1897 New York (New Yorks, Giants)

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 visual documentation for uniform style only. An educated guess is made on uniform color and on minor details that may be missing or difficult to determine.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A

Dated mid-March 1897 to early April 1897. This photo was taken during the team’s spring training in Lakewood, New Jersey. The date of the photo can be determined by the appearance of players Houle, Zeidler, Shea and Standish, all of whom never played a regular season game for New York. Of these four players, Houle and Zeidler were the first to be released from the team shortly before April 5, 1897. The team traveled to Lakewood in mid-March. A newspaper reported on March 20, 1897, that “under command of Manager-Captain Joyce the local club departed for Lakewood to get into condition.” The team stayed at the Lakewood Hotel, and the team photo above was likely taken outside the hotel. A newspaper reported that “the team leaves the hotel in the morning about 10 o’clock and all hands take a mile run on the way to the grounds. […] Shortly before noon the boys sprint back to the hotel for luncheon. By 2:30 P.M. all hands are again at work, and at 4:30 o’clock they run home [to the hotel] at a lively gait.” The players in this photo wore a gray uniform with a dark cap. This uniform was most likely the team’s road uniform from the previous season of 1896. Many of the players in this photo wore a cap with a rounded crown, also from 1896. Photos showed that the 1897 cap was in the pillbox style, and one newspaper commented that the new cap was “the old square kind” and not “the unsightly round head covering which have come into vogue of late.”

Top row, from left: G Stafford (NY 93-97, Lou 97), J Beckley (NY 96, 97, Cin 97), E Doheny (95-01), P Wilson (93-99), D Houle (dnp, Tor NVL 97, Por MeL 97), C Zeidler (dnp), H Souders (dnp, Buf El 97), W Clark (95-97), M Sullivan (96, 97) and J Meekin (94-99). Middle: M Tiernan (87-99), D Clarke (NY 94-97, Lou 97), B Joyce (96-98), G Davis (93-01), K Gleason (96-00) and D Zearfoss (NY 96-98, New AtL 97). Front: C Seymour (96-00, 06-10), J Shea (dnp, Der CtL, Tor CtL 97), C Gettig (NY 96-99, New Atl 97), G Van Haltren (94-03), J Warner (96-01, 03, 04) and M Standish (dnp, FR NEL 97). Player IDs and image scan from the Spalding Base Ball Guide 1898, released at the start of the 1898 season. Years with team from baseball-referense.com. Information on spring training and the Lakewood Hotel from The Sporting Life, March 20, March 27 and April 3, 1897. Houle and Zeidler release info from The Sporting Life, April 10, 1897.

Dated mid-March 1897 to early April 1897. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed that the players wore a variety of caps during spring training. The dark cap at left had a rounded crown and with the material of the cap pulled forward to the brim, the white cap in middle was in the pillbox style, and the dark cap at right was tight-fitting with a rounded crown.

Photo B

Dated mid-May 1897 to early August 1897. Year of photo determined by the appearance of player Holmes, who only played for New York in 1897. A date range for the photo of mid-May 1897 to early August 1897 can be determined by Holmes in combination with the appearance of player D Clarke. Holmes was traded to New York around May 13, 1897 and Clarke was traded away from New York on August 4, 1897. The majority of players in this photo wore the team’s 1897 road uniform, which was described by newspapers as gray in color and with black accents. Two players in this photo wore the white shirt of the home uniform in combination with the gray road pants, and another player wore the opposite, a gray shirt combined with white pants. It is not known if these players dressed this way for an official game. The players wore a cap that was in the pillbox style and newspapers in 1897 described the color of the cap as black.

Top row, from left: C Seymour (96-00, 06-10), D Clarke (NY 94-97, Lou 97), J Warner (96-01, 03, 04), M Tiernan (87-99), D Zearfoss (NY 96-98, New AtL 97), G Davis (93-01), D Holmes (NY 97, Lou 97) and K Gleason (96-00). Front: W Clark (95-97), G Van Haltren (94-03), P Wilson (93-99), B Joyce (96-98), A Rusie (90-95, 97, 98), M Sullivan (96, 97) and J Meekin (94-99). Player IDs from the photo frame. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Holmes and Clarke trade info from retrosheet.org. Image scan from Ken Samoil.

Dated mid-May 1897 to early August 1897. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed that two players, Joyce at left and Rusie at right, wore different combinations of both the home and road uniform.

Dated mid-May 1897 to early August 1897. Another detail view of photo A. This detail view showed that gray shirts worn by the players were not all the same. The players standing at left and center wore a shirt with light-colored lettering while the players standing at right and sitting wore a shirt with dark-colored lettering. It could be that the players at left wore a road uniform with red lettering from the previous year of 1896, and that the other players in this detail view wore the road uniform of 1897 which featured black lettering.

Photo C

Dated September 16, 1897. This illustration was published on the cover of Leslie’s Weekly on this date. Full view of cover on left, detail view of illustration on right. The details of the scene, illustrated from several photos, were described in the printed caption: “Base-Ball at the Polo Grounds, New York. The studies for this photo-mosaic were made during a recent game between the New Yorks and the Philadelphias. The picture shows [Nap] Lajoie of the Philadelphias at the bat. [Jack] Warner of the New Yorks is catching, while [Thomas] Lynch is serving as umpire.” The publication then made the following commentary: “Base-ball has attracted much attention this season, but some disgust has been occasioned by the quarreling and the rowdyism among the players. Decent people will not long support a game in which such indecent practices are continued.” Before the September 16 publish date, New York had played only three games vs. Philadelphia at home all season, on August 16, 17  and 18, 1897. According to box scores from this series, both Lajoie and Warner played in all three games, and Lynch umpired in all three games as well. The detail view showed the New York bench and players wearing the team’s home uniform. Lajoie and Warner info from baseball-reference.com. Lynch info from wikipedia.com. Series box scores from the New York Clipper, August 21 and 28, 1897. Image scan from Carson Lorey. Original illustration by Lewis L. Roush, New York.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 1897: “The uniforms which the Giants will wear this year have been selected. The at-home suits will be white, with black stockings, belts and caps, and the visiting suits blue-gray with black trimmings. The caps this year will be the old square kind instead of the unsightly round head covering which have come into vogue of late.” From the Troy (NY) Daily Times, February 24, 1897.

March 1897: “The Giants will wear a white uniform with black stockings, belts and caps, while playing at the Polo grounds next season [1897]. Away from home they will wear blue gray, with black trimmings. The old style square top caps will be worn again, instead of the the tight fitting cap which has lately become so popular.” From the Louisville Courier-Journal, March 5, 1897. Almost identical reports were published in the Buffalo Enquirer, March 8, 1897, and in the Wilkes-Barre (PA) Evening Leader, March 16, 1897. Research on all three newspapers from Ed Morton.

March 1897: “The Giants will wear a new uniform this year. The maroon trimmings [of 1896] have been discarded and black substituted. The traveling suits will be of that shade known as Providence gray. The home uniform is white with black trimmings. The cap is an improvement over those worn in previous years. The peak [i.e., bill of the cap] is larger and striped with a deep green, the crown is lower. The alterations were made at Capt. Joyce’ suggestion and the caps are the most becoming, says the New York World.” From the Washington (DC) Times, March 21, 1897. Research from Ed Morton.

Team genealogy: New York 1883-1957
New York joined the National League (NL) in 1883, with many of its players coming from a disbanded NL team in Troy, NY. The NL began operation in 1876 and this New York team played in the NL from 1883 to 1957. The team moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season. Information from wikipedia.com.