1870 Chicago (Chicagos, White Stockings)

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

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A

Dated April 1870 to August 1870. Year of photo confirmed by appearance of players Craver, Cuthbert and Flynn, each of whom only played for Chicago in 1870. Date range of April 1870 to August 1870 determined by Craver who played with Chicago throughout the majority of the 1870 season but was released from the team in late August 1870. Craver was with Chicago in a game played on August 1, 1870 v. Athletic, Philadelphia, and after this game a newspaper reported that Craver “failed to show his usual vim.” He also played August 4, 1870, for Chicago in a game v. Lone Star, New Orleans. Later in the month Craver was “expelled” from the club for “dishonorable conduct” and subsequently he did not appear with Chicago in a game v. Atlantic, Brooklyn, on August 30, 1870. In an end-of-year review of the 1870 Chicago season, a newspaper stated that in the “closing week of August […] one of its discordant elements was removed.” Undoubtedly this was a reference to Craver, who weeks later rejoined his former team, Union of Lansingburgh NY, also known as the Haymakers. He played his first game with Union on September 19, 1870 v. Mutual, New York, and a newspaper noted on this day that “Craver, who has rejoined the Haymakers, played as catcher.” In the team photo above, the Chicago players wore a white shirt with a colored cap and pants. The stockings were white. A newspaper in early 1870 described the uniform as having a blue cap, white shirt trimmed with blue, the letter ‘C’ upon the shirt breast in blue, pants of light blue with white trim, a blue-and-white belt, and stockings of “pure white British thread.”

From left: N Cuthbert (70), F Treacey (70, 71, 74), C Hodes (70, 71), L Meyerle (70, 74), E Pinkham (70, 71), J Wood (70, 71), B McAtte (70, 71), B Craver (Chi 70, Un/Lngbh 70), M King (70, 71), C Flynn (70). Player IDs from photo. Years with team from Peter Morris, Base Ball Pioneers, 1850-1870, Marshall D. Wright, The National Association Of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870, and baseball-reference.com. Chicago-Athletic game info from the New York Clipper, August 13, 1870. Chicago-Atlantic game info from the New York Clipper, September 10, 1870. Union-Mutual game info from the New York Clipper, October 1, 1870. Craver “discordant element” mention from the New York Clipper, October 29, 1870. Craver “dishonorable conduct” mention from The New York Clipper, November 19, 1870.

Dated April 1870 to August 1870. Detail view of photo A. This detail view showed the opening of the shirt with a wide overlapping flap and that the pants had white ties at the knee.

Photoshop examination of photo A. This detail view of photo A has been darkened so that the letter “C” on the breast of the shirts can be faintly seen. The original color of this letter was a light shade of blue — a color that was difficult to reproduce in black-and-white photography.

Photo B

Dated September 1870 to October 1870. Year determined by appearance of players Cuthbert and Flynn, each of whom only played for Chicago in 1870. Date range of September 1870 to October 1870 determined by the absence of player Craver (Chi 70, Un/Lngbh 70), who was released by the team in late August 1870, see photo A for details. In this team photo, the players wore a uniform similar to that show in photo A, with a white shirt, light-colored pants and white stockings.

Top, standing, from left: G Keerl (70, 75), E Duffy (70, 71), F Treacey (70, 71, 74), C Hodes (70, 71), C Flynn (70) and N Cuthbert (70). Front, sitting: L Meyerle (70, 74), E Pinkham (70, 71), J Wood (70, 71), B McAtte (70, 71) and M King (70, 71). Player IDs from caption on image. Years with team from Peter Morris, Base Ball Pioneers, Marshall Wright, The NABBP 1857-1870, and from baseball-reference.com.

Photo C

Dated 1870 or 1871. Cabinet photo of J Wood (70, 71). Full view at left, detail view at right. Player wore a uniform that matched contemporary newspaper accounts describing the Chicago uniform: white shirt, blue pants and white stockings. Detail view showed that the shirt may have had a single opening on one side of the bib, near the player’s right arm. There may have been a letter “C” in the center of the bib in a light blue color that did not reproduce well in photography. The hairstyle of the player was very similar to that shown in the 1870 team photo, see photo B. Therefore this portrait may have been made on the same day as the team photo from September to October 1870. Player ID from Al Spink, who included this photo in his book, Spink Sport Stories (1921). Spink also dated the photo of Wood with the photo caption: “just as he looked in the year 1871.” Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Original image by Charles D. Mosher, Chicago.

Written documentation on this uniform:
January 1870: “The new nine organizing in Chicago is rather interesting. […] The new nine was [formed] to ‘wipe out’ all leading clubs of the country. Above all others, however, they were [formed] to ‘go’ for the ‘Red Stockings,’ […] the objective point of their campaign.” From the New York Clipper, January 15, 1870. This report showed the influence that the Cincinnati team had on the creation of the Chicago club.

1870: “[Chicago player/manager] Jimmy Wood was entrusted with the selection of the team’s uniform designs and colors.” From SABR, The National Pastime, North Side, South Side, All Around Town: Baseball In Chicago (2015). Wood played for Chicago in 1870 and 1871. Years Wood with team from baseball-reference.com.

April 29, 1870, Chicago v. Union, St. Louis, at St. Louis: “ The Chicago nine were clad in their new uniform, which they had donned for the first time. It consisted of a blue cap adorned with a white star in the center, white flannel shirt, trimmed with blue and bearing the letter ‘C’ upon the breast worked in blue. Pants of bright blue flannel, with white cord, and supporting a belt of blue and white, stockings of pure white British thread, shoes of white goat skin, with customary spikes, the ensemble constituting by far the showiest and handsomest uniform ever started by a base ball club.” From the Cleveland Herald, May 2, 1870. Research from Brian McKenna. Game date from Marshall D. Wright, The National Association Of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870 (2000). Per Wright, Chicago played Union, St Louis, on April 29 and Empire, St Louis, on April 30.

June 3, 1870, Chicago v. Forest City, Cleveland, at Dexter Park, Chicago: “The southern tour of the ‘White Stockings’ (the name by which the club is more commonly known), though marked by an uninterrupted series of victories, has been justly regarded as not definitely determining the club’s status. […] The third [inning in the game against Forest City] through sharp fielding, resulted in a mutual blank, and in the fourth the Chicagos were a second time kalsomined to a uniform tint with their hosiery [i.e., white washed].” From the New York Clipper, June 11, 1870. This reference showed that the stocking color had become the team nickname by June 1870, or earlier.

July 1870: “Considerable interest is manifested in the movements of the Chicago Club, the White Stockings.” From the New York Clipper, July 2, 1870. Another example of the team nickname in use.

September 7, 1870, Chicago v. Cincinnati at Cincinnati: “[Chicago] formed a pretty contrast to that of the Reds, the Chicago boys wearing blue knee-breeches and caps with white shirts and stockings.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, September 8, 1870. Research from 19cBB@yahoogroups.com. Game date from Marshall D. Wright, The National Association Of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870 (2000).

1870, referenced in 1877: “The ‘well-known and wealthy’ gentlemen who go around buying uniforms for clubs and making them other presents when they win games have turned up in Pittsburg[h], where they are talking about buying uniforms for the Alleghenies [sp]. There used to be plenty of those chaps about Chicago in 1870. They don’t live here any more.” From the Chicago Tribune, June 10, 1877.

Team genealogy: Chicago 1870-1871
Chicago was formed for the 1870 baseball season and joined the National Association (NA) in 1871. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. The Great Chicago Fire in October 1871 forced Chicago to disband after the 1871 season and subsequently miss the following two years. They rejoined the NA in 1874. –Information from Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875, and from baseball-reference.com.