1883 New York (New Yorks)
This rendering is 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 rendering.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on this uniform:
Photo A
Dated 1883. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players O’Neill and Clapp, both of whom only played for this team in 1883. Players wore a white uniform in this photo with a distinctive and large-scale patch representing the seal of New York city on the left breast. The belt and stockings were of a mid-tone color. Newspapers in 1883 described the stockings as both crimson and maroon. Player Ewing, standing at far left, wore a flower pinned to his shirt. The caption on the photo stated “New York League Base Ball Club.” The word “League” was representative of the National League and meant to differentiate from the American Association.
Top row, from left: B Ewing (NY NL 83-89, 91, 92, NY PL 90), F Hankinson (NY NL 83, 84, NY AA 85-87), M Dorgan (83-87) and J Ward (83-89, 93, 94). Middle: P Gillespie (83-87), T O’Neill (83), J Clapp (83), E Caskin (83, 84, 86) and R Connor (NY NL 83-89, 91, 93, 94, NY PL 90). Front, on ground: M Welch (83-92) and D Troy (NY NL 83, NY AA 84, 85). Confirmation of player IDs from Mark Fimoff. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Original photo by John Wood, New York.
Dated 1883. Detail view of photo A. Note that this close-up shows good view of the stitching on the button placket and the City of New York seal on breast. Detail view also showed wide band in the middle of the stockings, see written description below.
Photo B
Dated 1883. This photo was taken at the same time as photo A. However in this version players Ewing and Troy have switched places. Image scan from thedeadballera.com. Original photo by John Wood, New York.
Photo C
Silk-embroidered uniform patch displaying the City of New York seal. The word “League” was short for, and meant to imply, the National League. Original from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Written documentation on this uniform:
December 1882: “Committees [at a National League meeting] were appointed to make recommendations for the 1883 uniform and the 1883 championship schedule.” From Base Ball’s 19th-Century Winter Meetings, 1857-1900 (SABR, 2018), citing the New York Clipper, December 16, 1882. Research from Michael R. McAvoy. The uniform committee was most likely responsible for recommending and approving the stocking color for each team.
January 1883: “The Philadelphia team will wear blue and white stockings next season; Boston, red; Chicago, whites; Buffalo, gray; Providence, light blue; Cleveland, navy blue; Detroit, brown. New York’s color is yet to be selected and green is suggested.” From the Fort Wayne (IN) Gazette, January 18, 1883.
1883: “Messrs. Buckley, Day and Wright were appointed to constitute [a uniform] committee, who reported in favor of the clubs named being permitted to wear colored stockings selected by them as follows: Boston, red; Chicago, white; Detroit, brown; Buffalo, gray; Cleveland, navy blue; Providence, light blue. Also of allowing New York and Philadelphia clubs to select their own colors prior to the commencement of the season, which should be distinctive and not in conflict with any of the colors selected by the above named clubs.” From the Spalding Guide 1883, p.101. Research from John Thorn.
1883: “The New York [NL] club will have white pantaloons and shirt, with a crimson cap and crimson and black stockings, which will be in bands two inches wide. The coat of arms of the city of New York will be placed on the left breast, with the words ‘New York’ immediately over it and the word ‘League’ underneath.” From the DeWitt Base-Ball Guide, 1883, p. 29. Research from John Thorn. Note, the color bands on the stockings as described here appear more than two inches wide in photo A, see detail view of photo A, above. Also, not all of the players in photo A appear to be wearing banded stockings.
March 1883: “New York [National] League team will have a uniform of white shirts and pants, crimson caps and crimson and black stockings. The coat-of-arms of the City of New York will be placed on the breast of the shirts, with the words ‘New York‘ immediately over it and the word ‘League’ underneath, all of which will be very giddy, indeed.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, March 18, 1883, and from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 28, 1883.
March 1883: “The New York [National] League Club’s uniform will consist of white shirts and pants, crimson caps, and crimson and black striped stockings. The shirt shield will bear on it the coat-of-arms of the city of New York, with the words ‘New York’ above and the word ‘League’ below.” From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 19, 1883. Research from Don Stokes. Note that the wording of “shirt shield” in this report was not included in the similar reports above and does not match the shirt shown in the team photo, see photo A.
April 1883: “New Yorks vs. Metropolitans at 4 P.M. for city championship. Both clubs in new uniforms.” From the New York Sun, April 30, 1883.
April 30, 1883, New York v. Metropolitan, New York, at New York, Polo Grounds, exhibition game: “The two teams appeared in their bright new uniforms.” From the New York Clipper, May 5, 1883.
May 1, 1883, New York v. Boston, at New York, Polo Grounds, home opener: “When the stalwart team of [the] New York [National] League club entered the field […] the applause burst forth from every part of the ground […] their handsome uniform of white and magenta colors giving them a decidedly ‘rosy’ look.” From the New York Clipper, May 5, 1883. Note, this report refers to the team’s red color as magenta, and not crimson as described in the baseball guides from 1883, see above.
May 1, 1883, New York v. Boston, at New York, Polo Grounds, home opener: “General Grant was among those who watched the game with great interest.” From the New York Tribune, May 2, 1883. A similar report was published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, May 2, 1883. Ulysses S. Grant was US President from 1869-1877. He died in July 1885 in Gansevoort, NY.
May 1, 1883, New York v. Boston, at New York, Polo Grounds, referenced in 1930 and in 1954: “The gates were closed long before game time because of the clamoring crowd trying to get into the already full park, and the players, attired in their uniforms, were forced to climb the fence to get into the park at game time. Pat Gillespie, of the Giants, caught his uniform on a nail and had to take time out for repairs.” From the Allentown (PA) Morning Call, April 14, 1930. The same general story was published in 1954 with a slightly different description of events: “The New York players, unable to push through the overflow outside the gates, were compelled to climb the outfield fence to get into the park; in the act outfielder Pat Gillespie’s pants caught on a nail and groundskeepers had to bring a ladder to liberate him.” From the Charlotte Observer, February 12, 1954.
June 30, 1883, New York v. Philadelphia, at Philadelphia, Recreation Park: “An audience of five thousand people gave the New Yorkers a cordial greeting when they marched on the ground clad in white flannel suits. Each player was ornamented with a hideous monogram on a blue ground, worn on the left breast, which the small boys in the crowd mistook for liver pads. Careful inquiry, however, developed the fact that these pads were the sign of the ‘Metropolitan Exhibition Company,’ of New York, which controls both the [National] League and American Association clubs in that city.” From the Philadelphia Times, July 1, 1883.
July 9, 1883, New York v. Buffalo at Buffalo: “The Buffalos and New Yorks play together every day this week. The New Yorks wore very pretty uniforms of light color and maroon stockings yesterday.” From the Buffalo Evening News, July 10, 1883.
July 1883: “The drab flannel suit worn by the New York [National] League Club is the prettiest uniform on the diamond.” From the Philadelphia Record, July 21, 1883. Research from Ed Morton.
Team genealogy:
New York 1883-1957
New York was formed to join the National League (NL) in 1883, with many of its players coming from a disbanded NL team in Troy, NY. The NL began operation in 1876 and this New York team played in the NL from 1883 to 1957. The team moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season. Information from wikipedia.
1883 New York summary
Uniform: white, red stockings with black band, red cap
First worn: April 30, New York
Photographed: during year, unspecified
Described: March-May, July
Material: flannel
Manufacturer:
Supposition: cap style
Variations:
Other items: may have worn a gray uniform with red stockings in July
Home opener report: yes, May 1 v. Boston
Rendering posted: April 5, 2015
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Ed Morton, John Thorn, Mark Fimoff,