1899 Minneapolis (Millers)

These renderings are based on visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniforms are rendered in values of gray. Minor details may also be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the renderings.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A

Dated 1899, possibly June 15-18, 1899. Year of photo determined by the appearance of players Zearfoss and Andrews, both of whom only played for Minneapolis in 1899. Date range of June 15-18, 1899, for photo can be suggested by the players in the picture in combination with by the likelihood that this image was taken when the team played at Kansas City on these dates. All of the players in this photo were with the Minneapolis team on both of their first two visits to Kansas City, May 1-3 and June 15-18. However two pitchers who participated in the May series, Bandelin and Bresnahan, were not included in the photo, suggesting the image was taken during the June series. The team’s third and last visit to Kansas City, August 2-4, can be discounted as the date for this photo because player Zearfoss, included in the photo above, had been released from the team in mid-July 1899. Kansas City superintendent Charles Meyer organized photos of visiting Western League teams to be taken on the field in Kansas City during the 1898, 1899 and 1900 seasons. The photo above included the mark of “Meyer” and “K.C. Mo.” in the bottom corner of the image. Most of these photos had a white sheet draped behind the players, similar to the above photo. The photographer of these images was not credited. The players in the photo above wore a light gray uniform with a dark-colored cap, a dark belt and dark stockings. The cap was in the newsboy style. The collared shirt had dark lace ties above a Roman letter “M that was centered on the shirt. The shirt did not have a pocket. Of the thirteen players in the photo, only five wore a light gray shirt with a letter, while seven of the thirteen wore a light gray shirt without a letter. Of these seven, four wore a shirt with lace ties, and three wore a shirt with white buttons. The shirts with the lace ties were not all alike, some had a short run of laces while others had a longer run of laces down the shirt and which also included a shirt pocket. Two of the players wore their shirt collar styled up. The majority of players wore a short-sleeved shirt with buttonholes for sleeve extensions. One player wore a short-sleeved shirt with the sleeve extensions attached. One player wore a long-sleeved shirt. The day this photo was taken may have been chilly as three players had dark-colored sweaters on their laps. One player in the back row wore a white or light-colored baseball coat.

Top row, from left: S Carey (98, 99), P Werden (94-97, 99, 00, 02), B Hutchinson (96, 97, 99), D Zearfoss (99) and I Fisher (98-00). Middle: E Abbaticchio (99, 00), K Nance (99, 00), W Wilmot (96-00, 02, 03), D Parker (98-00) and G Smith (99, 00). Front: H McNeeley (98, 99), L Davis (98-00, 06) and D Andrews (99). Player IDs from photo frame. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Player Abbaticchio was listed as “Abbey” in the photo caption. He was also listed this way in many of the published box scores from this year. Zearfoss release info from The Sporting Life, July 22, 1899. Info on Charles Meyer from the Kansas City Times, October 13, 1898, with research from Ed Morton. Image scan from the Detroit Public Library, Harwell Collection.

Dated 1899, possibly June 15-18, 1899. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the style of the cap and the letter on the shirt. Note the different ways in which the players laced their shirts.

Photo B

Dated mid-August 1899 to mid-September 1899. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players Hart, Friend and Menefee, all of whom only played for Minneapolis in 1899. A date range of mid-August 1899 to mid-September 1899 can be suggested by Hart, who was released by Milwaukee in the week before August 19, 1899, and played his first game with Minneapolis on August 20. The Western League season ended September 11, 1899. Players wore a light gray uniform in this photo and one similar to that worn in photo A. Another similarity to photo A is that only five of the thirteen players shown in photo B wore a shirt with the letter “M” centered on the chest. As in photo A, the remaining players wore a shirt with no letter, and that featured either lace ties or buttons. The team’s dark cap can be seen resting on the knee of the player sitting on the ground at far left. This player also wore a dark turtleneck sweater under his shirt. Another player, sitting second from right, wore the team’s dark-colored sweater. Player Hutchinson, standing second from right, wore the same baseball coat in this photo as he did in photo A.

Top row: B Hart (Min 99, Mil WL 99), D Friend (Min 99, Mil WL 99), P Werden (94-97, 99, 00, 02), S Carey (98, 99), B Hutchinson (96, 97, 99) and W Preston? (Min 96, 99, StP WL 99). Middle: J Menefee (99), unidentified, W Wilmot (96-00, 02, 03), K Nance (99, 00) and unidentified. Front: unidentified, E Dixon (Min 98-00, Syr EL 99) and I Fisher (98-00). Player IDs from Carson Lorey and Nigel Ayres. The unidentified player in the middle row far right may be either D Parker or (98-00) or G Smith (99, 00). The identified player in the front row far left may be either J Fifield (Min 99, Was NL 99) or L Davis (98-00, 06). Years with team and date of Hart’s first game with Minneapolis from baseball-reference.com. Info on Hart’s release from Milwaukee from The Sporting Life, August 19, 1899. Image from W. C. Madden and Patrick J. Stewart, The Western League, A Baseball History 1885 through 1899 (2002), courtesy of Jay Sanford.

Dated mid-August 1899 to mid-September 1899. Detail view of photo B. Detail view showed a uniform shirt with a Roman letter “M” in the center.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
None

Team genealogy: Minneapolis 1894-1900
Minneapolis joined the Western League (WL) in 1894 when the league reformed. The reorganized WL operated between 1894 and 1899 and reformed again as the American League (AL) for the 1900 season. Minneapolis played in the WL between 1894 and 1899 and in the American League in 1900. The team was dropped before the 1901 AL season when the league declared major league status. Information from wikipedia.com.