1888 Athletic, Philadelphia (Athletics)
Left & left center: 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: documented Team: documented
Right center & right: These renderings are based on visual documentation for uniform style and partial written documentation for color. Important details may be undocumented or difficult to determine. An educated guess is made to complete the renderings.
Rendering accuracy:
Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on this uniform:
Photo A
Dated 1888. Photo date confirmed by appearance of players Zinn, Sullivan, Blair and Gleason. Photo shows team wearing white shirts, dark pants and white or light-colored stockings. One player in back row appears to be dressed in a uniform shirt without the team name across the chest.
Top row, from left: Whitaker?, F Zinn (88), C Welch (88-90), T Gunning (NL 87, AA 88, 89), H Larkin (84-89, 91), M Sullivan (88), H Stovey (83-89), M Mattimore (88, 89) and B Blair (88). Middle: G Townsend (87, 88), B Gleason (88), G Weyhing (AA 87-89, 91, NL 92-95), (B Sharsig?, mgr 86, 88-91), E Seward (87-90), L Bierbauer (86-89) and D Lyons (86-90). Front, on ground: B Mathews (83-87, coach 88), T Poorman (87-88), W Robinson (86-90) and J Weyhing (Cin 88). Player IDs from photo and also from Nigel Ayres. Player Zinn misidentified as Quinn in photo caption. Bierbaurer misidentified as Boner. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Mathews coach info from Brian McKenna, SABR Bio Project. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Original photo by Joseph Hall, Brooklyn.
Dated 1888. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows dark stripes on collar and a light-colored belt with narrow white bands at the edges. Note how lettering across chest extends to armpit area.
Photo B
Dated late April 1888. Composite of player portraits, left, and detail view of Robinson (86-90) portrait, right. Date of 1888 can be determined by the appearance of players Mattimore, Sullivan and Gleason, all of whom only played for Athletic during this season. A late April 1888 date can be suggested by a newspaper report from this period that stated promotional signs had been printed with “exceedingly faithful bust portraits of the players in uniform.” Detail view of the Robinson portrait at right showed stripes on collar, string ties on shirt and the team name across the chest with the letters A and T unevenly spaced.
Clockwise from top, center: H Stovey (83-89), M Mattimore (88), G Townsend (87, 88), T Gunning (NL 87, AA 88, 89), L Bierbauer (86-89), M Sullivan (88), B Gleason (88), T Poorman (87, 88), D Lyons (86-90), W Robinson (86-90), G Weyhing (AA 87-89, 91, NL 92-95) and E Seward (87-90). Center, upper: H Larkin (84-89, 91). Center, lower: C Welch (88-90). Player IDs from composite. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Report on promotional sign from the Philadelphia Record, April 29, 1888. Record research from Ed Morton.
Photo C
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of M Sullivan (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as this was the only year Sullivan played for team. Sullivan wore same uniform as shown in photos A and B, but with dark-colored stockings. Year Sullivan with team from baseball-reference.com.
Photo D
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of H Stovey (83-89), full view at left, detail view at right. Detail view shows quilted padding on pants around knee and along the side of the leg. It is likely this Old Judge photo session with Stovey was taken later in 1888. The background in this photo does not match other studio photos from this year. Stovey also had a mustache for this photo session and he was not wearing one in the portrait shown in photo B. Years Stovey with team from baseball-reference.com.
Photo E
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of F Zinn (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as Zinn played only 2 games for team in 1888. Detail view shows a dark cap with white bands and a white button on top. Year Zinn with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo F
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of B Gleason (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as this was the only year Gleason played for team. Photo shows an alternate uniform from that shown in photos A through E. The pants were middle-tone in color and the stockings were dark in color. The pants were most likely gray as described in the written documentation below, see June 18 entry. Year Gleason with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo G
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of B Blair (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as this was the only year Blair played for team. Photo shows an alternate uniform similar to that shown in photo F. The belt worn in this photo appears to be the same as that worn in other photo documentation show above. Year Blair with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo H
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of C Welch (88-90), full view at left, detail view at right. Player name misspelled on card. Photo date confirmed as background matches that shown in photo A. Photo shows an alternate cap style, white in color with light-colored bands and possibly a light-colored bill. Years Welch with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Library of Congress.
Photo I
Dated 1888. Photo date confirmed by appearance of players Farmer, Mattimore and Gleason. Team wore a dark uniform and striped cap in this photo. This may be the navy blue uniform described in newspaper accounts from mid-season. One player in back row wore a white shirt with the team name in a different lettering style.
Top row, standing, from left: (F Goldsmith, ump), B Farmer (Pit AA 88, Ath AA 88), D Lyons (86-90), M Mattimore (88), H Larkin (84-89, 91), H Stovey (83-89), C Welch (88-90) and (Kame, sec). Middle: B Gleason (88), L Bierbauer (86-89), (B Sharsig, mgr), T Gunning (NL 87, AA 88, 89), T Poorman (87, 88) and Blair. Front: G Townsend (87, 88), E Seward (87-90), W Robinson (86-90) and G Weyhing (AA 87-89, 91, NL 92-95). Player IDs from photo caption, dated 1910. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from Alfred Spink, The National Game: A History of Baseball (1910). Image scan from Ken Samoil.
Dated 1888. Detail view of photo I. Detail view shows caps with vertical stripes and white lettering on shirt. Note that player in back row wore a white shirt with the team name in a different lettering style.
Written documentation on this uniform:
March 1888: “The players of the Athletic Club have been photographed in their new blue and white uniforms. They are to be grouped in the form of a diamond with the Athletic Club schedule of games in the center, and 5,000 lithographic copies will be distributed over the town.” From the Philadelphia Record, March 25, 1888 Research from Ed Morton.
March 1888: “Some of the uniforms in use in the American association next season will be as gorgeous as a brand-new three sheet circus poster, says The Sporting Life. The Athletics, under new management, have also decided to cast off the mail-carrier uniform worn by them for so long, and will next season appear in a make-up similar to the one worn by the Detroits last season. It will consist of dark blue pants, white shirts and belts, light blue stockings and caps, with the word ‘Athletics’ worked across the breast in light blue. They will also have outside jacket[s] made out of Jersey cloth. This uniform is very pretty and a credit to the maker, Charles Mason, of this city.” From The St. Paul Globe, March 25, 1888. Research from Don Stokes. Note, descriptions of cap and lettering do not exactly match the uniforms shown in the photo documentation shown above.
March 1888: “The Athletics will […] shed their uniform of last season [1887], and in its stead will wear a garment very similar to that worn by the Detroits last season [1887]. It will consist of dark blue pants, white Jersey shirts and belts, light blue stockings and caps, with the word Athletic worked across the breast of the shirts. They will also have outside jackets made of Jersey cloth.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 26, 1888, citing the Cincinnati Commercial. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner. Note, the photo documentation above does not support a light blue cap or a white belt as described in this preseason report.
April 1888: “The Athletic players wore their new uniforms of dark blue pants and coats, white flannel shirts, blue stockings and dark blue caps with two white stripes.” From the Philadelphia Times, April 1, 1888. Research from Don Stokes and Graig Kreindler.
April 1888: “About the neatest thing in the advertising line ever got out by a ball club is a hanger, designed and printed for the Athletic Club. It is a large card, with exceedingly faithful bust portraits of the players in uniform, skillfully grouped in a diamond, into which is also worked a schedule of the club’s championship games.” From the Philadelphia Record, April 29, 1888. Research from Ed Morton.
June 1888: “New uniforms of gray are being made for the Athletics. They will be worn for the first time just before the Western trip.” From The Sporting Life, June 13, 1888. The team’s western trip began on June 29, 1888 with a game at Kansas City. Kansas City date from retrosheet.org.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletics wore handsome new suits of gray pants, striped shirts and caps, made from English cricket flannel, and blue stockings and belts, yesterday [June 18], and despite the prediction by many of their admirers that the new clothes would prove ‘Jonahs.’” From the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 19, 1888. This report does not match that of the Philadelphia Record from the same day.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletic players appeared in new summer uniforms yesterday [on June 18]. They consist of blue flannel suits, with cap to match, gray trousers and blue stockings and belt.” From the Philadelphia Record, June 19, 1888. Research from Ed Morton. This report does not match that of the Philadelphia Inquirer from the same day.
Summer 1888: “The Athletics had new summer garb. The uniforms were the prettiest the team had ever worn, blue striped flannel shirts with caps to match, gray trousers, blue stockings and belt.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 349.
September 5, 1888: “The Athletics have a new uniform of navy blue.” From the Canaseraga (NY) Times, September 5, 1888. Issue date not available on newspaper scan but the Athletic record was 62-37 on this day. Newspaper issue date based on Athletic game log on retrosheet.org. This report may be describing a new uniform not shown in photo documentation above.
September 18, 1888, Athletic v. Cincinnati at Cincinnati: “The Reds won the first game [from] their blue stockinged opponents. The Athletics in their uniform of dark blue presented a very natty appearance by the way, but uniforms do not win games.” From the New York Clipper, September 29 1888. Game date from retrosheet.org.
Team genealogy:
Athletic, Philadelphia 1880-1890
Athletic was formed in Philadelphia, PA, in 1880 as a touring team and joined the American Association (AA) in 1882. The AA was a major league operating 1882-1891. Athletic played in the AA between 1882 and 1890. The team was expelled from the AA after the 1890 season and the team subsequently folded. The Philadelphia team of the Players’ League (PL) joined the AA for the 1891 season after the PL folded in 1890 and used the Athletic name. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: May 15, 2016
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Ed Morton, Gary Kodner, Graig Kreindler, Ken Samoil, Mark Fimoff, Nigel Ayres, Oliver Kodner,