1869 Yale University

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: confirmed    Team: documented

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A

Dated 1869. Players wore a white or light-colored uniform in this photo, with matching caps and light-colored belts. The shirt had a large bib attached to the front. A contemporary newspaper report said the uniform was “dove” colored and that it had a “large German ‘Y’, handsomely formed in blue silk” on the bib. It is possible this light blue color did not reproduce properly in photography. This photo was reprinted in a newspaper in 1911 with the caption: “Yale Baseball Nine of ’69, First Fully Organized Team.”

Top row, from left: T McClintock (class 70), S McCutcheon (class 70), W Wheeler (class 72) and C French (class 72). Front: G Richards (class 72), E Lewis (class 70), T Hoker (class 69), L Condit (class 69) and C Deming (class 72). Player ID and class information from the Buffalo Sunday Morning News, June 11, 1911. Research from Don Stokes. Image scan and date from the Yale University Archives.

Written documentation on this uniform:
June 1869, Yale v. Mutual, New York: “The uniform which the Yale Nine appeared in at their recent game with the Mutuals [of New York] is one of the neatest. The entire suit is composed of a light woolen material, of what might be termed dove color, and trimmed with cording and buttons of light blue silk. On the breast of the shirt is a large German ‘Y’, handsomely formed in blue silk. The cap is of the small, flat crown, [in a] closely fitting and diminutive peak pattern, which has been fashionable among the University boys as a sort of undress [i.e., ordinary] or fatigue cap.” From the New York Herald, June 25, 1869. Research from Don Stokes. Note, the capital “Y” on the breast of the shirt as described in this newspaper account was not visible in photo A.

1869, referenced in 1901: “A photograph of the first Yale University baseball nine, of which a [duplicate?] photograph was made, has been presented by S. R. Betts of New York for the [Yale] trophy-room. It is of the nine of 1869, and is especially interesting, as showing the old style of uniform in days when no pads, masks, or gloves were used. It contains the only photograph in uniform of Charles French, a most promising Yale baseball-player, who, early in his sophomore year, lost his life through the ice at Lake Whitney [in Connecticut], while trying to save his sister.” From the New York Evening Post, February 16, 1901. Research from Ed Morton.

Team genealogy:

Yale University was founded in Connecticut in 1701 and has been located in New Haven, Connecticut, since 1716. The Yale baseball team was first organized in 1868. Info from wikipedia.com.