CHICAGO – Tiger Woods, Spike Lee, Leonardo DiCaprio, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and, of course, fans and players all have one thing in common: They’re usually sporting baseball caps.

Sure, their lids may make for a stylish signature, but in a fickle, fast-paced fashion world, can the cap really keep up?

“There’s a time and place for a baseball cap – which is on a baseball field or in the stands,” said Glenn O’Brien, GQ’s Style Guy and blogger at men.style.com/gq/blogs/styleguy.

Yet a recent trip down Michigan Avenue proved that the public likes to wear the cap even without a steaming, overpriced hot dog in hand.

Glenn Campbell, co-founder and chief operating officer of Hat World Inc., the Indianapolis-based parent company of baseball cap emporium Lids, takes the perspective of those sporting a cap: “No matter where you’re at, wear a hat.”

As the owner of 500 baseball caps, Campbell’s philosophy is one for daily couture: “For men it’s an accessory, kind of like a women’s purse.”

But where Campbell sees style, O’Brien finds fan loyalty. “People like to demonstrate where they’re from or who they like.”

And on Chicago’s streets, always, there are scads of Cubs and Sox fans sporting their hearts on their heads – surely helping the 27 Chicago-area Lids stores alone sell about a half-million baseball caps annually, according to Campbell.

But make no mistake, the baseball cap is not a merely Chicago phenomenon. Lids sells nearly 20 million baseball caps a year in the U.S. and Canada.

Even with these impressive numbers, O’Brien explains that the caps’ appeal is more than fashion faux pas or team-associated sociopolitical statement. The lidded look also can offer some misplaced nostalgia: “A man’s hat symbolizes adulthood. … If you have been bar mitzvahed, you should give up the baseball cap.”

For those not quite ready to retire the lid after a rite of passage, we asked Campbell to reveal the best-selling cap.

“The Yankees are so far ahead of any other team, it’s not even funny. The Yankees are even better than Nike,” he said.