1884 Ironside, Lancaster PA (Ironsides)

These renderings are based on visual documentation for uniform style and written documentation for color. Minor details may be undocumented or difficult to determine. An educated guess is made to complete the renderings.

Rendering accuracy:Year: unconfirmed    Team: documented

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A

Dated early August 1884 to October 1884. Year of photo can be confirmed by the appearance of players Higgins, Pyle, Foreman and Guehrer, all of whom only played for this team in 1884. Date range of early August 1884 to October 1884 can be determined by the fact that the uniform in this photo was most likely the one described by a Lancaster newspaper on August 4, 1884 as being “the handsome new suits” that had “arrived here this morning.” The report also said that a uniform had been made for the team’s mascot, and a mascot was included in this photo above. See written documentation below for more details. The date range for the photo can be further confirmed by the appearance of player Forman, who joined the team in late June 1884. Players wore a gray uniform in this photo, with a dark belt and stockings. The team name was arched across the chest on a large shield bib. The cap, shown on the foreground, had two horizontal bands in a dark color. This uniform was described as blue-gray in color with red accents and red stockings.

Top row, from left: unidentified, P Tomney (84, 85), J McTamany (84, 85), J Goodman (84-86), unidentified, B Higgins (84) and unidentified. Front: S Pyle (Iro 84, Phi NL 84), D Oldfield (84, 85), (Shaeffer mascot), F Foreman (Iro 84, Chi UA 84, KC UA 84) and J Guehrer (Iro 84, Aln EL 84). Player IDs and image scan from Carson Lorey. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Date Foreman joined team from James Elfers, SABR BioProject: Frank Foreman, retrieved April 3, 2021. Image from Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, May 11, 1916. It was likely that this team photo was made by Jacob E. Rote, Lancaster PA.

Dated early August 1884 to October 1884. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the team name arched across a large shield-shaped bib on the shirt, as well as shirt collars with dark-colored trim along the edge. Some players may have added a series of small dark-colored buttons or pins to the bottom of their bibs.

Photo B

Dated 1884. Portrait of J Guehrer (84). Full view at left, detail view at right. Back of photo has player identification and was hand-dated as 1885. Photo date of 1884 can be suggested by fact that Guehrer only played for Ironside in 1884 and that the uniform he wore in this portrait matched that worn in the 1884 team photo, see photo A. The portrait of Guehrer was most likely taken at the same session as the team photo. Additionally, the 1885 can be disproven by the fact that Guehrer was reported to be playing for the Christiana (PA) team during this year. Researcher Bob Porter has found that when Ironside played Christiana in May 1885, Guehrer was described as a member of “last year’s Ironsides” and that he “caught a good game for the Christiana club.” Detail view of Guehrer photo showed that player wore a shirt with a bib front and that the team name was displayed in hand-cut letters. The shirt had very short sleeves and the collar had dark-colored trim. Year Guehrer with Ironside from baseball-reference.com. Christiana info from the Lancaster Intellegencer, May 11, 1885. Research and Guehrer image scan from Bob Porter. Original photo by Jacob E. Rote, Lancaster PA.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1884: “The Ironsides team is full, they having on their list fine players. […] The club has been photographed by [Jacob E.] Rote and looks fine. The Ironsides are as yet an independent organization and prefer to remain as such.” From The Sporting Life, March 12, 1884. Research from Ed Morton.

March 1884: “The players who have been engaged by the Ironsides club have been photographed by [Jacob E.] Rote and their pictures are on exhibition in the windows of the hat stores of John Sides and Harry Shultz. The pictures of Pyle and McTamany are not in the frame.” From the Lancaster Intelligencer, March 17, 1884. Research from Bob Porter. Based on the documentation presented here, the team photo detailed in this report was not the team photo shown in photo A.

April 1884: “The [1884] uniform will be the same as last season [1883], viz., white shirts with red letter ‘I’ on left side, gray pantaloons, red belt and stockings, white cap trimmed with red and leather shoes.” From The Sporting Life, April 16, 1884. Research from Ed Morton. This report also listed the team’s current roster: pitchers Pyle and Williams; catchers Oldfield and Derby; first base Hamilton; second base Higgins; third base Donald; shortstop Ed Green; outfield McTamany, John Green and Nick Bradley; and position to be determined, Healy.

August 1884: “The Ironsides will play their second game with the Trentons Monday next [August 4, 1884]. The home club will make their first appearance in their new suits which arrive from Brooklyn this evening. The shirts and pantaloons are of blue gray flannel and are trimmed with scarlet. The stockings and belts are of scarlet, across the breast of the shirt is the word ‘Ironsides’ in scarlet letters. The shoes are of leather.” From the Lancaster Intelligencer, August 2, 1884. Research from Bob Porter. This uniform description seems to match the uniform worn in the team photo, see photo A.

August 1884: “The handsome new suits which were ordered as a present for the Ironsides by a number of friends, from the furnishing goods establishment of Harman H. Kieffe of Brooklyn, arrived here this morning [August 4, 1884]. The shirts and breeches are gray, trimmed with red; across the breast of the shirts, in red letters, appear[s] the word Ironsides. The caps are also gray, red trimmed, and the stockings and belts are wholly red. Among the suits is a tiny one for six-year-old Theodore Shaeffer, the Ironsides’ little pet.” From the Lancaster (PA) New Era, August 4, 1884. Research from Ed Morton. Note that the team name on the shirt was in the singular form, Ironside, and not in the plural form as this report stated.

Team genealogy: Ironside, Lancaster PA 1883-1884
Ironside, originally formed in Lancaster PA as an amateur team as early as 1871, was organized as an independent professional team in June 1883. They played as such in 1883 and for a portion of the 1884 season before joining the Eastern League (EL) on May 26, 1884, although July 17 and July 22 have also been written as the date. The EL was a minor league operating between 1884 and 1886. Ironside was not accepted into the EL for 1885 season and afterwards played as a semi-pro and then amateur team. Info from Bob Porter. July 22 date from Baseball America, The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1997).