1895 Chicago (Chicagos, Colts)
Left: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style and 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
Right: This rendering is based on 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 mid-March 1895 to April 10, 1895. This team photo, according to the printed caption above, was taken in Galveston, Texas. Date range of photo can be determined by newspaper reports that stated Chicago held their first spring training practice in Galveston on March 16, 1895 and that they were scheduled to end their training and head north on April 10, 1895. This date range can be further confirmed by a newspaper report printed April 20 that said “an elegant group photo of the Chicago team of 1895 [had been] recently taken in Galveston” and that the photo “reflects credit on the Texas photographer.” The team wore a white or off-white uniform in this photo, with white belts and white stockings. The majority of shirts worn had no lettering (with exceptions noted below) and no breast pocket. The majority of shirts also had dark-colored lace ties, many of which were tied in an “x” pattern. While the team was in Texas, a newspaper reported that the new Chicago uniform color was “gray with white caps, belt and stockings.” It is possible the new uniforms were actually light gray and that these light gray uniforms were the ones shown in the team photo. Two players in the photo wore uniforms that did not match the others. Players Stratton and Griffith wore uniforms with the city name positioned low across the shirt front. It is speculation that these two uniforms may have been from the previous season of 1894 as both Stratton and Griffith played for Chicago during that year as well. Player Donahue, seated far right, wore a sweater under his shirt with the oversized collar of the sweater on top of the shirt. Player Moran, standing far left, wore a shirt with 3/4 length sleeves. Most of the remaining shirts in this photo featured full-length sleeves. Note that player-manager Anson, seated center, wore a mustache in this photo. A newspaper reported on April 23, 1895 that “Anson has shaved off his mustache” and another paper printed on April 27, 1895 that Anson had shaved his mustache which he had worn “for thirty years” and that “all the Colts have shaved.” This also points to a photo date of April 1895 or before. (The “thirty years” claim on Anson’s mustache was inaccurate as photographic evidence showed that Anson grew his mustache sometime between 1879 and 1882. Another report in 1895 said Anson had his mustache “twenty-four years,” which also seemed inaccurate. During the 1890s, newspapers speculated on how long Anson, who turned 43 at the start of the 1895 season, would continue to play. One newspaper stated that Anson was staying fit during spring training and that he “lost eighteen pounds in Texas” and expected “to knock off twelve more.”)
Top row, from left: B Moran (GR WL 95, Mil WL 95, Chi NL 95), A Terry (94-97), B Abbey (Chi NL 93-95, Bklyn NL 95), B Lange (93-99), S Stratton (94-95), B Everitt (95-00) and A Stewart (Rckfrd WA 95, Chi NL 95). Middle row, sitting: B Dahlen (91-98), G Decker (92-97), C Anson (76-97), B Hutchinson (89-95) and W Wilmot (90-95). Front row, on ground: J Ryan (NL 85-89, 91-00, PL 90), M Kittridge (90-97), C Irwin (93-95), C Griffith (NL 93-00, AL 01, 02) and T Donahue (95-00). Player IDs from photo. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Image and IDs also printed in the Spalding Base Ball Guide, 1896. Galveston spring training dates from The Sporting Life, March 23, 1895. Report of Galveston photo session from The Sporting Life, April 20, 1895. Report of Anson shaving from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 23, 1895, with research from Tom Shieber, and from The Sporting Life, April 27 and May 18, 1895. Original photo by Justus Zahn, Galveston, Texas.
Dated mid-March 1895 to April 10, 1895. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed an unadorned shirt accented only by dark-colored lace ties. Note that this detail view also showed the stitching for a wide shirt placket.
Photo B
Dated June 29, 1895. Collage of player portraits, full view at left, detail view at right. This collage was printed in a newspaper on this date. The drawings were based on the team photo from this year, see photo A. Image scan from The Sporting Life, June 29, 1895.
Photo C
Dated 1895. Mayo Cut Plug baseball card of C Anson (76-97). Full view at left, detail view at right. The majority of players portrayed in this series were represented by drawings, often made from photographs. However, research has shown that the uniforms depicted were usually a creation of the artist and not an accurate representation. Years Anson with team from baseball-reference.com. Card issue date from oldcardboard.com.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
December 1894: “Hart’s New Scheme. Base Ball Players Should be Made to Wear Numbers. — It is suggested that players wear numbers during a game, so the audience can identify them. Every one who has attended a ball game knows how puzzled one occasionally gets in endeavoring to recognize some players or trying to locate a man who is on the team, but whose position has been changed from that signified on the score-card. The plan suggested to [Chicago team president] Mr. Hart is very simple. It is for every man on the team to have a separate number […] Naturally, the regular men on the team should wear small [i.e., single-digit] numerals, extra pitchers, catchers and other substitutes taking numbers from ten upward. On the score-cards the names of the players, with their numbers, shall be printed: and in this way the spectator can readily identify any player on the field.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 29, 1894. Research from Peter Reitan. To date, no contemporary reports have surfaced to confirm the occurrence of uniform numbering in the 19th century. To see the documented history of numbers on uniforms, go the the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Dressed To The Nines website, Numbers & Names page here.
January 1895: “Jim Hart [president of the Chicago NL team] has a scheme whereby any player can be identified by the spectators. It is for the player to wear a number which shall be the same all the season, this number to be in a conspicuous place on the uniform, and also the score card. Those who are strangers to the players often find it difficult to identify them when changes are made, and to this class the plan will commend itself. —Boston Herald. There is no need to number players, for baseball patrons know most of the men very well. What is needed, however, is a bulletin board, such as cricketers use, on which any variation from the day’s score card can be noted, and the change of pitchers or other players during the progress of a game announced.” From the Philadelphia Record, January 2, 1895. Research from Ed Morton.
March 1895: “The Chicago uniforms are gray with white caps, belts and stockings and white sweaters.” From The Sporting Life, March 23, 1895. This report was made while the team was in spring training in Galveston, TX, and implied they had their new uniforms in Texas.
April 1895: “We are indebted to [Chicago] President Jas. A. Hart for an elegant group photo of the Chicago team of 1895, taken recently at Galveston, Tex. The boys all look as natural as life. Anson in particular appears as youthful looking as a young blood. The work reflects credit on the Texas photographer.” From The Sporting Life, April 20, 1895. Included in this issue was the following commentary: “The pictures of the Chicago Club that appeared in the various papers during the past week were of the most hilarious kind. They were all sketched from one photograph, taken down at Galveston. […] I could recognize Anson because he sat in the middle, but nobody could tell Kittridge from Griffith, or Abbey from Moran. […] — W. A. Phelon, Jr.”
June 1895: “Philadelphia, June 18. […] The neatest uniform of any visiting team yet seen here [in Philadelphia] is the Chicago uniform. They wear neat suits of light bluish gray flannel, white caps, belts and stockings. The jackets are of white.” From The Sporting Life, June 22, 1895. Chicago had most recently played at Philadelphia on June 1, 3 and 4, 1895. Game dates from retrosheet.org.
July 1895: “Uncle Anson, once derided, has re-ascended the throne, and with his bat for his scepter and a white cap for a crown, he has the Windy City at his feet.” From The Sporting Life, July 13, 1895. This report, referencing the Chicago player-manager, may also confirm the team cap was white in color.
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.
Rendering posted: December 29, 2018
Diggers on this uniform: Ed Morton, Mark Fimoff, Peter Reitan, Tom Shieber,