1888 Louisville (Louisvilles)
Left: This rendering is based on written documentation for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known and an artist’s conceptualization is used to create the rendering.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Center: This rendering is 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 rendering.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Right: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style only. An educated guess is made on uniform color and on minor details that may be missing or difficult to determine.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of S Smith (88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed as this was the only year Smith played for the team. Full view shows a maroon uniform with blue-gray stockings as described in newspaper accounts from this year. Detail view shows a maroon cap with light-colored horizontal bands and trim along the bill of the cap. Year Smith with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo B
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of G Hecker (82-89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed as photo background appears to match that shown in photo A. Detail view shows white lettering and lace ties on shirt, and light-colored stitching around the shirt placket and shirt pocket. Detail view also shows shirt slightly open at the collar. Years Hecker with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo C
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of P Browning (AA 82-89, NL 92, 93). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed as photo background appears to match that shown in photo A. Detail view shows light-colored stitching on shirt pocket, and shirt open at the collar. Years Browning with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Library of Congress.
Photo D
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of S Stratton (AA 88-91, NL 92-94). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed as photo background appears to match that shown in photo A. Detail view shows version of shirt with detachable sleeves. Years Stratton with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Library of Congress.
Photo E
Dated May 25-29, 1888. Photo year can be confirmed by appearance of player Smith. Photo date of May 25-29 can be determined by combination of photo location (Brooklyn, Washington Park) and appearance of manager Kelley. Kelley’s last game as manager was June 7, 1888 and before this date, Louisville played only one series in Brooklyn in late May. Players most likely wore their maroon uniforms for this photo. However, the dark color of the belt and stockings are undocumented. Four players wore their shirt collars open and untied at the neck. The shortstop, White, sitting in the front row third from left, wore a short sleeve on his throwing arm and a long sleeve on the other.
Top row, from left: S Smith (88), G Hecker (82-89), P Browning (AA 82-89, NL 92, 93), J Kerins (85-89), P Cook (86-89, 91) and J Werrick (86-88). Front: T Ramsey (85-89), E Chamberlain (Lou AA 86-88, StL AA 88), B White (Lou AA 86-88, StL AA 88), (K Kelley, mgr 87, 88), S Stratton (AA 88-91, NL 92-94), C Wolf (82-91) and H Collins (Lou AA 86-88, Bro AA 88). Player IDs from photo. Years with team and Kelley info from baseball-reference.com. Date of Brooklyn series and Kelley’s last game from retrosheet.org. Image scan from Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski and Richard Masson, The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company, 1886-1890 (2008). Original photo by Joseph Hall, Brooklyn.
Dated 1888. Detail view of photo E. Detail view shows shirt lettering and light-colored stitching on collar, shirt placket and shirt pocket. Detail view also shows long sleeve and short sleeve versions of shirt.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1888: “The Louisville management have decided on a new uniform for the coming season. The suits in which the season will begin are light maroon with gray trimmings, and the name Louisville across the breast. The others will be white, with wine colored stockings the same as used last year.” From the Atlanta Constitution, March 19, 1888. Research from Don Stokes and Graig Kreindler.
March 1888: “The Louisvilles, not to be outdone by their rivals from Porkopolis [i.e., Cincinnati], will also don new togs next season. They will wear solid maroon-colored pants and shirts, with bluish-gray stockings, belts and caps, with the word ‘Louisvilles’ worked across the breasts of the shirts.” From the St. Paul Globe, March 25, 1888. Research from Don Stokes. Note, the photo documentation above suggests that the cap was not blue-gray in color and that the city name was not in plural form as reported here.
March 1888: “The Louisville players will […] don a new uniform, and one that has never been scene upon an American Association diamond. It will consist of solid maroon colored pants and shirts, with bluish gray stockings, belts and caps, with the word Louisville worked across the breast of the shirt. They will also have the white uniform with blue trimmings that was worn last season [1887].” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 26, 1888, citing the Cincinnati Commercial. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner. Note, other reports suggest the white uniform had red stockings, not blue as reported here.
April 1888: “The Louisvilles have the most hideous uniforms, it is said, ever seen on a ball ground. They are made of a dirty looking red material, with white stripes and give the men a dismal appearance.” From The Sporting Life, April 25, 1888. Research from Richard Hershberger.
1888: “The new Louisville uniforms were of a hideous blood red material, far from pleasing to the eye.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball From Newspaper Accounts 1888. Specific documentation not provided by Orem. Research from John Thorn.
May 30, 1888, Louisville v. Baltimore, at Baltimore: “The Louisville Club came upon the Baltimore grounds yesterday for the first time this year, casting a lurid glare over the place by the intense brilliancy of their cardinal costumes. […] The visitors were in a dazzling blaze. The very brilliancy of their attire suggested the idea that, discouraged by many defeats, they had adopted a Chinese system of warfare, defeating their antagonists not exactly by hideous noises, but by a costume so bewildering and blood-curdling as to benumb their opponents.” From the Baltimore Sun, May 31, 1888. Research from Jerry Sudduth. A very similar report was researched by Preston D. Orem, Baseball From Newspaper Accounts 1888 (early 1960s). Specific documentation not provided by Orem. Orem passage from John Thorn.
1888: “From the St. Louis Republican—The [American] association clubs should follow the example of the [National] league and have uniforms made to fit the players. Baltimore and Louisville played in bathing suits that would fit anybody.” From the Buffalo Courier, December 30, 1888.
Team genealogy:
Louisville 1870s-1899
Louisville began as Eclipse, a semi-pro team in Louisville formed in the late 1870s. As Eclipse, they joined the American Association (AA) at its formation in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Eclipse was known as Louisville by 1884 and the team played in the AA through the 1891 season. The team joined the National League (NL) in 1892 when the AA and NL merged, and was disbanded after the 1899 season when the NL contracted from twelve to eight teams. Information from wikipedia and Ken Samoil.
Rendering posted: April 24, 2016
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Gary Kodner, Graig Kreindler, Jerry Sudduth, John Thorn, Ken Samoil, Oliver Kodner, Richard Hershberger,