1898 Rochester (Rochesters, Patriots, Brownies)
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
The 1898 Rochester uniform: a patriotic “pousse café” during wartime
In 1949, Rochester baseball historian Bill McCarthy (1892-1958) wrote about the city’s 1898 Eastern League uniforms.
The “players wore eagle screaming hosiery,” he quipped. “A sash of red, white and blue circumnavigating their portly middles. The effect in hues reminded of a cross between a faro layout and a pousse café.” Umm, come again?
After some googling, a “faro layout” was likely a reference to the rows of face-up playing cards required to play the casino game Faro, an optical overload on the gambling table. A “pousse café” is a glass filled with various liqueurs poured in successive layers. (If you have different interpretations, please let me know.)
So, we’re talking bands of color.
Specifically, bands of red, white and blue – for the US and Spain were soon to be at war. When the Rochester uniforms were first worn in an exhibition game on April 4, 1898, the local newspaper said the new suits “made a hit with the crowd. They were dark blue with red, white, blue and black stockings, caps and sweaters. Manager Morton remarked that he sprung them [on this day] because he thought war would be declared in Washington.” It was soon enough, three weeks later.
The pictured Patriots.
Here’s how the uniform looked in black-and-white. This previously unknown photo of the 1898 Rochester team recently popped up on ebay. (These discoveries never cease to amaze me!) The Rochester team was, at times, nicknamed the Patriots this year.
Photo A
Dated May 7, 1898. This team photo was published in a Rochester newspaper on this date. The photo year of 1898 can be confirmed by the appearance of players Boyd, Griffin, Yerkes, Massey, Scheffler, German, Gilllen and Clymer, all of whom only played for Rochester in 1898. The banding on the caps and stockings was plain to see in the photo. One player, middle row second from left, wore the team sweater under his uniform. It, too, had stripes around the turtleneck and at the cuffs.
Top row, from left: F Boyd? (98), S Griffin (Roc 98, Buf EL 98, WB EL 98), S Yerkes (98), B Massey (Roc 98, Spr EL 98), T Scheffler (Roc 98, New AtL 98) and L German (98). Middle: T Gillen (98), B Clymer (98), (C Morton, mgr 91, 98) and J Walters (Roc 95, 98, Pro EL 98). Front: P Eagan (Roc 92, 98, Buf EL 98), C Morse (98-01), G Harper (95, 98), J Gunson (86, 98) and F Bonner (98). Image and player IDs from the Rochester Union and Advertiser, May 7, 1898. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from ebay.com, retrieved February 9, 2024, and from Carson Lorey.
On opening day, May 9, patriotism was running high in Rochester. However, a local newspaper noted that the uniform “colors were not nearly as loud as the cranks expected. [Regardless,] it is a popular combination of colors now.”
Neighbors with national colors.
In Buffalo, the Eastern League Bisons also started the season wearing red, white and blue, including a blue cap “with a white star on top and a red button in the center.” A local newspaper noted that “nearly all of the teams are now wearing the National colors.” See the Buffalo uniform here.
The Syracuse team came onto the field opening day wearing red, white and blue stockings and small stars “scattered about their shirts in an ‘elegant’ manner.” Remarkably, each cap also was “fronted by a miniature flag.” See the Syracuse uniform here. Of course, Spalding outfitted all six of the U.S. teams in the circuit, securing the contracts at an Eastern League meeting in February.
Let’s look closer at the Rochester uniform.
Dated May 7, 1898, detail view of photo A. The bold, white bands on the stockings were rare for the 1890s. Sadly, the red and blue bands were undistinguishable in black-and-white photography.
Dated May 7, 1898, another detail view of photo A. The shirt had white lettering, white buttons and no shirt pocket. Though historian McCarthy implied the team wore red, white and blue belts “around their portly middles,” the men clearly wore solid white belts when this photo was taken.
Rochester soon fell apart, literally.
By early July, the Eastern League was in trouble. Attention given to the war and poor gate receipts led to player salary cuts across all squads. For the second year in a row, a struggling Rochester franchise moved north to Canada, this time, Ottawa.
When the relocated team, still wearing Rochester uniforms, first played in the Capital City on July 15, something was missing. One Ottawa newspaper noted that there was a “smatterings of literature on the bosoms of the Ottawa team.” It seems the Rochester lettering was being removed from the shirts, possibly one consonant at a time.
This rendering depicted how, according to one Ottawa newspaper, a few of the shirts appeared during the team’s first game in Canada. Two days later, the newspaper noted that “the Ottawa boys must have played hot ball somewhere to melt all those letters off their shirts.”
Rad in Plaid.
The Ottawa team finally discarded the old uniforms on August 1, 1898, wearing for the first time new tartan uniforms that were even more remarkable than the old Rochester suits. Tom Shieber and Steve Rennie have already covered this subject well. See the Ottawa uniform here.
Still, the uniform conversation continued amongst rival newspapers. On August 15, 1898, the Montreal Gazette chimed in, “It was the general impression in the Eastern League circuit that the late Rochester uniform was the most hideous the ingenuity of man could devise. The new Ottawa outfit, however, knocks it into a cocked hat. It makes [Ottawa pitcher George] Harper appear like the popular impression of a Spaniard.”
By Spaniard, the newspaper meant “defeated.” Only a few days earlier on August 12, Spain asked for peace, her fleets sitting destroyed in the harbors of Cuba and the Philippines.
Thank you for your time. If interested, see the written descriptions below for more detailed accounts of the Rochester uniform. Thanks to Carson Lorey for bringing the team photo to light. —Craig
Written documentation on this uniform:
February 1898: “At a recent meeting of the Eastern League […] Messrs. A. G. Spalding & Bros., […] secured an order to outfit the teams of the entire league with new uniforms.” From the Gazette Montreal, February 22, 1898.
March 1898: “[Rochester] Manager C. H. Morton said last night: […] ‘I notice in the Syracuse Herald a reference to the red, white and blue suits of the Stars. Rochester led Syracuse in this respect, you know. Our suits were ordered the first of February and as a fact they are ready and waiting in New York now. We have no old suits and will be obliged to put our men in red, white and blue uniforms from the outset.’” From the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, March 28, 1898.
April 1898, exhibition game: “The Rochester uniforms made a hit with the crowd. They were dark blue with red, white, blue and black stockings, caps and sweaters. Manager Morton remarked that he sprung them today because he thought war would be declared in Washington.” From the Buffalo Courier, April 5, 1898. Research from Ed Morton. The US declared war with Spain on April 25, 1898.
April 1898: “Manager Morton, of the Brownies, tonight released catcher O’Neill.” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 25, 1898. An example of the Brownies nickname still in use. The nickname came from the brown color of the Rochester uniforms worn in 1895.
April 29, 1898, Rochester v. Wilkes-Barre, at Wilkes-Barre, home opener: “It was excessively damp and cold, and to furnish such an exhibition of the national game as the Patriots and Barons succeeded in doing this afternoon seemed an utter impossibility.” From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, April 30, 1898. An example of the Patriots nickname in use.
May 9, 1898, Rochester v. Toronto at Rochester, Culver Field, opening day: “The proportions of the crowd burst upon the baseball procession in unexpected size as the parade turned into University avenue at the park […] augmented by the hundreds who had walked to the grounds along side of and behind the parade of the band and carriages decorated with the national colors. The Canadian team’s wagon was decorated with the British flag, and the Toronto’s uniform was of red and gray. The new uniforms of red, white and blue which adorned the Rochester team were not nearly as loud as the cranks expected, it is a popular combination of colors now.” From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 10, 1898.
May 1898: “The ‘rejuvenated’ Buffalos got it in the neck at Rochester yesterday, the Brownies playing all around them.” From the Syracuse Herald, May 28, 1898. Another example of the Brownies nickname still in use.
June 1898: “Rochester, N.Y. — June 28. […] Manager Finn, the new man at the head of the ‘Patriots,’ seems to be getting good work out of the team.” From The Sporting Life, July 2, 1898. An example of the Patriots nickname in use.
July 1898: “The Rochester team will arrive at Ottawa on the fifteenth [of July].” From the Albany (NY) Evening Journal, July 12, 1898. This report confirms the time period in which the franchise was transferred.
July 15, 1898, Ottawa (formerly Rochester) v. Syracuse, at Ottawa, home opener: “The umpire was ‘jollied,’ […] his decisions were not favorable to the boys in blue.” From the Ottawa Citizen, July 16, 1898. This report tells us that the Ottawa team was wearing Rochester’s blue uniforms for this game. The franchise was transferred from Rochester to Ottawa on July 12, and the team played their first game in Ottawa on July 15. Ottawa had new uniforms made and they were worn for the first time on August 1, 1898.
July 15, 1898, Ottawa (formerly Rochester) v. Syracuse, at Ottawa, Lansdowne Park, first game at home: “It might be gathered from the smatterings of literature on the bosoms of the Ottawa team that they belonged to the ‘Roche,’ ‘R Este,’ ‘OT,’ ‘Chester’ and various other clubs.” From the Ottawa Citizen, July 16, 1898, p. 6. Research from Steve Rennie. This report confirmed that a selection of letters had been removed from the Rochester uniforms. Researcher Paul Paul Bielewicz adds: “I don’t think the letters falling off was a coincidence, I’d almost certainly attribute it to someone’s attempt to remove the lettering from the jerseys. The letters would have been wool felt, stitched onto wool flannel jerseys, and held in place by glue when sewn. An attempt to remove the lettering might’ve left it in shambles, like what’s described in the article. The felt would have shredded, or simply ripped apart. The glue would have held on stubbornly in some spots, leaving traces of the glued portions of the lettering behind — half an “R” here, an “E” there, etc. Removing sewn-on lettering takes a LOT of effort, and the team simply may not have taken the time to do it properly amidst the chaos of the move.”
July 17, 1898, Ottawa (formerly Rochester) v. Syracuse, at Ottawa: “The Ottawa boys must have played hot ball somewhere to melt all those letters off their shirts.” From the Ottawa Citizen, July 18, 1898. This report implied the letters had been removed from the Rochester uniforms.
August 14, 1898: “It was the general impression in the Eastern League circuit that the late Rochester uniform was the most hideous the ingenuity of man could devise. The new Ottawa outfit, however, knocks it into a cocked hat. It makes [pitcher George] Harper appear like the popular impression of a Spaniard.’ From the Montreal Gazette, August 15, 1898.
1898, referenced in March 1899: “Wilkes-Barre fans will recall the Rochester players’ uniforms of last season [1898]– the barber pole sort of colors. Boston decided to copy after them this year [1899].” From the Wilkes-Barre Record, Mach 7, 1899. Research from Ed Morton.
1898, referenced in 1949: “Rochester players [in 1898] wore eagle screaming hosiery. A sash of red, white and blue circumnavigating their portly middles. The effect in hues reminded of a cross between a faro layout and a pousse café.” From Bill McCarthy, Rochester Diamond Echoes (1949). McCarthy passage from Paul Bielewicz. A “faro layout” is a reference to the way playing cards are sequentially lined-up on the table during the casino game Faro. A “pousse café” is a glass filled with various liqueurs or cordials poured in successive layers. Information from dictionary.com and from Ryan O’Connell, Real Deal Faro, retrieved online January 15, 2021. In photo A, the players wore a white belt, and not “a sash of red, white and blue” as McCarthy described. Researcher Barry Gray comments that “a sash is not a belt, but ‘a band or ribbon worn about the waist, as for ornament,’ according to the American Heritage Dictionary. So it’s likely the players did not wear the sash during games. Hence the absence of the sash in the photo.”
Team genealogy: Rochester 1898-1898
Rochester joined the Eastern League (EL) in 1898, their third entry into the league, with the transfer of the Scranton franchise. The EL operated between 1891 and 1911 and became the International League in 1912. Rochester played in the EL for only a portion of the 1898 season and the team was transferred to Ottawa on July 12, 1898. Information from Bill O’Neal, The International League (1992). Ottawa transfer date was listed as July 7, 1898 by Baseball America, Inc., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (1997).
Rendering posted: February 11, 2025
Diggers on this uniform: Carson Lorey, Ed Morton, Paul Bielewicz, Steve Rennie,