1888 Pittsburgh (Pittsburghs, Pittsburgs, Alleghenys)
Left: 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
Center: 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
Right: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniform is rendered in values of gray. Minor details may also be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the rendering. The caps are rendered based on written descriptions for color.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of H Henderson (88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed as this was the only year Henderson played for team. Photo shows a white shirt and dark cap and pants. Detail view shows a hint of a shirt pocket and may also show colored bands on cap. Based on newspaper accounts from this year, the team wore a dark blue cap and pants, and red stockings and red belt. Note player’s belt in this photo was not long enough and had to be fastened together with string. Year Henderson with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo B
Dated 1888. Old Judge cabinet card of B Farmer (Pit NL 88, Phi NL 88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed as this was the only year Farmer played for team. Detail view shows lace ties and a hint of a shirt pocket. Detail view also shows color bands on cap. Also note fielding gloves worn by player, including one with open finger tips for throwing. Year Farmer with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo C
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of B Kuehne (AA 85, 86, NL 87-89, PL 90). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date may be confirmed as studio background matches photo A. Detail view shows side view of uniform. Years Kuehne with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photos D & E
Dated circa 1888. Playing cards of P Smith (AA 85, 86, NL 87-89) and J Coleman (AA 86, NL 87, 88, 90). Cards show white shirt, blue pants and red stockings and belt. These illustrations may be an interpretation of the uniform shown in photos A thru C. Illustrations show a button placket, and not lace ties as shown in photo B. Images from oldcardboard.com.
Photo F
Dated 1888. Promotional poster for Old Judge baseball cards. Full view at left, detail view of player P Galvin (AA 85, 86, NL 87-89, 91, 92, PL 90) at right. Illustration of Galvin was based on Old Judge baseball card from 1887 and colorized to reflect a white uniform with blue stockings and belt. This may be the “change” uniform described in a newspaper account from 1888. Years Galvin with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski and Richard Masson, The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company, 1886-1890 (2008).
Photo G
Dated 1888. Pittsburgh at Boston, South End Grounds. Photo date confirmed by appearance of players McShannic and Henderson. Team wore a white shirt and pants, and mid-toned color belts and stockings in this photo. Shirts were a mix of long-sleeve and short-sleeve styles.
Top row, from left: B Kuehne (AA 85, 86, NL 87-89, PL 90), F Carroll (AA 85, 86, NL 87-89, 91, PL 90), B Sunday (88-90), unidentified, A Dalrymple (87, 88), P McShannic (88) and P Smith (AA 85, 86, NL 87-89). Front: J Fields (NL 87, 89, 91, PL 90), P Galvin (AA 85, 86, NL 87-89, 91, 92, PL 90), D Miller (AA 84-86, NL 87-93), H Henderson (88) and F Dunlap (88-90). Player IDs of Kuehne, Carroll, Sunday, Fields and Galvin from Ken Samoil. Dalrymple ID from Nigel Ayres. Photo scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Image was part of a collage of National League team photos produced in 1888 by George H. Hastings, Boston.
Dated 1888. Detail view of photo G. Detail view faintly shows white lace ties against white shirt.
Dated 1888. Two detail views of photo G. These views show two players with the city name across the shirt front. Based on the irregularity of the lettering, it is possible the city name was hand-painted onto these shirts. It is also possible the city name was added to the photo after the photo was made. If this was the case, it is unknown why only these two players had the city name added to their shirts. It may also appear that the city name was spelled without an “h”. Pittsburg (no “h”), was the official spelling of the city between 1891 and 1911, when it then reverted back to “Pittsburgh.” Info on Pittsburgh spelling from wikipedia.
Photos H & I
Left: dated circa 1888. Allen & Ginter baseball card of D Miller (AA 84-86, NL 87-93). Right: dated circa 1888. Old Judge & Gypsy Queen baseball card of F Dunlap (88-90). Miller card shows blue cap and red lettering on shirt. Dunlap card shows a gray shirt. Both card show alternate spelling for city name.
Photo J
Dated circa 1888. R & S cutout of Pittsburgh player. Cutout shows a brown uniform, with light-colored cap and red stockings.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 1888: “The Pittsburg[h] base ball team is to have a new uniform. It will consist of blue caps and pants, white flannel shirts and maroon stockings and belt. The change uniform will be white flannel shirts and royal blue cap and belt.” From the Monongahala (PA) Daily Republican, February 9, 1888. Research from Don Stokes and Graig Kreindler. A similar report was published in the Washington (DC) Evening Star, February 25, 1888.
August 1888: “Pittsburg[h] has put its team under parti-colored caps. The colors are distributed as follows: Carroll, dark blue; Morris, light blue; Beckley, gray; Dunlap, white; Kuchne, pale green; Smith, maroon; Dalrymple, brown; Sunday, pearl gray; Coleman, light brown; Galvin, royal blue; Staley, salmon; Fields, blue gray; Knell, light green; Cleveland, red and Maul, dark gray.” From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 10, 1888. Research from Don Stokes.
1888: “The Goodwin Old Judge photographer stopped off at Pittsburgh and took photos. He had Dunlap sit nine different ways.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 360.
1888: “The question to yesterday’s trivia answer — Cliff Carroll’s monkey — is: In 1888, a Pittsburgh baseball player’s pet died and was buried under home plate. Who was the player and what was the pet?” From the New York Daily News, December 8, 1979.
Team genealogy:
Pittsburgh 1870s-
Pittsburgh began as Allegheny, an independent pro team in Pittsburgh formed in the late 1870s. Allegheny joined the American Association (AA) at its formation in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Allegheny played in the AA through the 1886 season and then moved to the National League (NL) as Pittsburgh in 1887. The NL began operation in 1876 and Pittsburgh has played in the league every year from 1887 to present time. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: June 18, 2016
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Graig Kreindler, Ken Samoil, Nigel Ayres,