1890 Boston (Bostons)
Left: 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
Center & Right: These renderings are based on written documentation for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known and an artist’s conceptualization is used to create the renderings.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated April 1890 to May 1890. Team photo most likely made in Boston at the Congress Street Grounds. Photo year confirmed by appearance of players Kilroy, Gumbert and Swett, who only played for Boston in 1890. Photo date range of April 1890 to May 1890 determined by appearance of player Johnston, who was sold to New York on June 4, 1890. Players wore the traditional Boston white uniform in this photo with a white cap, red stockings and a red belt. The shirt had white lace ties that ended above the city name. The lettering on the shirt was positioned in a subtle arch across the chest. This uniform was similar to that worn by the 1889 and 1890 Boston National League teams. The only distinguishing features to have identified the 1890 PL and NL uniforms from the other was the color of the shirt laces, the style of the arched lettering across the chest and the position of the belt loops on the pants. The majority of players wore short sleeves in this photo with a white undershirt. Player Kilroy, back row second from left, wore an undershirt with stripes on the cuffs.
Top row, from left: D Johnston (NL 85-89, PL 90 2 gms), M Kilroy (90), D Brouthers (NL 89, PL 90, AA 91), H Stovey (PL 90, NL 91, 92), T Brown (NL 88, 89, PL 90, AA 91) and A Gumbert (90). Middle: B Nash (NL 85-89, 91-95, PL 90), P Swett (90), A Irwin (PL 90, AA 91), M Kelly (NL 87-89, 91, 92, PL 90, AA 91), C Radbourn (NL 86-89, PL 90), J Quinn (NL 88, 89, 91, 92, PL 90) and H Richardson (NL 89, PL 90, AA 91). Front, on ground: B Daley (NL 89, PL 90, AA 91), M Murphy (PL 90, AA 91) and K Madden (NL 87-89, PL 90, AA 91). Player IDs from The Sporting Life, November 8, 1890. Johnston transaction info from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Original photo by G. Waldon Smith, Boston.
Dated April 1890 to May 1890. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows white lace ties and the city name displayed in a subtle arch.
Photo B
Dated November 1890. Drawing made from team photo taken in April 1890 to May 1890, see photo A. Drawing was published in The Sporting Life, November 8, 1890. Research from Ken Samoil.
Dated November 1890. Detail view of photo B, based on a photo taken April 1890 to May 1890.
Photo C
Dates 1890. Cabinet card of A Gumbert (90). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date determined by fact that 1890 was player’s only year with team. Photo shows uniform that matched those show in team photo, see photo A.
Photo D
Dated 1890 to 1891. Cabinet card of A Irwin (PL 90, AA 91). Full view at left, detail view at right. Uniform appears to match that shown in 1890 team photo, see photo A. Original photo by G. Waldon Smith, Boston.
Photo E
Dated 1890. Left: detail view of the 1890 Boston NL uniform. Right: detail view of the 1890 Boston PL uniform. Note the subtle differences in the letter “S” between the National League uniform and the Players’ League uniform. Newspapers from 1890 reported the National League uniform was made by John P. Lovell Arms Company and the Players’ League uniform was made by Wright & Ditson.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
January 1890: “Boston, January 1—The uniforms of the Boston Players’ [League] Club have been selected. They will be the same as the [Boston National] League Club, white with red stockings at home, and gray with red stockings when on trips away from here.” From the Buffalo Courier, January 2, 1890. Note that by the opening of the 1890 season in April, the Boston PL team had switched to a blue road uniform.
January 1890: “The uniform of the Boston Players’ [League] Club has been decided. It will consist of gray, with magenta stockings and trimmings.” From The Sporting Life, January 8, 1890. Note that by the opening of the 1890 season in April, the Boston PL team had switched to a blue road uniform.
January 1890: “All the secretaries of the clubs in the Players’ National League [i.e., Players’ League] have sent their club uniform colors to Secretary Brunell. All the clubs, except Philadelphia, have selected white home and colored traveling uniforms, so that the audience can readily distinguish the teams in the field. The teams will be dressed as follows: Boston: White suits, red trimmings, belt and stockings. Traveling: Gray suits, red trimming belts and stockings.” From the Chicago Daily Tribune, January 29, 1890. Research from Don Stokes. A similar report was published in the Buffalo Courier, January 30, 1890, and The Sporting Life, February 5, 1890. Note that by the opening of the 1890 season in April, the Boston PL team had switched to a blue road uniform.
March 1890: “Wright & Ditson made the uniform of the Boston Players’ [League] team.” From the The Sporting Life, March 19, 1890.
April 1890: “Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes attends the baseball games in Boston, but it has not yet been determined whether he is a mascot or a hoodoo.” From the Minneapolis Tribune, April 14, 1890. Per wikipedia.com, Holmes (1841-1935) was “one of the most widely cited and influential Supreme Court justices in American history.”
April 19, 1890, Boston (PL) v. Brooklyn (PL), at Boston, Congress Street Grounds, home opener: “The Bostons appeared in their new uniforms of white and made a splendid appearance.” From the New York Press, April 20, 1890.
April 19, 1890, Boston (PL) v. Brooklyn (PL), at Boston, Congress Street Grounds, home opener: “The two teams met at the United States Hotel and in full uniform were driven through the city, headed by a brass band of 30 pieces. […] The Boston men looked well in their new uniforms of white knickerbockers, shirts and caps and red stockings. The name of the club was worked in scarlet letters across the bosom of the shirt. The Brooklyns made a neat appearance in their handsome uniforms and received a warm welcome.” From the Brooklyn Eagle, April 20, 1890.
April 30, 1890, Boston v. Philadelphia, at Philadelphia, home opener: “The Bostons were first in the field for practice. They didn’t present an imposing appearance in their rough blue flannel uniforms and white belts and stockings, but they performed well in the field.” From the Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1, 1890, page 2. Research from Stephen V. Rice.
May 1890: “[The visiting Cleveland uniforms] are almost the counterpart of the Bostons’ traveling suits – dark blue, with white caps and stockings, only that the Bostons wear dark blue caps.” From the Boston Herald, May 17, 1890. research from Mark Pestana.
July 1890: “The Boston Players [League team] have a new uniform of gray, with blue caps.” From the New York Evening Telegram, July 28, 1890.
August 1890: “The Boston Players [League team] have a new uniform of gray, with dark blue caps.” From the Monicello (NY) Republican Watchman, August 16, 1890 and also from the Havana (NY) Journal, August 23, 1890.
Team genealogy:
Boston 1890-1891
Boston was formed to join the Players’ League (PL) at the league’s inception in 1890. The PL was a major league that played for one season before folding. Boston subsequently joined the American Association (AA) for the 1891 season. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. The Boston team disbanded when the AA folded after the 1891 season. Info from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: March 14, 2020
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Mark Fimoff, Mark Pestana, Stephen V. Rice,