1870 Kekionga, Ft. Wayne (Kekiongas)

This rendering is based on written documentation for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known and an artist’s conceptualization is used to create the rendering.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on this uniform:
None

Written documentation on this uniform:
July 1870: “The Kekionga are to appear in a new uniform in the game with the [Cincinnati] Red Stockings next Wednesday [July 13, 1870].” From the Ft. Wayne Daily Gazette, July 9, 1870. Research from Ed Morton.

July 1870: “C. E. Wallen, Esq. photographer, has recently donated to us a very fine photograph of the Kekionga Base Ball club, taken on their grounds.” From the Ft. Wayne Daily Gazette, July 11, 1870. Research from Ed Morton.

July 1870: “The new uniform of the Kekiongas is much more becomings than the old one. It is white flannel throughout, trimmed with blue, with white stockings striped with blue.” From the Ft. Wayne Daily Gazette, July 15, 1870. Research from Ed Morton.

Team genealogy: Kekionga, Ft. Wayne 1866-1871
Kekionga was formed in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in 1866 and joined the National Association (NA) in 1871. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. The team name, Native American for blackberry bush, came from the name of the primary settlement of the Miami people, and where Ft. Wayne was subsequently built nearby in the 1820s. The Kekionga baseball club disbanded during the 1871 NA season. Information from Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875 (2012), and from wikipedia.com.