1869 Forest City, Cleveland (Forest Citys, Blue Stockings)

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

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A

Dated 1869. Date confirmed by appearance of player Riley, his only year with the team, and by players E Smith, Burt and Hanna in combination with players Ward and A Smith. These men only played together on Forest City in 1869. Players wore a white uniform in this photo featuring a bib-front shirt that displayed the team monogram. Two players held their caps, which were white in color and had stars displayed on the top. Another cap, or possibly  a brimmed hat, can also be seen on the foreground. The players’ stockings wore light-colored and their shoes were white.

Top row, from left: J Ward (69, 70), E Smith (68, 69), A Pratt (69-72), A Burt (68, 69) and J Riley (69). Front: L Hanna (68, 69), A Smith (69, 70), A Allison (69-72) and D White (68-72). Player IDs from Al Pratt, given at the time this photo was reprinted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, circa 1930. Years with team from Marshall Wright, The National Association of Ball Players, 1857-1870 and from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland. The issue date of the paper was not given with the scan however the printing was before 1937, the year of Pratt’s death.

Dated 1869. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows monogram and buttons on shirt bib. The bibs were not all identical in their shape. Some bibs were more rounded while other bibs had angled flat sides. Note that the letter “F” of the “F-C” monogram had a solid base to the letter. This same letter had an open circle within the base of the letter on the 1871 uniform. Detail view also shows the cap with the star graphic on top as held by player in back row.

Written documentation on this uniform:
August 6, 1869, Forest City, Cleveland, v. Cincinnati at Cincinnati: “Amusements — Base Ball — Blue Stockings (Forest City, of Cleveland) vs. Red Stockings, today, at 3 P.M.” From the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, August 6, 1869. Research from Richard Hershberger.

August 23, 1869, Forest City, Cleveland, v. Union, Lansingburgh NY, (aka Haymaker), at Cleveland: “[The Union] uniform, with the exception of their caps, which are of a bright red color, is similar to that of the Forest City [of Cleveland.] The pants and shirts are white, with monogrammed ‘H’ on breast, and the stockings blue.” From the Cleveland Herald, August 24, 1869, researched by Peter Morris, Base Ball Pioneers, 1850-1870 (2012).

Circa 1871, referenced in 1937: “White shirts trimmed in blue, blue hose and belt, high russet leather shoes, big monogram (a crossed “C” and “F”) on the shirt….white cloth caps and blue band [belt?] with ribbon of the same color.” From Samuel Jewett Kelly, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1937.

Team genealogy: Forest City, Cleveland 1865-1872
Forest City was formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1865. The team name comes from an early city moniker. Forest City joined the National Association (NA) in 1871. The NA was baseball’s first league operating 1871-1875. The club folded during the 1872 NA season. Their last game was August 19, 1872. –Information from Peter Morris and others, Base Ball Pioneers, 1850-1870 (2012) and from retrosheet.org.