1900 Kansas City (Kansas Citys, Blues)

This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style and partial 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

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A

Dated April 27, 1900. These photos of two Kansas City players, left J O’Brien (00) and right C Patten (00), were taken on April 27, opening day in Minneapolis at Nicollet Park and were published the following day. The players wore a dark uniform in these photos, with a dark pillbox-style cap and dark stockings. The shirt had a large white letters on the breast and white buttons down the front. Both players wore their collars styled up. Note that the letters on the shirt were mismatched in style, the “K” being a serif letter and the “C” being a sans-serif letter. A newspaper described the color of the uniforms on opening day as blue. Images and player IDs from the Minneapolis Times, April 28, 1900. Image scan from Ed Morton.

Photo B

Dated April 27, 1900. These additional photos of Kansas City players, left D Gear (97-00, 02-04) and right J Ganzel (KC 99, 00, Chi NL 00), were taken on April 27, opening day in Minneapolis at Nicollet Park and were published the following day. The players wore a dark uniform in these photos, with a dark pillbox-style cap and dark stockings. The image of Ganzel showed that he wore his belt buckle on his left hip. Both players wore their collars styled up. A newspaper described the color of the uniforms on opening day as blue. Images and player IDs from the Minneapolis Times, April 28, 1900. Image scan from Ed Morton.

Written documentation on this uniform:
March 1900: “The American League intends to have something the National League cannot boast of — a league emblem. President Ban Johnson has decided to have all league passes stamped with the American eagle, which will be emblematic of the American Baseball League. It will also be stamped upon the league’s stationary.” From the Detroit Free Press, March 20, 1900.

April 27, 1900, Kansas City v. Minneapolis, at Minneapolis, Nicollet park, opening day: “The ball players, the Minneapolis team in nice new white uniforms and the Blues in nice new blue uniforms, were parading the down-town streets while the crowd was making its way to the park.” From the Minneapolis Tribune, April 28, 1900. Research from Ed Morton.

April 27, 1900, Kansas City v. Minneapolis, at Minneapolis, Nicollet park, opening day: “Manager Mannings, Casey Patten and the whole aggregation of Blues had sweet revenge on Walter Wilmot today.” From The Sporting Life, May 5, 1900. A report using the “Blues” nickname, derived from the color of the uniform.

May 1900: “Comiskey’s White Stockings will open their second home series with Manning’s Kansas City Blues this afternoon.” From the Chicago Tribune, May 28, 1900. Another use of the “Blues” nickname derived from the uniform color.

August 1900: “The Kansas City team was traveling from Chicago to Milwaukee, and on the train was a crowd of golfers going to Glen View [in Chicago]. When the golfers got off the train they carried out the Kansas City bats, four uniforms, and a lot of other stuff by mistake. When the Kansas City team reached Milwaukee there were just nine uniforms left, and [John] Farrell was wearing a pair of shoes belonging to [Roger] Denzer, four sizes too large. In the eighth inning, with the score 3 to 0 in favor of Kansas City, Milwaukee started hitting and [manager Jim] Manning had no one in uniform to send out to pitch. To cap the climax a fly ball went out to the field and Farrell, slipping around in Denzer’s shoes, fell, and Milwaukee won the game.” From the Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1900. The Tribune reported that this game took place “a few days ago.”

Team genealogy: Kansas City 1894-1900
Kansas City 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. Kansas City played in the WL between 1894 and 1899 and in the AL in 1900. The team was dropped when the AL declared major-league status in 1901 and awarded the franchise to Washington DC. Information from wikipedia.com.