1891 Chicago (Chicagos, Black Stockings, Colts)

These renderings are based on visual documentation for uniform style and partial 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

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A

Dated April 1891 to early May 1891. Photo year confirmed by appearance of players Dahlen and Burns. Both of these men only played together in Chicago in 1891. Photo date range of April 1891 to early May 1891 determined by the fact that a drawing made from this team photo was printed in the Chicago Tribune, May 2, 1891. The date can also be confirmed by the appearance of player Nagle, who was released by the team before June 6, 1891. Players wore a white or light-colored uniform in this photo, with dark cap, lettering, belt and stockings. The team was called the black stockings in newspaper reports suggesting the trim color was black.

Top row, from left: T Nagle (90, 91 8 gms), B Dahlen (91-98), A Gumbert (88, 89, 91, 92), T Burns (80-91) and E Stein (90, 91). Middle: J Ryan (NL 85-89, 91-00, PL 90), B Hutchinson (89-95), F Pfeffer (NL 83-89, 91, 96, 97, PL 90), C Anson (76-97), P Luby (90-92), W Wilmot (90-95) and C Carroll (90, 91). Front, on ground: M Kittridge (90-97) and J Cooney (90-92). Player IDs from photo. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Nagle release info from The Sporting Life, June 6, 1891.

Dated April 1891 to early May 1891. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows that the city name was positioned low across the shirt and that the laces were tied in an “x” pattern running from the neck to the city name, touching the middle “C” in Chicago.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
June 1891: “Anson, Burns, Pfeffer and Ryan are the old guard of the Black Stockings.” From The Sporting Life, June 6, 1891. This was one of many newspaper references in 1891 to the team’s trim color. The team was also called the Colts in 1891, a typical newspaper reference being: “The Chicago colts, with all due credit for excellent work, tumbled down when everything most depended on them.” From The Sporting Life, October 10, 1891.

March 1891, Chicago uniform referenced in description of Milwaukee uniform: “The uniform decided upon [by Milwaukee] will be a duplicate of that which will be worn by [Chicago] Capt. Anson’s men. The home uniform will be plain white with black trimmings and black socks. The traveling uniform will be a pretty blue-gray combination, with red socks.” From The Sporting Life, March 7, 1891. Research from Chuck McGill. It is likely the Chicago road uniform had black stockings, not red.

March 1891: “The gray and black uniform of Anson’s men is very pretty, but by way of variety a kaleidoscopic collection of raiment adorned many of the team today [March 17, in Denver for spring training]. A brown sweater, reaching half way to the knees, made Jimmy Ryan look like one recovering from a massage treatment. Gumbert reveled in a sweater of crimson, and Foster expressed a preference for somber black.” From the Chicago Inter Ocean, March 18, 1891.

June 1891, Chicago v. Brooklyn at Brooklyn: “Brooklyn, June 10— […] Unmindful of “Good Eye” O’Brien [who] tore along [the bases], passing Burns on first, and going down to second like a locomotive, while every man in black stockings became panic stricken.” From The Sporting Life, June 13, 1891. Another reference to the color of the stockings. Chicago played at Brooklyn June 3-6, 1891. Series dates from retrosheet.org.

August 1891: “Captain Anson and his Chicago black stockings will be here [in Cincinnati] for a game tomorrow.” From The Sporting Life, August 1, 1891. This report was written and submitted to The Sporting Life by Ban Johnson, future American League founder and president, who began working in Cincinnati as a sportswriter in 1886. Johnson career info from Joe Santry and Cindy Thomson, SABR BioProject, retrieved August 10, 2017.

September 4, 1891, Chicago v. Boston at Chicago: “Anson created a sensation by appearing on the field with a flowing beard of purest white and long, white hair. He played the game out in this disguise.” From The Sporting Life, September 12, 1891. This event is supported by a second newspaper report that stated “Anson appeared in a long gray beard one game last summer.” From The Sporting Life, October 24, 1891. A non-contemporary resource says: “Responding to writers who claim it’s time for him to quit, Chicago’s 39-year-old player-manager Cap Anson wears a false white beard against Boston.” From wikipedia, 1891 in Baseball, retrieved August 12, 2017.

Team genealogy: Chicago 1874-
Chicago reformed after the Great Fire of October 1871 and rejoined the National Association (NA) in 1874 and 1875 after a two-year absence. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. Chicago joined the National League (NL) at its formation in 1876 and the team has played in the NL every year since 1876. Information from Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875, from baseball-reference.com, and from wikipedia.