1872 Eckford, Brooklyn (Eckfords)

This rendering is based on partial 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:
April 1872: “The Eckfords will don their bright colored uniform tomorrow on the Union Grounds, and be ready to do battle against a nine selected from the field. The Yellow Stocking’d nine is said to be a stunner, and fully equal to any the club has ever had in the field.” From the Brooklyn Daily Times, April 26, 1872. Research from Ed Morton. This report referenced the team’s stockings as being yellow in color.

August 9, 1872, Eckford, Brooklyn, v. Baltimore, at Brooklyn, Union Ground: “The first two innings of yesterday’s game yielded neither a run, not a base hit being made by either the ‘yellow’ or ‘orange’ stockings.” From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 10, 1872. This report referenced the Eckford’s stockings as being orange in color.

August 27, 1872, Eckford, Brooklyn, v. Baltimore, at Brooklyn, Union Ground: “The third game of the championship series between the Eckfords, of Williamsburg, and the Baltimores, of Baltimore, was played on the Union Ground.” From the Brooklyn Daily Union, August 28, 1872. Report described the Eckfords as “of Williamsburg.” Williamsburg was incorporated as a village on the East River in 1827 and is now a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn.

Team genealogy: Eckford, Brooklyn, 1855-1872
Eckford was formed in Brooklyn, NY, in 1855. The club was named in honor of Henry Eckford (1775-1832), a Scottish-born American shipbuilder and political figure who operated a shipyard in Brooklyn. The Eckford club was one of 16 charter members of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), the first baseball organization operating 1857-1870. Eckford joined the National Association (NA), baseball’s first league, midway during the first season. The NA operated 1871-1875. Eckford left the league during the 1872 season and subsequently dissolved. Info from William Ryczek, Peter Morris and others, Base Ball Founders (2013), from Paul Batesel, Players And Teams Of The National Association, 1871-1875 (2012), and from wikipedia.