1890 Philadelphia (Philadelphias, Athletics)

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

Right: This rendering is based on partial 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

Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A

Dated April 19, 1890. Photo of Philadelphia (PL) playing New York (PL) at Brotherhood Park, New York. This image was part of a published photo essay covering both the New York NL and PL home openers on this day. The image showed a Philadelphia runner rounding first (see red arrow) and the New York team in the field. The Philadelphia road uniform was dark in color, with a white cap, white letters on the shirt and dark stockings. Image and game date from The Illustrated American, May 10, 1890.

Photo B

Dated April 19, 1890. Another photo of Philadelphia (PL) playing New York (PL) at Brotherhood Park, New York. This image was part of a published photo essay covering both the New York NL and PL home openers on this day. The image showed a view from behind the New York bench on the first base line, and the Philadelphia team in the field (see red arrows). The Philadelphia road uniform was dark in color, with a white cap, white letters on the shirt and dark stockings. Image and game date from The Illustrated American, May 10, 1890.

Photo C

Dated April 19, 1890. Another photo of Philadelphia (PL) playing New York (PL) at Brotherhood Park, New York. This image was part of a published photo essay covering both the New York NL and PL home openers on this day. The photo was captioned: “Richardson (N.Y.P.L.) thrown out at first base.” Similar to photos A and B, this photo showed the Philadelphia road uniform. Note that this image showed that the Philadelphia belt was lighter in color than the stockings. Image and game date from The Illustrated American, May 10, 1890.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
January 1890: “All the secretaries of the clubs in the Players’ National League [i.e., Players’ League] have sent their club uniform colors to Secretary Brunell. All the clubs, except Philadelphia, have selected white home and colored traveling uniforms, so that the audience can readily distinguish the teams in the field. It is possible that Philadelphia will change its home uniforms. The teams will be dressed as follows: […] Philadelphia- Home: navy blue suits, light blue stockings and belts, white cap, with light blue trimmings. Traveling: dark maroon suits, seal brown stockings, belts, and caps. From the Chicago Daily Tribune, January 29, 1890. Research from Don Stokes. A similar report was published in the Buffalo Courier, January 30, 1890, and The Sporting Life, February 5, 1890.

February 1890: “Philadelphia, Feb. 8—- […] The contracts for making the [Philadelphia PL] club uniforms has been awarded to Robert J. Thompson, a local tailor. The suits will consist of navy blue cloth shirts and pants, light blue stockings and belts, and a white cap with light blue stripes.” From The Sporting Life, February 12, 1890. Note that in the game photos from April 19, 1890, see photos above, the Philadelphia road stockings were dark in color, and not light blue as described in this report.

March 1890: “Two Players’ League clubs have changed their uniforms. Buffalo will wear white with black trimmings and stockings home, and gray and black on the road. Philadelphia will wear white with light blue trimmings and stockings at home and navy blue with light blue trimmings and stockings while traveling.” From the Syracuse Standard, March 25, 1890, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, March 30, 1890, and The Sporting Life, April 2, 1890. The Sporting Life research from Chuck McGill. Note that in the game photos from April 19, 1890, see photos above, the Philadelphia road stockings were dark in color, and not light blue as described in this report.

April 19, 1890, Philadelphia (PL) v. New York (PL), at New York, opening day: “The Giants were attired in white uniforms, with black stockings; the Phillies had blue suits and light blue stockings.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021). Note that Orem in his publication had a different description of the uniforms from this day. The error derived from the fact that there were two home openers on April 19, 1890, held in adjacent ballparks in New York, and both featuring teams representing New York and Philadelphia. One was a National League contest and the other of the Players’ League. Based on other reports of the two Philadelphia uniforms from 1890, it appears Orem switched the uniform descriptions from these two games by accident.

Team genealogy: Philadelphia 1890-1891
Philadelphia was formed to join the Players’ League (PL) at the league’s inception in 1890. The PL was a major league that played for one season before folding. Philadelphia subsequently replaced the Athletic team of Philadelphia in the American Association (AA) for the 1891 season and also used the Athletic team name. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. The Philadelphia-Athletic team disbanded when the AA folded after the 1891 season. Info from wikipedia.