1891 San Francisco (San Franciscos)

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:
April 1891: “From a reserved seat in the new grandstand watch [player Dick] Van Zant disport himself in a ‘Frisco uniform. [The] pure white jersey flannel with black trimmings, hose and cap will be a contrast to the dirty goblin blue won by the home players last year when [Mike] Finn was manager.” From The Sporting Life, April 4, 1891. Research from Chuck McGill.

April 1891: “Next Sunday [April 12 v. Sacramento, in San Francisco] the San Francisco team will appear in a new uniform. The material is of a dark bottle-green, and the trimmings will be of orange color.” From the San Francisco Call, April 9, 1891.

April 12, 1891, San Francisco v. Sacramento, at San Francisco, Haight-street grounds, home opener, afternoon game: “The new bottle-green suits of the San Franciscos are neat and the novel blending of dark green and orange was appreciated by the spectators yesterday, though many critics preferred red to organge.” From the San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1891.

April 1891: “The new uniforms of the San Franciscos are not becoming. They are dark green, with old gold caps, stockings, belts and trimmings. They look second-handed, and the whole team all want new suits.” From the Sacramento Record-Union, April 15, 1891. Research from Don Stokes.

April 1891: “The ‘Friscos will appear tomorrow in new uniforms of a bottle-green hue. The trimmings will be orange in color. Rather suggestive of Erin’s flag, isn’t it?” From The Sporting Life, April 18, 1891. Research from Chuck McGill.

May 8, 1891, San Francisco v. Oakland, at San Francisco: “There were two men in the bottle-green uniform of San Francisco on bases.” From the San Francisco Examiner, May 9, 1891. This report also called the Oakland team, “the Colonels.”

June 12, 1891, San Francisco v. Oakland, at Oakland, Emeryville grounds: “[Manager Harris] ran up against the new Oaklands yesterday at Emeryville grounds with his bottle-green aggregation and came to grief.” From the San Francisco Call, June 13, 1891.

June 1891: “When [San Francisco] Manager Harris, about two months ago, determined to provide a second set of uniforms for his players, he stated he would select material that would be ‘odd,’ and he did. The boys came out in dark-green suits with old-gold trimmings. […] The croakers insisted that danger lurked in the cloth, as the green dye was extremely poisonous […] even when a player received a slight scratch. […] The matter was not for jest, however. Nick Smith, the third baseman of the home team, about three weeks ago was spiked on a leg by a base runner. Blood flowed freely from the wound, but Nick insisted on playing […] after temporary bandages had been applied. He was wearing the green uniform. A day or two later […] the leg began to swell. Physicians were summoned and pronounced the case to be blood-poisoning. […] The accident, though, has had no effect on the ‘Frisco men, as they continue to sport the Hibernian [Irish] color.” From The Sporting Life, June 20, 1891. A portion of the above research from Chuck McGill.

Team genealogy: Coming soon