1888 Cincinnati (Cincinnatis, Red Stockings, Reds)
Three renderings at left: These renderings are 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 renderings.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Far right grouping: 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:
Photos A & B
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball cards of L Viau (88, 89) and J O’Connor (87, 88). Photo background may be the same, confirming date of 1888, the only year both players were on the Cincinnati team at the same time. Players were photographed wearing a white uniform and cap, with red lettering across the shirt, and a red belt and stockings. Note quilted padding on knee and hip in O’Connor photo. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo C
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of J Reilly (AA 83-89, NL 80, 90, 91) and H Nicol (AA 87-89, NL 90). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date may be confirmed by similarity in background compared to photos A and B. Detail view at right shows uniform padding at knee and hip. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo D
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of E Smith (AA 86-89, NL 99-00). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date may be confirmed by similarity in background compared to photos A thru C. Detail view at right shows lettering across chest and subtle bands on cap. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo E
Dated April 1888 to mid-May 1888. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players Corkhill, Serad, Kappel and Fennelly in combination with player Viau. These men only played together for Cincinnati in 1888. Date range of April 1888 to mid-May 1888 determined by the appearance of player Hart, who was released from the team before May 21, 1888. The team was dressed in navy blue uniforms for this photo. Uniform color was described by newspaper accounts from this year as navy blue with red stockings and belts, see written documentation below. It is possible this team photo was made while the team was on the road. They started the 1888 season at Kansas City, St. Louis and Louisville.
Top row, from left: P Corkhill (Cin 83-88, Bro AA 88), G Tebeau (87-89), B Hart (dnp, Buf 88), B McPhee (AA 82-89, NL 90-99), B Serad (87, 88) and H Kappel (87, 88). Middle, seated: T Mullane (AA 86-89, NL 90-93), J Reilly (AA 83-89, NL 80, 90, 91), (G Schmelz, mgr 87-89), (A Stern, pres), (L Hauk, sec), J Keenan (AA 85-89, NL 90, 91) and L Viau (88, 89). Front, on ground: E Smith (AA 86-89, NL 99-00), F Fennelly (Cin 84-88, Ath AA 88) and H Nicol (AA 87-89, NL 90). Player IDs from photo. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Hart release date from the Cincinnati Post, May 21, 1888. Photo scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. The above team photo may be the same referenced by the New York Clipper, on October 13, 1888: “We have received handsome cabinet photographs of the Cincinnati players from Messrs. Levi & Gold, Cincinnati’s popular photographers, and for which they will please accept our thanks.”
Dated April 1888 to mid-May 1888. Detail view of photo E. Detail view shows button placket, shirt pocket and city name across chest.
Dated April 1888 to mid-May 1888. Detail view of photo E. Detail view shows quilted padding at the knees and a pill-box cap with subtle horizontal bands and a white braid.
Photo F
Dated 1888, possibly May 30, 1888. Two versions of same team photo. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players Corkhill, O’Connor and Fennelly in combination with player Viau. These men only played together for Cincinnati in 1888. The photo was taken in Brooklyn at Washington Park. Cincinnati played at Brooklyn May 30 to June 2, July 29 to August 1, August 30 to September 2. On May 30, Cincinnati played a double-header against Brooklyn. Elmer Smith pitched the morning game, and he can be seen in the above photo holding a baseball, top row fifth from left. Tony Mullane pitched the afternoon game, and he can be seen in this photo wearing street clothes, top row fourth from left. Based on this, it can be suggested the team was photographed before the morning game was played on May 30. Team was wearing same dark uniform as shown in team photo above. Two players wore a short-sleeved version of the uniform in the photo.
Top row, from left: J Keenan (AA 85-89, NL 90, 91), H Carpenter (80, 82-89), P Corkhill (Cin 83-88, Bro AA 88), (Mullane, AA 86-89, NL 90-93), E Smith (AA 86-89, NL 99-00), and J O’Connor (87, 88). Front row: J Reilly (AA 83-89, NL 80, 90, 91), B McPhee (AA 82-89, NL 90-99), H Nicol (AA 87-89, NL 90), F Fennelly (Cin 84-88, Ath AA 88) and L Viau (88, 89). Player IDs from photo. O’Connor misidentified as Connor. Photo scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Original photo by Joseph Hall, Brooklyn.
Dated 1888, possibly May 30, 1888. Detail view of photo F, showing the red lettering on the dark blue shirts. The pillbox-style caps had sewn hortizontal bands.
Photo G
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of K Baldwin (AA 85-89, NL 90). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date may be confirmed by similarity in background compared to photos A thru D. Player wore a tight-fitting uniform in this photo, including a short-sleeved shirt and cap both in a middle-tone color. The belt and pants were white. The stockings were dark in color, presumably red. The uniform in this photo appears to match a written account of the special “parti-colored” uniforms of 1888. Baldwin’s shirt and cap were described as blue, with white collar and cuffs. Other players wore different combinations of stripes and solids this year in tribute to the 1882 Cincinnati championship team and also the Cincinnati city centennial. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
December 1887: “The Reds will wear uniforms next season similar to those in which they won the first American Association pennant in 1882. President Stern went to Chicago last night to order them. Two of the outfielders will wear shirts and caps of solid colors, and all will don white pants and red stockings. ‘Little Nic’s’ colors will be blue, Tebeau’s orange [and] white, Corkhill’s black and white, Reilly’s blue and black, McPhee’s blue and white, Carpenter’s red and white, Fennelly’s a delicate wine tint, Mullane’s red and black and Baldwin’s orange and black. Those for the other players have not been decided upon. All will be quilted.” From The Sporting Life, December 21, 1887. Research from Tom Shieber. The shirt colors denoted here do not exactly match later reports. Later reports also describe the pants as tight-fitting cloth suggesting the uniform not did not include quilted padding.
December 1887: “The Cincinnati Club’s team for the 1888 season will be uniquely uniformed. Fennely will wear a maroon shirt, with cap to match; Reilly, a shirt with blue and black stripes; McPhee’s colors will be blue and white; Carpenter’s red and white; Tebeau, orange; Corkhill, black and red; Nicoll, sky blue; Mullane, red and black, Baldwin, orange and black; Smith, white; Keenan, pearl; Viau, cardinal, and Hart, maroon. The uniform to be worn by the club away from home will be navy blue, similar to that worn by the champion Browns last season [1887].” From the New York Sun, December 29, 1887. Research from Oliver Kodner.
January 1888: “The Cincinnati Baseball Club has adopted the most picturesque kind of uniform.” From the Montreal Gazette, January 5, 1888.
March 1888: “New and gorgeous uniforms will be the rage in the [American] association this spring. The Cincinnatis, Louisvilles, and Athletics will show particularly resplendent new clothes.” From the Pittsburgh Press, March 19, 1888, page 3.
March 1888: “The Cincinnatis will have one uniform similar to that worn by the championship team in 1882. Every member of the team will wear different-colored shirt and cap, and will thus be easily distinguished by patrons by reason of their colors. They will retain the white pants and red stockings worn last season. These uniforms were secured at considerable cost and trouble.” From The St. Paul Globe, March 25, 1888. Research from Don Stokes.
March 1888: “This season the [Cincinnati] club will have a uniform that is entirely different [consisting of] neat navy blue, with red cap, belt and stockings. Another uniform, to be worn by the club, especially during the [Cincinnati] Centennial period, are parti-colored suits similar to those worn by the championship team in 1882. Every member of the team will wear a different colored shirt and cap, and by this means can be easily distinguished upon the field. The club will still retain the old uniform of pure white with red trimmings. The navy blue will be worn principally in the club’s games away from home. The entire outfit cost[s] in the neighborhood of $700.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 26, 1888, citing the Cincinnati Commercial. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner. Note, it is unproven if red caps were worn with the blue uniform as mentioned in this report. The Cincinnati Centennial commemorated the city’s first settlement in 1788. A contemporary poster from 1888 stated that the city’s Centennial Exposition ran from July 4 to October 27. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819.
March 1888: “[Newspaper writer] Caylor computes the probable expense of the Cincinnati club as follows: Salaries of 15 players, $37,500; railroad fares, $5,000; sleeping car fares, $600; hotel bills for 100 days, $3,000; carriages, $650; advertising, $1,000; employees, $2,000; rent, $3,000; manager, $3,000; incidentals and uniforms, $1,000; total, $56,750.” From the Cleveland Leader, March 26, 1888.
March 31, 1888, Cincinnati vets v. Cincinnati kids, at Cincinnati, Cincinnati Park, exhibition intra-squad game: “The blue uniforms worn by the Reds yesterday, and which will be worn again in the contest this afternoon, are very pretty. […] The Reds, with three different uniforms, are well equipped for the coming season. […] The parti-colored uniforms about which so much has been written have been on exhibition at Fechheimer’s Fifth street establishment [in Cincinnati] for over a week, and have been greatly admired by thousands.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, April 1, 1888.
April 1888: “The Cincinnati team will have one uniform similar to the one worn by them in 1882. Each player will wear a different colored shirt and caps and will thus be easily distinguished by the patrons by reason of their colors. They will retain the white pants and red stockings worn last season [1887].” From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 1, 1888. Research from Gary Kodner.
April 1888: “The Cincinnati association team, with three different uniforms, are well equipped for the coming season. The parti-colored uniforms about which so much has been written have been on exhibition for over a week, and have been greatly admired by thousands. In addition to this make-up, the Cincinnatis have a solid white uniform, with red belts and stockings. They also have a uniform made of navy blue shirts and pants, with red stockings and belts. The parti-colored shirts are made of Jersey cloth, and the Reds will have to pull them on in the same manner that a showman does his tights. They are very close-fitting and snug, and the players will not be handicapped by ill-fitting garments. It was next to impossible to get all sixteen suits in different patterns, and in one or two instances duplicates occur. No trouble on this score, as the management had so arranged that the two players having the same kind of uniform will rarely play in the same game. All five of the pitchers are equipped with the same-colored shirt. They are white with red collars and cuffs. The shirts, with one or two exceptions, are of striped material, made very distinct. Here is a list of the colors: Keenan, blue and black stripes. Baldwin, blue, with white collar and cuffs. Reilly, red and white stripes. McPhee, black and old gold stripes. Carpenter, red and black stripes. Fennelly, solid maroon, with white collar and cuffs. Tebeau, black and blue stripes. Corkhill, blue and white stripes. Nicol, black and white stripes. Kappell, black and red stripes. O’Connor, orange and blue stripes. The caps in every instance correspond with the color of the shirt worn by the player.” From the St. Paul Globe, April 8, 1888. Research from Don Stokes.
April 28, 1888, Cincinnati v. Louisville, at Louisville, home opener: “The Cincinnatis wore their uniforms of dark blue with red trimmings yesterday [April 28]. The other is a variegated suit which gives the rainbow colors of a horse jockey to those who wear them.” From the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 29, 1888.
April 1888: “The Reds will wear their new uniforms for the first time. They all wear white pants, red stockings and belts with studs, and caps of the most brilliant colors, all being different.” From the Baltimore American, April 29, 1888. Research from Ed Morton.
April 28, 1888: “The Reds will not wear their parti-colored uniforms in their opening game with the Louisvilles on Tuesday [May 1], but next Thursday [May 3] they will don their gorgeous attire for the first time.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, April 29, 1888, page 10.
May 1888: “Tomorrow [May 3, 1888] the Reds will wear their new parti-colored uniform for the first time. Every body is anxious to see them. The entire teams (sixteen men) will put them on and march out from the clubhouse for preliminary practice.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, May 2, 1888.
May 3, 1888, Cincinnati v. Kansas City, at Cincinnati, Cincinnati Park: “[Cincinnati] were attired in their handsome parti-colored uniforms, and as they formed in front of the club-house and ran across the field to the strains of a lively quickstep, they made a pretty effect and were cheered to the echo by the spectators. […] The parti-colored uniforms, worn by the Reds yesterday, are the finest ever seen at the Cincinnati Park. […] The new uniforms fit as close as an acrobat’s tights. They are very pretty and best of all the players say they are nice to play in.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, May 4, 1888.
May 4, 1888, Cincinnati v. Kansas City at Cincinnati: “In their new parti-colored uniforms the Reds resemble a company of acrobats. Twenty-six hundred people saw them parade out on the field in their gorgeous garments on the 4th to the music of the Boccaccio March played by the Cincinnati Orchestra. Their jersey pants fit closely to their forms, and they are doubtless the best dressed ball team in the land. The shirts and caps are alike, and their stockings red, of course. The colors of Nicol are black and white stripes, McPhee wears orange and black, the same combination allotted to him in ’82 when the Reds won the first association pennant. Carpenter wears Danny Stearns’ old colors, red and black, and Fennelly’s is solid maroon; Reilly’s red and white. Corkhill’s blue and white. Tebeau’s black and blue, and Keenan’s brown and blue. The pitchers wear white shirts with maroon striped collars and cuffs. The Reds can certainly ‘star’ through the country ‘on their uniforms.’” From the New York, Clipper, May 12, 1888. This report describes Keenan’s uniform as brown and black, not blue and black as reported earlier, see April entry above.
May 1888: “The Reds will wear their parti-colored uniforms this afternoon [May 6, for] the second time.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, May 6, 1888.
May 1888: “The Reds have appeared in their new parti-colored uniforms. […] Some of the members said they would not wear the tights, particularly Reilly, whose legs are as thin as a rail. He was finally induced to put them on.” From the Baltimore American, May 6, 1888. Research from Ed Morton.
May 1888: “The Cincinnati’s best suits, as shown yesterday [in Cleveland], are just gaudy enough to brighten up the field. ‘Bid’ McPhee looked like a zebra, all John Reilly needed to carry out the hair-cutting idea was a dash of blue. Carpenter appeared absolutely youthful, Corkhill giddy, Nicol aged and weedy, Fennelly massively subdued, Tebeau woolier than ever, Tony Mullane as beautiful as an houri in the days of adversity and ‘Kid’ Baldwin as if he couldn’t help it.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, May 24, 1888, citing Brunnel. An ‘houri’, per wikipedia.com, is a seductive woman who lives alongside the Muslim faithful in paradise.
May 29, 1888, Cincinnati v. Baltimore, at Baltimore, Huntingdon grounds: “In his new uniform of red and white stripes, Long John Reilly [of Cincinnati] looks like an elongated stick of peppermint candy. Of all the ugly base-ball uniforms the new uniform of the Cincinnati Club is the ugliest.” From the Baltimore Sun, May 30, 1888. Research from Dan Linnenberg.
May 30, 1888, Cincinnati v. Brooklyn, at Brooklyn, Washington park, morning game: “At 9:50 o’clock the visiting team entered the field, headed by their capable manager, Mr. Schmelz, attired in their white flannel suits and bright red stockings.” From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 30, 1888.
May 30, 1888, Cincinnati v. Brooklyn, at Brooklyn, Washington park, afternoon game: “The men from Porkopolis [i.e., Cincinnati] appeared in their wonderful suits. Of course each one wore red stockings and white trousers, but there were no two who had jersey waists and caps alike. ‘White Wings’ Tebeau was like a zebra as far as his journey jersey was concerned, and ‘Little Nicol,’ the nimble right fielder, very closely resembled one of the dime museum freaks.” From the Brooklyn Daily Standard-Union, May 31, 1888.
1888: “Cincinnati had again become very fancy in its garb. All uniforms were quilted and included shirts, which were tight fitting jerseys. Mostly lateral stripes, no two being alike. One or two were in solid colors. The cap matched the jerseys in color. The entire suit also included skin-tight pantaloons. […] The suits could have been more harmonious but the management was not willing to sacrifice the time honored red stockings. With his red and white stripes the elongated John Reilly looked like a stick of peppermint candy. Nichol was outfit in blue, Tebeau in red and white, Corkhill in black and white, McPhee in blue and white, Carpenter in red and white, Fennelly in a delicate wine tint, Baldwin in orange and black, Mullane in red and black. Apparently Reilly swapped with Carpenter, who assumed his original blue and black combination.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 346.
May 1888: “Will [Cincinnati Enquirer reporter] Harry Weldon ever get time to talk about anything else but the parti-colored uniforms of the Cincinnati club?” From the New York National Police Gazette, May 26, 1888. Weldon was a pioneer among baseball writers and editors in Cincinnati. Weldon info from Norman Macht, as posted to baseballhistory.com.
June 6, 1888, Cincinnati v. Athletic, Philadelphia, at Philadelphia: “The Cincinnati team appeared in many colors yesterday [June 6]. All the men wore dark blue knee breeches and red stockings, but the shirts and caps were of different colored stripes.” From the Philadelphia Record, June 7, 1888. Research from Ed Morton. This report tells us that the parti-colored shirts and caps were not only worn at home by the Cincinnati team, but also at times they were worn on the road in combination with the blue road pants. As the Cincinnati series started in Philadelphia on June 4, this report may also suggest that the Reds wore their all-blue road uniform on June 4 and 5. Both games resulted in losses for Cincinnati and it was possible the team wore their parti-colored shirts on June 6 to change their luck.
June 23, 1888, Cincinnati v. Louisville, at Louisville, Eclipse Park: “Never was such a spectacle as the Cincinnati Base Ball Club seen on the diamond. Reilly and his crowd wore variegated ‘uniforms’ which belied the name, as no two of them were alike. Long John Reilly wore a gaudy undershirt of black and white stripes and when he first came on the grounds the spectators looked about for the blue suit and brass buttons of the penitentiary guard. Tough ‘Kid’ Baldwin was gaudy in a sky-blue shirt, with old gold collar and cuffs, and fancy embroidery on the sides of his trousers. […] The Louisville players seemed to delight in making the Cincinnatis slide in the mud and hug the bases and at the end of the game one player could not be distinguished from another by his garments.” From the Louisville Courier-Journal, June 24, 1888. Research from Jerry Sudduth.
August 1888: “The fact that two of the best teams in the [National] League, the Chicagos and New Yorks, wear skin-tight uniforms, is ample evidence that the base-running qualities of League teams are not up to the American Association standard. At the opening of the season the Cincinnatis started out with skin-tight Jersey suits of the New York-Chicago patterns. The only wore them in two games, and then the skin tights were abandoned as useless. They afforded no protection whatever to men who slide when going into bases. McPhee, Riley, Nichol, Corkhill, Carpenter and Mullane all left big pieces of cuticle on different portions of the lot, and after two games in the jerseys the gang looked like battle-scarred veterans. The skin tights may do for a circus acrobat or a team of ballplayers that do not run bases, but they are no earthly good to a team of base runners and sliders. The old-time loose-fitting uniforms, with padding in different places, are the kind that suit the base runners of the younger body.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, August 5, 1888.
October 1888: “We have received handsome cabinet photographs of the Cincinnati players from Messrs. Levi & Gold, Cincinnati’s popular photographers, and for which they will please accept our thanks.” From the New York Clipper, October 13, 1888.
1888: “Cincinnati [of the American Association] thought base running must be weaker in the [National] League as New York and Chicago still wore skin-tight uniforms, now abandoned by the Reds. A player could not slide in them without leaving big patches of cuticle around the lot.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 352.
1888: “The [American] association clubs should follow the example of the [National] league and have uniforms made to fit the players. The Browns, Brooklyn and Cincinnati are the only teams whose uniforms approach a fit.” From the Buffalo Courier, December 30, 1888, citing the St. Louis Republican.
1888 Cincinnati uniform summary
Uniform: parti-colored shirts and caps, white pants, red stockings
First worn: May 3, Cincinnati. Stopped wearing tight-fitting pants in May
Photographed: in Baldwin portrait from year wearing light-blue shirt
Described: December, March-June
Material: Shirts of Jersey cloth
Manufacturer: Ordered in Chicago
Supposition:
Variations: also wore parti-colored shirts with dark blue pants
Other items:
Home opener report: no, May 1 v. Louisville
Uniform: white, red stockings
First worn:
Photographed: player portraits from year
Described: March, May
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition:
Variations:
Uniform: dark blue, red stockings
First worn:
Photographed: team photo from mid-May or earlier, and team photo from May 30
Described: December, March, April
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition:
Variations:
Team genealogy:
Cincinnati 1881-
Cincinnati was formed in 1881 to join the American Association (AA) for its inaugural season in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Cincinnati played in the AA throughout the 1880s and then joined the National League (NL) for the 1890 season. The NL began operation in 1876. Cincinnati has played every year in the NL from 1890 to present time. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: March 26, 2016
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Ed Morton, Gary Kodner, Jerry Sudduth, Mark Fimoff, Oliver Kodner, Tom Shieber,