1895 Pittsburgh (Pittsburghs, Pirates)
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
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated April 1895 to May 1895. Year confirmed by appearance of players Niles, Kinslow, Clingman, Genins, and Hart, all of whom only played for Pittsburgh in 1895. An April 1895 to May 1895 date range can be determined by player Colcolough, who was released from the team as reported on June 6, 1895. The players wore a white or light-gray uniform in this photo with dark-colored lettering across the shirt, dark belts and dark stockings. A newspaper in 1895 described the home uniform as white in color with dark blue trimmings and the road uniform as gray in color with maroon trimmings. Note that several dark-colored caps were shown in the foreground of this photo and that the cap displayed a letter “P” above the brim. The majority of players wore long sleeves in this photo and several players wore padded pants.
Top row, from left: L Bierbauer (91-96), B Niles (Pit 95, Mil WL 95, Frk IOL 95), T Kinslow (95), P Donovan (92-98), F Killen (93-98), P Hawley (95-97) and M Cross (94, 95). Middle: B Clingman (95), M Smith (92-97), (R Mason, trainer), C Mack (91-96), F Genins (95), J Beckley (NL 88, 89, 91-96, PL 90) and J Stenzel (92-96). Front: B Hart (95), J Menefee (94, 95), T Colcolough (Pit 93-95, WB EL 95) and J Sugden (93-97). Player IDs from the Spalding Base Ball Guide 1896, issued in 1896 as a recap of the 1895 season. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Colcolough release info from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 6, 1895. ID of trainer from Andy Terrick who has found photographic documentation on Mason that confirms his identity in the photo above. Terrick adds that “James ‘Reddy’ Mason likely held a number of small positions with the Pirates, including heckling opponents, but was mainly known as the trainer for the club.” Terrick adds that Mason was also a boxing trainer, working with “many young pugilists, but his reputation soared to greatest heights decades later when he was the trainer for Harry Greb.” Per wikipedia.com, Greb (1894-1926), from Pittsburgh, was a champion boxer in the 1920s and was regarded by many historians as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers of all time. Image scan and research from Ken Samoil. Supporting research from Chuck McGill and Mark Fimoff.
Dated April 1895 to May 1895. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the lettering on the shirts, the ribbing on the stockings, and the cap with the letter “P” above the brim. The shirt pocket can be seen on the player at left.
Photo B
Dated April 1895 to May 1895. This is the same image as shown in photo A. However in this version, player Cross as been removed from his original position of top row, far right, and added to the middle row, third from left. The artist was unable to scale this image of Cross correctly and as a result the figure was extremely too large for the photo. Additionally, in this example, the identity of three players was transposed on the photo frame. See more below.
Top row, from left: L Bierbauer (91-96), B Niles (Pit 95, Mil WL 95, Frk IOL 95), T Kinslow (95), P Donovan (92-98), F Killen (93-98) and P Hawley (95-97). Middle: B Clingman (95), M Smith (92-97), M Cross (94, 95), C Mack (91-96), F Genins (95), J Beckley (NL 88, 89, 91-96, PL 90) and J Stenzel (92-96). Front: B Hart (95), J Menefee (94, 95), T Colcolough (Pit 93-95, WB EL 95) and J Sugden (93-97). Player IDs and image from the Spalding Base Ball Guide 1896 (1896), issued at the start of the 1896 season. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Supporting research from Ken Samoil, Chuck McGill and Mark Fimoff.
As mentioned, the identity of three players was transposed on the photo frame shown above. Based on research from Ken Samoil, the correct identifications are listed here:
—The player listed as “Coakley,” middle row third from left, was actually Monte Cross. Apparently, Cross was absent during the original photo session and had to be added to this image at a later date. It is clear to see that the photo-retoucher was not able to size the image of Cross correctly and subsequently his figure was shown too large in comparison to the scale of the other players. It is unknown if Cross was added on top of another player already in the photo. It could be that during the photo session the team management decided to leave an open area in the arrangement of players so that the image of Cross could be added afterwards.
—The player listed as Cross, front row far right, was actually Joe Sugden
—The player listed as Sugden, front row third from left, was actually Tom Colcolough. Note that the photo frame does not include Colcolough’s name, but does include the name “Coakley.” Research shows that these two surnames were used interchangeably for the same player during this period and that Tom Colcolough was often called “Tom Coakley.” Both Colcolough and Coakley were described as pitchers in newspaper reports. Colcolough was from Charleston, SC, and on March 28, 1895 the Pittsburgh Press reported that the team was to play several exhibition games at “Charleston, Tom Coakley’s town.” Colcolough was released in June 1895 and subsequently played in the Eastern League for several years. He joined New York in 1899 and the Baltimore Sun clarified the surname confusion by reporting on April 6, 1899, that the “[New York] pitching [in 1899] will be done by Meekin, Doheny and Tom Colcolough (known as Coakley in the Eastern league).”
Dated April 1895 to May 1895. Detail view of photo B. Detail view showed that the city name was arched across the chest and that the letters extended to the armpits, completely obscuring the “P” and “H” in Pittsburgh. Unlike previous years, the Pittsburgh uniform shown in this team photo included the “H” at the end of the city name, see red arrows. “Pittsburg,” with no “h,” had become the official spelling in 1891 and Pittsburgh uniforms from 1893 and 1894 did not include this letter. The city reverted back to the original spelling of Pittsburgh in 1911. Pittsburgh etymology from wikipedia.com.
Photo C
Dated August 10, 1895. This collage of illustrated portraits was published in a newspaper on this day, full view at left, detail view at right. The portraits were made from photographs, some of which have been documented as from 1895, see examples below. An 1895 date can be further suggested by the portraits of Niles, Clingman, Genins, and Hart, all of whom only played for Pittsburgh during this year. It is likely that all of the original photos were made in 1895. The uniform depicted in this collage had a button placket and a dark-colored cap with a rounded crown.
Top row, from left: M Smith (92-97), B Niles (Pit 95, Mil WL 95, Frk IOL 95), B Clingman (95) and F Killen (93-98). Second row: F Genins (95), J Beckley (NL 88, 89, 91-96, PL 90), J Sugden (93-97) and M Cross (94, 95). Third row: P Hawley (95-97), C Mack (91-96) and Donovan. Fourth row: J Menefee (94, 95), J Stenzel (92-96), Foreman, B Hart (95) and L Bierbauer (91-96). Player IDs and image from The Sporting Life, August 10, 1895. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Getty Images.
Photo D
Dated circa 1895. Portrait of M Smith (92-97). Full view at left, detail view at right. This photo was used as the basis for an illustration published on August 10, 1895, see photo B. Player may have worn the team’s road uniform in this photo. Note that the cap had a rounded crown, not a pillbox crown. This cap style further suggests an 1895 photo date as earlier Pittsburgh uniforms had pillbox-style caps. Detail view showed that the shirt had five buttons down the front (4 were shown), and that one button overlapped the bottom portion of the “B” in Pittsburgh. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from uniondalecemetery.org.
Photo E
Dated 1895. Portrait of P Hawley (95-97). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo year determined by photo frame and confirmed by the fact that is was Hawley’s first year with the team. This photo was also used as the basis for an illustration published on August 10, 1895, see photo B. Player may have worn the team’s road uniform in this photo. Similar to photo C, this shirt had five buttons down the front (4 were shown). However unlike photo C, two shirt buttons overlapped the letter “B” in the city name. This photo also showed that on this particular uniform the “S” in the city name appeared thicker than the other letters on the shirt. A shirt pocket can also be seen. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from loveofthegameauctions.com. Photo by Dana, New York, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh.
Photos F & G
Dated circa 1895. Left, portrait of M Cross (94, 95) and right, portrait of F Killen (93-98). Both of these photos were used as the basis for an illustration published on August 10, 1895, see photo B. Photos showed the profile of a dark-colored cap with a rounded crown. This cap can further suggest an 1895 date for these photos as earlier Pittsburgh uniforms included a pillbox-style cap. Years with team and image scan of Killen from baseball-reference.com. Image scan of Cross from Ken Samoil. Photo of Cross by Dana, New York, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
April 1895: “Pittsburg[h] uniforms this season will be gray, with maroon trimmings, for the road, and white with dark blue trimmings while at home.” From the Boston Post, April 8, 1895. Research from Don Stokes.
April 1895: “Manager and Captain Connie Mack and his Pittsburg[h] Pirates, sometimes called the ‘Smoked Italians’ arrived here [St. Louis] from Cincinnati this morning and put up at the Lindell.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 26, 1895.
May 1895: “Connie Mack [Pittsburgh player/manager] received two dozen of those Baltimore garters on Thursday. The [Pittsburgh] boys put them on for a mascot.” From The Sporting Life, May 18, 1895.
June 1895: “The Easterners all fear Cincinnati much more than they do the Pittsburg[h]s. Everybody this way thinks the Reds are bound to beat out the Smoked Italians.” From the [Covington] Kentucky Post and Times-Star, June 6, 1895.
August 1895: “The Smoked Italians gave one of the finest exhibitions of daylight fireworks ever seen at League Park. […] Jake Beckley, Sugden, Bierbauer, Monte Cross and even Pink Hawley touched off flies that went straight into the air and did not carry out of the diamond.” From the [Covington] Kentucky Post and Times-Star, August 13, 1895.
Team genealogy: Pittsburgh 1870s-
Pittsburgh began as Allegheny, an independent pro team in Pittsburgh formed in the late 1870s. Allegheny joined the American Association (AA) at its formation in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Allegheny played in the AA through the 1886 season and then moved to the National League (NL) as Pittsburgh in 1887. The NL began operation in 1876 and Pittsburgh has played in the league every year from 1887 to present time. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: February 27, 2022
Diggers on this uniform: Andy Terrick, Chuck McGill, Don Stokes, Ken Samoil, Mark Fimoff,