1897 Minneapolis (Millers)

Left: 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

Right: This rendering is based on written documentation for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known and an artist’s conceptualization is used to create the rendering.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A

Dated mid-June 1897 to October 1897. Year of photo determined by the appearance of players Cartwright and Miller, who only played for Minneapolis in 1897. Date range of mid-June 1897 to October 1897 determined by Cartwright and the appearance of player Eustace. Cartwright played his first game with Minneapolis on June 15, 1897, and Eustace was signed by the team around June 11. Players wore a white or light gray uniform in this photo with dark belts and dark stockings. The shirt had a short run of lace ties between the collar and the city name that arched across the chest. Players wore both short sleeves and 3/4-length sleeves in this photo. The shirt did not have a pocket. This uniform was very similar to that worn by the team in the previous season of 1896. The cap was not shown in the above photo. Two players in the photo, Cartwright top row far right and Eustace middle row fourth from left, wore buttoned shirts with no lettering on the chest. As mentioned, both of these men were new to the team in June 1897. One player, Hutchison back row fourth from left, wore a shirt with the lace ties apparently removed and a series of dark buttons or pins added to the front of the shirt. A newspaper in 1897 described the Minneapolis home uniform as white in color with black trimmings and the road uniform as gray with black trimmings.

Top row, from left: K Baker (Min 97, Col WL 97), T Letcher (Min 97, 98, DM WA 97), E Boyle (97), B Hutchison (96, 97, 99) and E Cartwright (Min 97, Was NL 97). Middle: J Pickett (Min 96, 97, KC WL 97), unidentified, W Wilmot (Min 96-00, 02, 03, NY NL 97), F Eustace (Min 97, Ind WL 97) and B Kuehne (95-97). Front: A Ball (96-98) and D Miller (97). Played IDs, image scan, and dates for Cartwright and Eustace joining the team from Carson Lorey. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.

Dated mid-June 1897 to October 1897. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the city name arched across the chest and a short run of lace ties between the collar and the letters.

Written documentation on this uniform:
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. The Sporting Life research from Chuck McGill.

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.