Uni-Firsts for Baseball Equipment

Threads Of Our Game not only documents the early game, but also determines when new uniform styles and trends came into being. The following is a list of “Uni-Firsts” for baseball equipment as we see it, after the year 1865:

—First team photo to show a catcher’s mask: 1878 Buffalo

—First photo of a player wearing an open-fingered glove: 1879 Chicago — see Anson in team photo

—First photo of player wearing a close-fingered fielder’s glove: 1887 Philadelphia (NL) — see Clements

—First photo of player with a padded catcher’s mitt: 1889 Pittsburgh — see team photo, 1889 St. Louis — see team photo

—First photos of players wearing oversized fielding gloves: 1889 Washington — see Ebright and Banning