1892 St. Louis (Browns)
Left: This rendering is based on incomplete 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 incomplete 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
Who makes more errors — those playing the game, or those writing about the game?
Before the digital age, baseball writers and historians relied on, well, other baseball writers and historians. If a story was published, it must be mostly true, correct? Fact checking was laborious and often not warranted. Accuracy was optional. Besides, there were deadlines to meet.
Today, anyone can trace even the most oddball of stories accurately back to its origin, all from the comfort of one’s laptop and cozy sofa. Case in point is the tale of Cliff Carroll and the 1892 St. Louis Browns. Carroll had a notable in-game wardrobe malfunction in August of that year, or did it actually occur in 1889? And which teams were on the field that day? And what exactly was the result of the play?
To see how a story gets told and retold over the years, scroll down to “The shirt-pocket incident” subhead below.
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated March 20, 1892. This montage of player portraits was published in a newspaper on this date. Eight of the thirteen players in this montage were shown wearing a uniform and a dark pillbox-style cap. Most of these renderings indicated some type of horizontal banding on the cap, especially that of player Stricker, top row far left. Interestingly, all but one of the thirteen players shown were new to the team in 1892, and it is possible these renderings were drawn from photographs made in previous years. For example, the over-the-shoulder drawing of player Caruthers, bottom row far left, was most likely made from one of his Old Judge baseball cards produced in 1888 when with Brooklyn, and where he was portrayed with the same over-the-shoulder view. Therefore, it is possible the caps in the montage were not drawn from photos taken in 1892, but added to drawings based on existing photos from other years, and made to match what the St. Louis team then planned to wear in 1892.
Top row of five portraits, from left: C Stricker (StL 92, Bos 92), D Buckley (92-94), G Pinkney (92), F Genins (StL 92, Cin 92) and F Dwyer (StL 92, Cin 92). Middle row of three portraits: J Crooks (92, 93), F Bird (92) and T Breitenstein (AA 91, NL 92-96). Bottom row of five portraits: B Caruthers (AA 84-87, NL 92), J Glasscock (85, 86, 92, 93), B Van Dyke (StL 92, Buf El 92, Alb EL 92), C Carroll (92) and B Moran (StL 92, Lew NEL 92). Image and player IDs from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 1892. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Carson Lorey.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 26, 1892, St. Louis v. Home Comforts, St. Louis, at St. Louis, Sportsman’s Park, exhibition game: “The Browns were to have opened the season yesterday with an exhibition game with the Home Comforts at Sportsman’s Park. Capt. Glasscock and his men were warmly received by the few people present. They made a fine appearance in their natty blue uniform.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 27, 1892. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner. This exhibition game was not completed due to bad weather.
April 1892: “The Browns will wear their new uniforms in the opening game Tuesday next [April 12, in St. Louis v. Cincinnati]. They are of white flannel, with the proverbial brown stockings.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 10, 1892. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner, St. Louis Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 1882-2016 (2016). Game date from retrosheet.org.
May 26, 1892 St. Louis v. Brooklyn, at Brooklyn: “There isn’t much to praise about the St. Louis uniform. The navy blue shirts, trousers and caps, with brown stockings, give them a heavy, uncouth appearance, as if they had just emerged from a bath. The only thing that relieves the monotony of color is the word ‘St. Louis’ worked in white across the breast.” From the Brooklyn Daily, May 27, 1892. Research from Oliver Kodner.
July 1892: “The Browns’ uniforms, with their white lettering, are very neat and attractive, says a Boston exchange.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 20, 1892. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner. St. Louis played at Boston July 15-19, 1892. Game dates from retrosheet.org.
August 1892: “The new St. Louis uniform is all brown. It couldn’t be worse if it were all yellow. – [Cleveland] Plain Dealer.” From the Pittsburgh Daily Post, August 3, 1892. Research from Gary Kodner. St. Louis played at Cleveland on August 1 and 2, 1892. Game dates from retrosheet.org.
September 1892: “[St. Louis owner] Von der Ahe evidently has an eye for beauty. The Browns’ uniform is the ugliest in all the variety of colors a well-stocked store can show. — Baltimore American.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 14, 1892. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner, cardinalsuniformsandlogos.com. St. Louis played at Baltimore September 9 and 10, 1892. Game dates from retrosheet.org.
The shirt-pocket incident — as originally reported.
August 17, 1892, St. Louis v. Brooklyn, at St. Louis: “In the sixth inning, [Brooklyn’s Darby] O’Brien hit safely to left for a single. [St. Louis left fielder Cliff] Carroll attempted to field the ball, so as to hold the batsman on first base. The ball went bounding along to Carroll, whose hands were ready to receive it. The ball passed between his hands and dropped into the breast pocket of his base-ball shirt, where it fitted so tightly that Carroll could not get it out until O’Brien had run to third base, from where he scored on a sacrifice fly. Carroll soon muffed a fly ball and let in another run. Then [St. Louis owner] Mr. Von der Ahe placed him on the bench, and sent [Bill] Hawke to play in his place.” From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 18, 1892. Brooklyn won the game 11 to 3. The St. Louis pitcher was Pink Hawley, who later remembered the incident in 1895, see below. St. Louis made 12 errors in the August 17 game, and according to the Globe-Democrat these errors were “so rank that they were not only exasperating but absolutely ludicrous.”
September 1892: “[St. Louis left fielder] Cliff Carroll and President Von der Ahe disagreed about salary matters yesterday and Carroll refused to play. Von de Ahe suspended him. The trouble is a sequel to the incident of August 17 in a game against the Brooklyns [in St. Louis], when a ball Carroll was fielding got into his shirt pocket and O’Brien, the batsmen, made third base on the error. When salary checks were given to the men yesterday the $50 was deducted from Carroll’s pay.” From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 2, 1892.
The story of Cliff Carroll and his shirt pocket has mushroomed and morphed over the years with each retelling:
—From 1895, with incorrect year, opponent and game details given: “A Pittsburg[h] player tells the following story of an unexpected catch once made by Cliff Carroll: ‘It was 1891. I was pitching for St. Louis and Cliff was playing outfield. I don’t remember the club, but I think it was Cincinnati. It was the sixth—two on base and two out. The batter knocked up a high fly which Carroll was well under, and I thought it was all over. The ball broke through his hands and went into the breast pocket of his shirt. It was a small pocket and the ball made a close fit. He couldn’t get it out to save his soul. He came running into the diamond trying to tear the ball out, while those dubs of the opposition were popping over the plate like rats out of a lake […] That was funny to see Carroll jumping straight up and down in the middle of the diamond, swearing as loud as he could scream, with all of us trying to work that ball out of his pocket.’” From the Chicago Sunday Chronicle, September 15, 1895, published in an article entitled “Side Lights on the Ball Field.” This same story was published in the Buffalo Enquirer on September 23, 1895 and attributed the Pittsburgh player as Pink Hawley, “who was pitching at the time” for St Louis.
—From 1896, with incorrect game details given: “Says a crank, ‘Reminds me of how old Cliff Carroll one day caught a fly. He tried to hug it to his breast and the ball slipped into the pocket of the shirt. Cliff could not extract it and a procession of runners immediately began to float around the bases. Carroll ran in, tugging at the ball; caught up with one of the runners; and trailed him around the bases, hauling frantically at the ball, which refused to leave his pocket until he got the assistance of another player.’” From the Wilkes-Barre Times, June 4, 1896.
—From 1897, with incorrect year, opponent and game details given: “‘Back in the eighties,’ volunteered [Chicago player Adonis] Terry, ‘Cliff Carroll was playing with St. Louis when a funny thing happened. I forgot who the batter was, but he was a Cincinnati man and he hit safe, the ball bounding high. Carroll ran across after it. The ball took a false bound and struck him full in the chest. He grabbed, and in clutching at the ball, jabbed it tight into a pocket on his shirt. Before he could pull it out, the batter had crossed the plate and Chris [Von der Ahe] fined Carroll $50 on account of the accident.’” From the Buffalo Enquirer, April 24, 1897, published in an article entitled “Baseball Tales.”
—From 1912, with incorrect game details given: “In the May American Magazine, Hugh S. Fullerton writes an article full of interesting stories of freak plays that have won great baseball games. Following is one of the most remarkable stories: […] ‘Perhaps you have wondered why base ball players have plain shirt fronts, and why so few have breast pockets. Cliff Carroll is the reason. He was running forward to take a base hit on the first bound. The ball bounced crooked and hit him in the chest. He grabbed at the ball hastily and, as he clutched it, he shoved it down into the handkerchief pocket on his shirt front. The runner saw Carroll […] straining to tear the ball out of the pocket and, instead of stopping at first, he sprinted onto second while Carroll, still trying to dislodge the ball, ran to second. The batter passed the fielder and turned for third with Carroll in pursuit. At third, Carroll stopped and tried in vain to release the ball, and the runner kept on across the plate and scored the winning run. Chris Von der Ahe […] ordered all the pockets removed from base ball shirts. Other teams followed and the pockets have never been restored.’” From the Winfield (KS) Daily Courier, April 17, 1912. This story was published by many newspapers in 1912. Note that a subsequent portrait of St. Louis player Tommy Dowd from circa 1895 showed a shirt pocket on the front of the St. Louis uniform.
—From 1919, with incorrect opponent and game details given: “It happened in St. Louis. In those days there were bleachers along the left field foul line, in which I was seated at the time and was close on the play and therefore know whereof I speak. It happened at the old Browns’ park, long before Von der Ahe’s Browns moved over to the present site of the Cardinals’ park, when the home plate was in the same relative position now occupied by the right fielder. The Athletics were opposing the Browns. There were runners on first and second. The batter hit an easy, innocent looking ground ball straight to Carroll, who was playing left field. He did not have to move out of his tracks. He was leaning over set for the stop when the ball took one of those ugly, mean, mysterious hops, so well known to all ball players, and landed sure deep down in the pocket on the left side of his shirt. Try he ever so hard he could not have done a better job himself. The harder he pulled to get it out the harder it stuck. The runners on first and second got in and the batter reached third. […] Suffice it to say that the next day the Browns appeared on the ball field minus the breast pocket. Von der Ahe had the club tailor do an overnight job on the uniforms. By the close of the season most of the cubs had discarded the breast pocket and now it is a memory.” From the Kansas City Star, January 31, 1919, in a column entitled Baseball on the Inside by Billy Evans, American League Umpire. Evans wrote that the above eye-witness account came to him in a letter written by “Attorney William Kinnert, who in the old days looked after the legal affairs of the late Chris Von der Ahe.” According to wikipedia.com, Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans officiated American League games from 1906 to 1927. Von der Ahe had legal problems from the early 1890s until his death in 1913. Star research from Gary Kodner.
–From 1924, with incorrect year, opponent and game details given: “Cliff Carroll played center field for the St. Louis Browns in 1889 when the club was owned by Chris Von der Ahe. In the ninth St. Louis was one run to the good. Cincinnati got a man as far as second and the next batsman drove a slashing liner through the infield. Carroll raced in to field the ball, which was then moving along on a swift bound. […] The ball jumped over his hands and lodged firmly in his breast pocket of his baseball shirt. […] Carroll, noting that the batsman was circling the bases with great speed, started a mad dash toward the infield in the hope of overtaking the runner and tagging him out by the simple process of hugging him against the ball. But the runner was faster that Carroll and crossed the plate about six feet to the good.” From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 21, 1924.
—From 1950, with incorrect year and home team given: “The [shirt] pockets became doomed after the 1889 season when Cliff Carroll lost a game for the Pittsburgh club because a fly ball lodged in his breast pocket. Before he could pry the ball loose, the batter had rounded the bases for a home run.” From the St. Cloud (MN) Times, May 6, 1950.
—From 1992, with incorrect date, opponent and outcome given: “August 18th — today in history: In 1892, during a 13-4 victory over Baltimore, Browns left fielder Cliff Carroll tries to field a ground ball. But he misjudges it, and the ball becomes lodged in his shirt pocket. Before he can dig the ball out, the runner advances to third base and Browns owner Chris Von der Ahe becomes incensed. Von der Ahe fines Carroll $50 and suspends him without pay the rest of the season.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 18, 1992.
All good reads — all not so good for accuracy.
Thank you for your time. —Craig
Team genealogy: St. Louis 1882-
St. Louis was formed to join the American Association (AA) in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891 and St. Louis played in the AA in every year of the league’s existence. The team moved to the National League (NL) for 1892 season. The NL began operation in 1876 and St. Louis has played in the NL every year since 1892. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: May 28, 2022
Diggers on this uniform: Carson Lorey, Gary Kodner, Oliver Kodner,