1897 St. Paul (Saints, Apostles)
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 late April 1897. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players Nyce, McBride, Munch and Nichol, all of whom only played for St. Paul in 1897. A late April 1897 date can be determined by the two factors. One, player Nyce did not sign with the team until the week before April 24, and two, the St. Paul Globe reported on April 27 that “last night” the newspaper received “a group picture of the St. Paul team.” The photo received by the Globe was undoubtedly the team picture shown above as the newspaper published this picture three days later on April 30. Players wore a dark uniform in this photo, with white lettering, belt and stockings. Several newspapers described the team’s road uniform as being dark blue in color. However, some reports stated the accent color was black, not white. Two players wore the team’s white sweater.
Top row, from left: H Spies (96-99), J Glasscock (96-98), T Mullane (95, 97, 98), W Preston (97-99) and C Nyce (97). Middle: B George (95-97), W Hollingsworth (96, 97), H Fricken (97, 98), (C Comiskey mgr 95-99), A McBride (97), G Munch (StP 97, Far RRL 97) and T O’Rourke (StP 95-97, KC WL 97). Front: S Nichol (StP 97, Det WL 97), B Phyle (96-98), (mascot), W McGill (97, 01) and F Shugart (96-99). Player IDs from photo. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. The mascot in the front row may have been Comiskey’s son, John Louis Comiskey, born August 1885. Player Munch, sitting middle row second from right, was Gus Munch, not included in baseball-reference.com. The St. Paul Globe reported on March 28, 1897, that Munch had recently signed with St. Paul. On April 10, 1897, The Sporting Life reported that “Comiskey has […] signed Munch, a local amateur, who was with the Minnesota Packing & Provision Co. team last year, and has played with several of the best amateur teams in this state. He is a ‘southsider,’ and has some very good curves and plenty of speed.” The St. Paul Globe touted him as a “robust young fellow, with plenty of speed and good curves, and […] a disposition to play ball.” Munch pitched in one game for St. Paul on May 16 before later joining the Fargo team of the Red River League. Info on Munch signing, Globe description and game played from Jeff Bozovsky, SABR BioProject: Gus Munch, retrieved June 20, 2020. Image scan of team and April 30, 1897 publish date from the Minnesota Historical Society. Image research from Cary Smith. Original photo by Nilson E. Thorson, St. Paul.
Dated late April 1897. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the lettering on the shirts and four white buttons.
Photo B
Dated May 1897. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players Nyce, McBride, Munch and Nichol, all of whom only played for St. Paul in 1897. A May 1897 date can be determined by players Parrott, Nichol and O’Rourke. Parrott was signed by St. Paul in the days before May 8, 1897 and Nichol and O’Rourke were released before June 5, 1897. Players wore a white uniform in this photo. Newspapers reported in early 1897 that the accent color of the home white uniform was red. Three players wore the team’s white sweater, including player Hollingsworth, middle row second from left, who also wore a sweater in photo A.
Top row, from left: J Glasscock (96-98), H Spies (96-99), T Mullane (95, 97, 98), T Parrott (StP 97, Min 97 WL), W Preston (97-99), T O’Rourke (StP 95-97, KC WL 97) and S Nichol (StP 97, Det WL 97). Middle: B George (95-97), W Hollingsworth (96, 97), (C Comiskey mgr 95-99), B Brush (StP 97, Moo RRL 97) and C Nyce (97). Front: H Fricken (97, 98), B Phyle (96-98), W McGill (97, 01), F Shugart (96-99) and A McBride (97). Player IDs based on photo A. Identities of players Parrott and Brush from photo C, with research from Nigel Ayres. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Parrott signing info from The Sporting Life, May 8, 1897. Nichol and O’Rourke release info from The Sporting Life, June 5, 1897. Image scan from Carson Lorey.
Dated May 1897. Detail view showed that the home white uniform had lettering very similar to the blue uniform shown in photo A. Detail view also suggested that the shirt did not have a breast pocket.
Photo C
Dated 1897. Promotional pin of the St. Paul team utilizing the same team photo as show above in photo B but with the background removed. Pin included player IDs. Image scan from worthpoint.com. Research from Nigel Ayres.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1897: “The traveling uniforms of the several Western League teams this season will be as follows: Indianapolis, gray with brown trimmings; Milwaukee, gray with light blue trimmings; St. Paul, dark blue with black trimmings; Minneapolis, gray with black trimmings; Kansas City, dark blue throughout; Columbus and Detroit, gray with maroon trimmings; Grand Rapids, gray with black trimmings. All the clubs will wear white at home, with the same colored trimming as used on the road uniform.” From St. Paul Globe, March 21, 1897, and from The Sporting Life, March 27, 1897. Globe research from Peter Reitan and Chuck McGill. Sporting Life research from Chuck McGill. Other newspaper reports from this time period stated that the home accent color for St. Paul was red, not blue.
March 1897: “St. Paul’s uniforms at home will be white trimmed with maroon. The uniform to be worn away from home will be blue trimmed with white.” From the Detroit Free Press, March 23, 1897. Research from Ed Morton. Other reports from this period suggested that the accent color for the blue uniform was black.
April 1897: “The St. Pauls affect dark blue and black [for their uniform].” From the Chicago Inter-Ocean, April 18, 1897. Research from Ed Morton.
April 1897: “Both the Kansas City and St. Paul nines will wear their new suits for the first time tomorrow [for the home opener]. The Saints’ clothes have been shipped here [to Kansas City].” From the Kansas City Times, April 21, 1897. Similar wording from this article was picked up and reprinted by the St. Paul Globe on April 23, 1897 as part of a report on the April 22 home opener in Kansas City. Research on both newspapers from Ed Morton.
April 1897: “A group picture of the St. Paul team received by the Globe last night shows shortstop Shugart with a luxuriant mustache. Hollingsworh, however, has yet no indication of hirsute appendage on his facial integument.” From the St. Paul Globe, April 27, 1897. Research from Ed Morton. Note that both team photos from late April to early May 1897, see photos A and B, showed player Shugart with a mustache and player Hollingsworth with none.
Team genealogy: St. Paul 1895-1899
St. Paul joined the Western League (WL) in 1895 with the transfer of the Sioux City team. The WL operated between 1894 and 1899 and St. Paul played in the league through the 1899 season. The team was transferred to Chicago before the 1900 season when the league reformed as the American League. Information from wikipedia.com
Rendering posted: August 27, 2021
Diggers on this uniform: Carson Lorey, Cary Smith, Chuck McGill, Ed Morton, Nigel Ayres, Peter Reitan,