” is a pretty neat piece of engineering, and it keeps your hat from falling apart.

I mostly thought the squatchee was there to punish me in low-ceiling situations. I have smacked that button into the center of my head more times than I care to recount. It is an elegant way to join the six panels of a cap into a sturdy structure that can survive washing! Some of my baseball caps are decades old.