1872 Boston (Bostons, Red Stockings, Reds)

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

This rendering is included in the book, BASEBALL THREADS.

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A

Dated 1871-1873 with 1872 date probable. Montage of portraits, full view at left, detail view of player G Wright at right. Issue date of 1872 can be suggested by the appearance of players Rogers and McVey. These men only played together on Boston in 1872. Based on similarity in studio lighting and background, and the same pose, it is likely all of the portraits were made at the same session circa 1872. In a 1907 reprint of this collage, all portraits were attributed to the same photographer, George K. Warren of Boston. Cabinet cards of many of these Warren portraits have been hand-dated 1874 and may have been issued that year in conjunction with the Boston tour of England in July 1874. The printed back of some of the cabinet cards say “Under the superintendence of Mr. S. B. Heald,” and some cards say “Heald” on the front of the card. Players wore the traditional Boston uniform in these portraits consisting of white caps, shirt and pants, with red lettering and a shirt bib, red belts and red stockings.

Top row, from left: A Spalding (71-75), H Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-81) and D Birdsall (71-73). Middle: C Gould (71-75), G Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-78, 80, 81), C McVey (71, 72, 74, 75) and A Leonard (NA 72-75, NL 76-78). Bottom: F Rogers (72, 73), H Schafer (NA 71-75, NL 76-78) and R Barnes (71-75). Player IDs from item. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from Harry Ellard, Baseball in Cincinnati (1907). Original portraits by George K. Warren, Boston.

Photo B

Dated 1872 to 1873. Full view of F Rogers (72, 73) at left, detail view at right. This same portrait was included in a collage of portraits most likely issued in 1872, see photo A. 1872 may be further confirmed by fact that Rogers played only 2 games with Boston in 1873. Years Rogers with team from baseball-reference.com. Original portrait by George K. Warren, Boston.

Photos C & D

Dated 1872 to 1874. Two different portraits of G Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-78, 80, 81). The portrait at left was included in a collage of portraits most likely issued in 1872, see photo A. Common items in photos C & D, most noticeably the similarity in the studio background and Wright’s center belt loop, suggest these two images were made on the same day. Shirt lettering and center belt loop were also similar to photo of F Rogers above, further indicating these images of Wright were taken in 1872. Wright was clean-shaven in these photos while he wore a mustache in the 1871 collage of Boston players. Years Wright with team from baseball-reference.com. Original portraits by George K. Warren, Boston.

Photo E

Undated, 1870s. Cigar poster, full view at left, detail view at right. Poster features G Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-78, 80, 81). Illustration made from studio portraits of Wright, see photos B and C. Years Wright with team from baseball-reference.com.

Photo F

Dated 1872. Full view of montage of portraits at left, detail view of player Schafer at right. Issue date of 1872 confirmed by appearance of players Rogers and McVey. These men only played together on Boston in 1872. Portraits of players were from 1871 and 1872. Portraits of Birdsall, Barnes, McVey, Gould and H Wright were from 1871 as these same images were also shown on a montage from that year. Portrait of Leonard was from an 1871 montage of the Olympic, Washington DC, team. Portraits of Ryan and Rogers were most likely from 1872. The Ryan and Rogers portraits have different photo backgrounds indicating they may have been made at different sessions. Though similar, the Rogers portrait was not the same as the Warren image shown in photo A.

Clockwise, from top: G Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-78, 80, 81), D Birdsall (71-73), A Spalding (71-75), A Leonard (NA 72-75, NL 76-78), H Schafer (NA 71-75, NL 76-78), R Barnes (71-75), J Ryan (dnp), F Rogers (72, 73), C McVey (71, 72, 74, 75) and C Gould (71-75). Center: H Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-81). Player IDs from item. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.

Dated 1872. Detail views of photo F. Left, F Rogers (72, 73) and right, J Ryan (dnp). These portraits have different photo backgrounds from the remaining images in the montage, indicating they were made at different times. The city name in these portraits may have been enhanced or added. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.

Photos G & H

Dated 1871 or 1872. Two detail views of Mort Rogers’ Photographic Score Cards of, left, H Schafer (NA 71-75, NL 76-78) and right, A Spalding (71-75). Both of these portraits were included in the photo montage from 1872, see photo F. However these images were not included in several team collages from 1871 where different photos from different sessions were used. Visual differences from the 1871 portraits were that Schafer wore a white tie in this portrait above and that Spalding was without a tie. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.

Photos I & J

Dated 1871 or 1872. Two detail views of Mort Rogers’ Photographic Score Cards of, left, G Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-78, 80, 81) and C McVey (71, 72, 74, 75). These portraits do not match the 1872 collage above or collages from the previous year of 1871. Wright had no facial hair in this portrait (matching photo C). He wore a mustache in his portrait from 1871 and the studio background was different in the collage from 1872. McVey had shorter hair in this portrait than that shown in the 1871 and 1872 collages. This McVey score card was also hand-dated on the back as June 12, 1872. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. McVey card date from an online auction house.

Photos K & L

Dated 1871 or 1872. Two detail views of Mort Rogers’ Photographic Score Cards of, left, H Wright (NA 71-75, NL 76-81) and right, D Birdsall (71-73). These portraits do not match the 1872 montage above or collages from the previous year of 1871. Wright wore a full beard in the portrait above but did not have one in his portrait in the 1871 collage. Birdsall wore a necktie in this portrait but was not wearing one in the 1871 or 1872 photo collages. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.

Written documentation on this uniform:
March 1872: “The members of the Boston Red Stocking Club arrived yesterday [March 15 in Boston]. The same uniform will be more worn as that of last year [1871].” From the Boston Evening Transcript, March 16, 1872, page 8. Research from Ed Morton. The transcript listed the height and weight of the Boston players. Only two players were 6 ft. or taller, and the heaviest weighed 184 lbs.

April 29, 1872, Boston v. Olympic, Philadelphia, at Philadelphia, exhibition game: “A base ball match between the Boston Red Stockings and the amateur Olympics of this city today [April 29, 1872] was witnessed by about 1,500 people.” From the New York Daily Herald, April 30, 1872. Use of the Red Stockings nickname.

June 6, 1872, Boston v. Baltimore, at Boston: “The most remarkable game of the season was played […] being the second meeting of the Baltimore nine — the ‘Canaries’ — and the Red Stockings.” From the Boston Evening Transcript, June 7, 1872. The newspapers also called the Boston team “the Reds” in this report.

June 22, 1872, Boston v. Baltimore, at Boston: “After three men should have been out, the ‘Reds’ went in and made five runs, numerous errors by the ‘Canaries’ assisting their upward course.” From the Spirit of the Times, dated June 22, 1872, or shortly thereafter, exact date not available on scan. Game date from retrosheet.org.

Team genealogy: Boston 1871-1952
Boston was formed to enter the National Association (NA) in 1871. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. Boston played in the NA in every year of the league’s existence and moved to the National League (NL) upon its start in 1876. Boston played in the NL from 1876 to 1952 and moved to Milwaukee for the 1953 NL season. Information from Paul Batesel, Players And Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875, from baseball-reference.com and from wikipedia.com.