1873 Philadelphia (White Stockings, Whites)
This rendering is based on partial or inconclusive visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniform is rendered in values of gray. Other important details may also be undocumented or difficult to determine and an artist’s conceptualization is used to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy:
Year: unconfirmed Team: documented
Visual documentation on this uniform:
Photo A
Attributed 1873. Boston and Philadelphia teams, detail view of Philadelphia players at right. Philadelphia players wore a brimmed hat, a white shirt, mid-toned pants, and white stockings in this photo. This matched newspaper accounts of the Philadelphia uniform from 1873. Some of the Philadelphia players wore a sweater in this photo similar in color to the uniform pants.
Some identifiable players in full photo: standing far left, A Leonard (Bos 72-75). Standing second from left: F Malone (Phi 73, 75). Sitting with arms folded: D White (Bos 73-75). Standing second from right: B Addy (Phi 73, Bos 73). Standing far right: G Wright (Bos NA 71-75, NL 76-78, 80, 81). Identification of Addy is unconfirmed and some researchers guess this may be R Barnes (Bos 71-75). If player was Addy, it would then confirm the photo date of 1873. Image scan from Ken Samoil. Original photo by C Taylor.
Written documentation on this uniform:
April 23, 1873, Philadelphia v. Boston at Boston: “Philadelphia was attired in a drab hat and knee trousers, white shirt and stockings, an ‘appropriate Quaker garb.'” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1845-1881 From Newspaper Accounts (1961). No specific documentation given other than April 1873. Specific game date from retrosheet.org.
June 1873: “The entries for the great race for the championship of the United States and the colors are as follows: Athletics of Philadelphia, the Blue Stockings; Atlantic of Brooklyn, the Magenta; Baltimore of Baltimore, the Yellow Stockings; Boston of Boston, the Red Stockings; Mutual of New York, the Green Stockings; Philadelphia of Philadelphia, the White Stockings; Resolutes of Elizabeth, the Jersey Nine; Washington of Washington, Garney’s Nine; Maryland of Baltimore, Smith’s Nine.” From the New York Evening Telegram, June 30, 1873.
August 1873: “Newspaper account says the uniform was ‘mouse-hued.’ Their pantaloons were tucked into white stockings. The tight-fitting shirt had no ornamentation but the belt carried the club name. They wore a linen cap.” From Paul Batesel, Players And Teams Of The National Association, 1871-1875 (2012), referencing the Chicago Sunday Times, August 17, 1873. Newspaper reference from Batesel via email.
September 12, 1873, Philadelphia v. Atlantic, Brooklyn, at Union Grounds, Brooklyn: “Mack then made another base-hit. […] This gave the Whites the lead by 3 to 2 […] and the game ended with the victory in the hands of the lucky White Stockings.” From the New York Clipper, September 20, 1873. Several examples of the team nickname based on the stocking color.
October 4, 1873, Philadelphia v. Mutual, New York, at Brooklyn: “When the White Stockings [of Philadelphia] came on to Brooklyn on the 4th to play the Mutuals, they intended to at once avenge their recent defeat at the hands of the Mutes.” From the New York Spirit Of The Times, early October 1873. Exact date not available on newspaper scan.
December 1873, uniform referenced in a published letter from Geo. W. Young, “Pres. Phila. B. B. C.”: “The club managers [of Philadelphia] had — very innocently, I admit — adopted for the nine a portion of the uniform of the old Chicago Club, of which five and afterwards six of the Philadelphia nine had been members.” From the New York Clipper, December 6, 1873. This was a reference to the Philadelphia team wearing white stockings in 1873.
1873, referenced in April 1874: “The Philadelphia Club have wisely thrown aside the ‘white stockings’ of 1873, and propose to go in strong on [the] pearl color.” From the New York Clipper, April 11, 1874.
Circa 1873, recalled in 1902: “The popularity of the Athletics in the McBride-Malone-Reach days was divided when the first formidable professional club, which took the name of Philadelphia, was formed. […] This club played on the ground at Twenty-fifth and Jefferson streets, having a ‘pavilion’ of its own on one side of the field and the Athletics one on the other. The Philadelphia players wore a uniform which consisted of white stockings and gray trousers; in its Quaker-like somberness it was a good deal of a novelty and was an odd contrast to the Athletics, with their natty white flannels and bright blue stockings. No club then thought of changing its colors, especially the color of its stockings; these were in the nature of distinctive professional trade-marks — the Mutuals, for example, with their green; the Eckfords, with their yellow; the Atlantics, with their magenta; the first Chicago, with their white, and so on.” From the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, September 29, 1902. Research from Ed Morton.
1873, referenced in 1940: “According to [Chick] Fulmer, many of the present generation have misinformation about the nickname ‘Quakers,’ sometimes applied to the Philadelphia Nationals. He declared it was bestowed first upon the ‘Phillies’ who were members of the National Association, and that those old-time worthies earned the appellation when they discarded their caps for low-crowned gray hats with slouch effect and brim all around. These skypieces were worn in 1873.” From the Sporting News, February 22, 1940. Research from Ed Morton. According to baseball-reference.com, Fulmer played for the Philadelphia NA team from 1873 to 1875.
Team genealogy: Philadelphia was formed to join the National Association (NA) in 1873. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. To differentiate from Athletic of Philadelphia, the new team was know as the White Stockings. When Chicago rejoined the NA in 1874, the Philadelphia club gave up the White Stocking name and was instead called the Pearls, for the new color of their stockings. Philadelphia played in the NA from 1873 to 1875 but were not included in the National League at its formation in 1876. The team subsequently disbanded. –Information from Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875 (2012).
Rendering posted: October 26, 2014
Diggers on this uniform: Ed Morton, Ken Samoil, Paul Batesel,