1895 Baltimore (Baltimores, Orioles)

Left & Center: These renderings are based on visual documentation for uniform style and 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

Right: This rendering is based on partial 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

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A
Dated late July 1895 to October 1895. Photo year of 1895 determined by appearance of player Carey, who only played in Baltimore during this season. Date range of late July 1895 to October 1895 determined by appearance of player Bowerman, who first joined the Baltimore team when they played in Cleveland on July 16 and 17, 1895. One version of the team photo has a printed caption that reads “Champions 1895” (not shown above) which suggests an issue date of during or after the 1895 season. This photo has sometimes been misidentified as being from 1894. Players wore a white uniform in this photo with a dark cap, belt and stockings. The cap had a soft-rounded crown with the letter B added above the bill. A newspaper in 1894 reported that the cap was black in color and had an “extended visor.” Ten of the seventeen shirts shown in the photo had a letter “B” on the shirt pocket, the remaining shirts had a shirt pocket with no letter. At least 7 players wore a short-sleeved shirt in this photo, 4 of which wore no undershirt, two had a white undershirt and one had a dark undershirt. At least six players wore long-sleeved shirts. One player, standing at far left, wore pants with quilted padding. The players wore striped stockings in this photo and a newspaper report from 1895 described the stockings as being black in color with a narrow orange stripe. A few of the players in this photo wore solid black socks. Two players, McGraw and Keeler on the ground in front, wore civilian shoes, not baseball shoes. McGraw wore visible garters under the knee to hold up his socks. Newspaper ads for the Antler garter in 1895 told that the Baltimore team had tested the garters and proclaimed that “all the players unite in pronouncing them GREAT” and that “the club has adopted them.” See written descriptions below for more details.

Top row, from left: D Clarkson (StL NL 95, Bal NL 95, 96), D Esper (94-96), S Carey (95) and B Clarke (93-98). Second row: S Brodie (NL 93-96, AL 01), H Reitz (93-97), S McMahon (AA 90, 91, NL 92-96), G Hemming (94-96), F Bowerman (TwinCities IntstLg 95, Bal NL 95-98, 1 gm 95) and A Pond (95-98). Third row: K Gleason (StL NL 94, Bal NL 94, 95), J Kelley (NL 92-98, AL 02), (N Hanlon mgr 92-98), W Robinson (AA 90, 91, NL 92-99, AL 01, 02), B Hoffer (95-98) and H Jennings (93-98). Front, on ground: J McGraw (AA 91, NL 92-99, AL 01, 02) and W Keeler (94-98). Player IDs from multiple versions of this photo in which the names were either handwritten or printed. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Bowerman transaction info from The Sporting Life, July 20, 1895. Original photo by Bachrach & Bros., Baltimore.

Dated late July 1895 to October 1895. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the letter “B” on the shirt pocket. Note that this letter was larger in size when compared to the letter shown in other Baltimore photos attributed to the previous year of 1894.

Photo B
Dated late July 1895 to October 1895. This photo was made at the same time as photo A. In this version, a batboy has joined the players in the front row and some players have repositioned their arms. Image scan from Tom Flynn, Baseball In Baltimore (2008).

Photo C
Dated late July 1895 to October 1895. This photo was made at the same time as the team picture, see photo B. Note how the striped socks worn by the batboy matched that worn by the players in the team photo. Image scan from Tom Flynn, Baseball In Baltimore (2008), citing the Babe Ruth Museum, Baltimore, as the source. As a photo caption, Flynn added that “after the successful 1894 campaign, the Orioles added a mascot/batboy. He appeared in the 1895 team photograph [see photo B], in this solo photograph, and 28 years later [circa 1923] with the 1890s Orioles for a group photo. The caption to the [circa 1923] picture still indicated him simply as ‘batboy.’”

Photo D

Dated 1895 to 1898, possibly 1895. Uniform shirt of B Hoffer (95-98), full view at left, detail view at right. This white shirt, which had by now yellowed but otherwise was in excellent condition, was sold by an auction house in 2009 as part of the collection of Bill Hoffer, former Baltimore pitcher. The auction house dated the shirt circa 1895 and said that it came “directly from Hoffer’s family.” The size and the position of the letter “B” on the shirt pocket matched that shown in the photos of the team from 1895. Hoffer years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from psestamp.com.

Photo E
Left: dated late July 1895 to October 1895, detail view of B Hoffer (95-98) from the 1895 team photo, see photo A. Right: dated early 1896, detail view of an illustrated collage of player portraits. The 1896 illustration at right was loosely based on the 1895 team photo, compare to image at left. Both images show the letter “B” on the front of the cap. Years Hoffer with team from baseball-reference.com. Illustration at right from the Spalding Base Ball Guide, 1896, issued at the start of the 1896 season.

Photo F

Left: dated late July 1895 to October 1895, detail view of G Hemming (94-96) from the 1895 team photo, see photo A. Right: dated early 1896, detail view of an illustrated collage of player portraits. The 1896 illustration at right was loosely based on the 1895 team photo, compare to image at left. Both images show the letter “B” on the front of the cap. Years Hemming with team from baseball-reference.com. Illustration at right from the Spalding Base Ball Guide, 1896, issued at the start of the 1896 season, and which mistakenly used the portrait of Hemming when creating a portrait of S Carey (95). The 1896 illustration was labeled as “Carey 1st Base – B[altimore].”

Photo G

Left: dated late July 1895 to October 1895, detail view of W Robinson (AA 90, 91, NL 92-99, AL 01, 02) from the 1895 Baltimore team photo. Right: dated early 1896, detail view of an illustrated collage of player portraits. The 1896 illustration at right was loosely based on the 1895 team photo, compare to image at left. Both views showed the player wearing a cap with a letter or graphic on the front. This object is difficult to distinguish, and it may be the letter “B,” which was worn on the Baltimore cap for the 1895 season. However, the object could also be the “orioles wing” graphic, which was described in newspapers in October 1894. This cap was created for the Temple Cup series against New York at the end of the 1894 season. It is conjecture that Robinson wore the same “orioles wing” cap for the 1895 team photo. The illustration at right possibly showed a clearer view of the “orioles wing” graphic. Years Robinson with team from baseball-reference.com. Illustration at right from the Spalding Base Ball Guide, 1896, issued at the start of the 1896 season.

Photos H & I

Dated 1895. Two Mayo Cut Plug baseball cards of D Brouthers (Bal 94, 95, Lou 95). Card at left showed a uniform shirt with “Baltimore” across the breast, card at right displayed “Louisville” on the shirt. Brouthers was purchased by Louisville from Baltimore on May 8, 1895 and the tobacco company accordingly altered and reissued the card. It is likely neither card was an accurate depiction of an 1895 uniform. Card issue date from oldcardbaord.com. Years Brouthers with team from baseball-reference.com. Brouthers purchase info from retrosheet.org.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1895: “The Baltimore team will have gray suits to play in away from home this season and white suits for home games. Black caps with moderately long visors will be worn and a large black B placed on the left breast of the shirt. Black stockings with a narrow orange stripe will also be worn.” From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 4, 1895. An almost identical report was published in the Buffalo Courier in early March 1895, exact date not available on scan.

April 1895: “The Baltimores have […] secured new traveling uniforms of gray and their famous trimmings of orange and black.” From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 30, 1895. This report was announcing the details for the Opening Day game between Baltimore and Brooklyn at Eastern Park, Brooklyn, on May 1, 1895. Game date from retrosheet.org.

May 1895: “The Baltimore Base Ball Club have tested your ‘Antler’ Garter as requested, and all the players unite in pronouncing them ‘GREAT.’ The Club has adopted them. Yours respectfully, Ed. Hanlon.” From a newspaper ad for The Antler Garter, printed in The Sporting Life, May 11, 1895. This may be referring to the same or similar garters worn by player McGraw in the 1895 Baltimore team picture, see photo A.

May 1895: “Jacob Gump, of Baltimore, has recently placed on the market a new garter called ‘Antler,’ which has already received the endorsement of all the [baseball] managers of the big teams of the East. […] The retail price is 25 cents per pair, and the trade will be supplied by Messrs. A. G. Spalding & Bros., New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, or directly by the maker, Jacob Gump, Baltimore.” From The Sporting Life, May 18, 1895. Another reference to the garter worn by McGraw in photo A. This edition of the newspaper also said that “Connie Mack [Pittsburgh player/manager] received two dozen of those Baltimore garters on Thursday. The [Pittsburgh] boys put them on for a mascot.”

September 1895: “Baltimore, Sept. 10 — There has been a week of celebration over the second capture of the [National] League pennant. On Monday night [September 9, 1895] the initial performance of the opera ‘Nancy Lee’ by the Digby Bell Company was given for the benefit of the Baltimore players. […] During the performance the champions appeared on the stage in their base ball uniforms.” From The Sporting Life, October 12, 1895.

September 27, 1895, Baltimore v. New York at the Polo Grounds, New York: “Two games were played by these teams on the afternoon of Sept. 27. […] The [Baltimore] visitors played rowdy ball until Umpire Keefe ordered McGraw, who was on the coaching lines in uniform, off the field.” From the New York Clipper, October 5, 1895.

Team genealogy: Baltimore 1882-1899
Baltimore was formed to join the American Association (AA) in 1882. The AA was a major league operating 1882-1891. Baltimore played in the AA from 1882 to 1889 and then joined the Atlantic Association, a minor league, for the 1890 season. The team rejoined the American Association in late 1890 when the Brooklyn AA team failed. Baltimore played in the American Association for the 1891 season and when the AA folded, Baltimore was added to the National League (NL) for the 1892 season. The NL began operation in 1876. Baltimore played in the NL from 1892 to 1899. After the 1899 season, Baltimore was dropped by the league and the team disbanded. Information from wikipedia.