1888 Washington DC (Washingtons, Nationals)
Far Left: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style and color. Minor details may be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Left Center: 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.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Center: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style and written documentation for color. Important details may be undocumented or difficult to determine. An educated guess is made to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Right Center & Far Right: These renderings are based on visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniforms are rendered in values of gray. Minor details may also be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the renderings.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of F Gilmore (86-88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date determined in combination with photo B. The backgrounds of both photos appear to match, and 1888 was the only year players Gilmore and Wilmot were both on the team at the same time. Detail view shows a shirt with detachable sleeves, a button placket, and the letter “W” below the left breast. Detail view also shows subtle pinstripes on shirt, most visible in shadow areas of sleeves. Written reports and color depictions from this year detail that the letter, belt and stockings were red in color, and that only the shirt and cap had pinstripes. Years Gilmore with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo B
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of W Wilmot (88, 89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed in combination with photo A. The backgrounds of both photos appear to match, and 1888 was the only year players Gilmore and Wilmot were both on the team at the same time. Wilmot wore long-sleeved version of the shirt. Detail view shows quilted padding at hips and knees. Years Wilmot with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo C
Dated 1888. Cabinet card of G Gardner (88, 89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as studio background matches photos A & B. Detail view shows subtle pinstripes on shirt and cap. Detail view also shows four shirt buttons on a placket, and a well-defined shirt pocket. It is unclear if every uniform shirt had a pocket, see photo A. Years Gardner with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo D
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of B O’Brien (87-89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as studio background matches photos A & B. Photo shows short-sleeved version of shirt with dark-colored undershirt. The undershirt color was most likely red. Detail view shows subtle pinstripes in shirt, most visible in shadow areas. Years O’Brien with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo E
Dated 1888. Promotional poster for Old Judge baseball cards. Full view at left, detail view of player J Whitney (87, 88) at right. Illustration of Whitney was based on Old Judge baseball card from 1887 and colorized to reflect the 1888 uniform. A red “W” was also added to the shirt in the illustration. Years Whitney 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 F
Dated circa 1888. Playing cards of J Whitney (87, 88) and W Wilmot (88, 89). Issue date of 1888 can be confirmed as this was the only year both men played for the team. Cards show red belts and stockings. Images from oldcardboard.com.
Photo G
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of M Murray (88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as this was the only year Murray played for team. Photo shows short-sleeved version of shirt with dark-colored undershirt, and an alternative pant color in a mid-tone hue. Detail view shows subtle pinstripes in shirt, most visible in shadow areas. Year Murray with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo H
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of A Boyce (88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Card was dated 1887 and then corrected to read 1888. Photo date of 1888 confirmed as Boyce only played in exhibition games for Washington in April 1888. The Washington Post reported on April 20, 1888 that the team “decided not to sign” Boyce. Photo shows alternate pants with wide dark trim on the pant seam. The pants Boyce wore in this photo had two front belt loops, while the similarly colored pants worn by Murray, see photo G, had one center belt loop. The color of the stockings in this photo appear lighter in color and do not match others from the photo session. Year Boyce with team and Washington Post report from Jay Miller, Joe Gonsowski and Richard Masson, The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company, 1886-1890 (2008). Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo I
Dated 1888. Washington at Boston, South End Grounds. This photo has been heavily retouched with at least three players added and many spectators painted into the stands in the background. Majority of players wore dark pants, with white belt and stockings. This matches a newspaper report from this year stating the team wore blue pants and white stockings at one point during the season. The majority of shirts worn by players were plain, and only a few shirts had the letter “W” below the left breast, similar to photos A thru D.
Top row, from left: G Shoch (86-89), J Irwin (87-89), H O’Day (86-89), P Deasley? (88), J Donnelly? (87-89), C Mack (87-89), A Myers? (87-89) and W Wilmot (88, 89). Front: J Whitney? (87, 88), D Hoy (88, 89, 92, 93), E Daily (NL 87, 88, AA 91), B O’Brien? (87-89) and S Fuller (88). Player IDs of Mack and Hoy from Ken Samoil. IDs of Shoch and Fuller from Nigel Ayres. Other player IDs are educated guesses by Samoil. Image was part of a collage of National League team photos produced in 1888 by George H. Hastings, Boston.
Dated 1888. Two detail views of photo I. These views show two players with the city name across the shirt front. Based on the irregularity of the lettering, it is likely the city name was hand-painted onto these shirts. Note different positions of lettering in relationship to the shirt opening.
Photo J
Dated 1888. Photo date confirmed by appearance of players Murray and Deasley and by manager Hewitt. Team wore a light-gray pinstriped shirt and light gray or white pants in this photo. A white cap can be seen in the foreground. The white cap may help to determine that the pants in this photo were light gray, though not definitively. The shirt had a pocket with the letter “W” sewn onto it, similar to the uniform shown in photos A thru D. Players wore both long-sleeved and short-sleeved shirts in this photo. Six of the fourteen players wore white undershirts, and two wore a dark-colored undershirt. Player Murray in back row wore a shirt similar to that worn by Washington in 1887 and with a different style “W” on the shirt pocket. He also was the only player in this photo to wear pants in a mid-tone color. These may be the same pants Murray wore in his Old Judge photos, see photo G.
Top, from left: J Irwin (87-89), C Mack (87-89), W Wilmot (88, 89), E Daily (NL 87, 88, AA 91), G Gardner (88, 89), M Murray (88), J Donnelly (87-89), (W Hewitt, mgr 88), J Whitney (87, 88), B O’Brien (87-89) and F Gilmore (86-88). Five players sitting in front: H O’Day (86-89), P Deasley (88), D Hoy (88, 89, 92, 93), G Shoch (86-89) and A Myers (87-89). Player IDs from photo. Photo 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 J. Detail view shows subtle pinstripes on shirt and collar, as well as the trim style of the shirt pocket.
Dated 1888. Detail view of photo J. Detail view shows white cap with subtle pinstripes.
Written documentation on this uniform:
April 1888: “The uniform of the Washingtons…consists of white pants, light striped shirt and caps, with red stockings and belts.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 12, 1888. Research from Don Stokes.
May 1888: “The Washington uniforms are copies of the old Chicago uniforms of last year.” From the Inter Ocean (Chicago), May 6, 1888. Research from Don Stokes. Note, this report implies Washington wore an all-blue uniform in 1888, similar to what Chicago wore in 1887. There is no other documentation to support this to date.
July 1888: “The Washington uniform is almost a perfect copy of that of Detroit. The [National] League ought to allot every club its own color and thus prevent the confusion that is now seen at many games. Chicago abandoned white stockings because Detroit appropriated the color.” From the Warren Republican (Hackettstown, NJ), July 27, 1888.
1888, referenced in 1893: “Ted Sullivan, with Celtic acumen, […] managed the Washington team one season [in 1888], and when the time came for Spring practice he fitted the players out in a set of cheap and ‘loud’ uniforms and started them down in Dixie.” From the New York Clipper, December 30, 1893.
Team genealogy:
Washington 1886-1889
Washington was formed in Washington, DC, to join the National League (NL) in 1886. The NL began operation in 1876 and Washington played in the NL between 1886 and 1889. The team disbanded after the 1889 season. Information from Wikipedia.
Rendering posted: June 27, 2016
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Ken Samoil, Nigel Ayres,