1891 Cincinnati (Cincinnatis, Red Stockings)

These renderings are based on written documentation for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known and an artist’s conceptualization is used to create the renderings.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on these uniforms:
None

Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1891: “Twenty-eight new uniforms, fourteen for home games and the same number of traveling suits were ordered in Chicago the other day. Tom Loftus and Jim Hart selected them.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, March 18, 1891.

March 1891: “The uniforms have been ordered. All the players will be here [in Cincinnati] tomorrow night, the club will be officially organized Monday morning and the [National] League team will start for Hot Springs Monday morning.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, March 29, 1891.

April 1891: “The new uniforms of the Cincinnati [National] League team are on exhibition in the show window of Grandpa Hawley. […] One is the home uniform, regulation white and red; the other is the traveling uniform, navy blue, with white stockings and white trimmings.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, April 16, 1891.

April 1891: “The Cincinnati League Park presented a lively scene yesterday afternoon [April 20]. Both the Cincinnati and Cleveland teams were out in full force, playing fungo and doing hard spins around the park. The [Cincinnati] players appeared in uniforms of all shades and colors. Radbourn had on a Boston Brotherhood suit. George Smith and Bob Clark wore their old Brooklyn uniforms. Latham wore a pair of red pants, a green sweater and a pair of dun-colored [i.e., grayish brown] stockings. McPhee had on one of the old Nadjy suits. All of the men wore anything they could pick up to practice in.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, April 21, 1891.

April 22, 1891, Cincinnati (NL) v. Cleveland, at Cincinnati: “Three of the gorgeous features of the opening [National] League game were Robinson’s G. A. R. [i.e., Grand Army of the Republic] suit, Long John Reilly’s 1881 cardigan jacket and Lefty Marr’s zebra undershirt.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, April 26, 1891.

June 16, 1891, Cincinnati v. Brooklyn, at Brooklyn: “Brooklyn, June 17— […] There was a big crowd present and all cranks, and when [George] Smith trotted out with the Cincys in his blue uniform and white stockings, every man gave him a hand.” From The Sporting Life, June 20, 1891. Game date from retrosheet.org.

June 18, 1891, Cincinnati v. Pittsburgh, at Pittsburgh: “Cincinnati Red Stockings Out Of Last Place.” From the New York Herald, June 19, 1891. This report confirmed the team wore red stockings during the year.

July 1891: “Cincinnati, July 15— […] Of the five games played by the [Cincinnati] Red Stockings on the Western avenue grounds last week four resulted in victories.” From The Sporting Life, July 18, 1891. This report confirmed the team wore red stockings during the year.

October 1891: “The Cincinnati Enquirer thinks the Cincinnati [National] League team’s misfortune may be due to the fact that the team discarded its famous red stockings for white on the road. Shouldn’t wonder. It is a noteworthy fact that the Chicago team has never won the pennant since it discarded the famous white stockings for black.” From The Sporting Life, October 17, 1891.

Team genealogy: Cincinnati 1881-
Cincinnati was formed in 1881 to join the American Association (AA) for its inaugural season in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Cincinnati played in the AA throughout the 1880s and then joined the National League (NL) for the 1890 season. The NL began operation in 1876. Cincinnati has played every year in the NL from 1890 to present time. Information from wikipedia.