1874 Boston (Bostons, Red Stockings)

These renderings are based on visual documentation for uniform style and partial written documentation for uniform color. Minor details may be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the renderings.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A

Dated 1874. Portrait of G Hall (74), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as Hall played only one year for Boston. Photo showed large square bib and lettering on a pronounced arch. This bib does not match the one worn in the team photo, see photo below. Player ID from photo. Year Hall with team from Paul Batesel, Players And Teams Of The National Association, 1871-1875 (2012). Original photo by George K. Warren, Boston.

Photos B & C

Dated circa 1874, hand dated 1874. Portraits of C McVey (71, 72, 74, 75), left, and A Leonard (72-75, NL 76-78), right. Photos showed large square bib and lettering on a pronounced arch. This bib does not match the one worn in the team photo, see photo below. Player IDs from photos. Year players with team from Paul Batesel, Players And Teams Of The National Association, 1871-1875 (2012). Image scans from The Trading Card Database, tcdb.com. Original photos by George K. Warren, Boston.

Photo D

Dated April 1874 to June 1874. Year of photo determined by player Hall, who only played for Boston during the 1874 season. Date range of April 1874 to June 1874 determined by the fact that a drawing made from a very similar photo was published in a newspaper on June 27, 1874. The players in the photo wore the traditional Boston uniform in this photo consisting of white cap, shirt and pants, and red lettering belt and stockings. The shirt bib was sculpted, not rectangular in shape, and the lettering was displayed on a gradual arch, not a pronounced arch. These features do not match Boston uniforms from earlier years. It is possible this uniform was newly made for this photo session and for the team’s upcoming exhibition tour of England. Boston left for England aboard the steamship Ohio on July 16, 1874 and were scheduled to played their first exhibition game in Liverpool on July 30. Player White did not travel with the team, replaced by Kent, a first baseman with Harvard. Following Liverpool, the schedule called for games at Manchester on July 31 and Sheffield on August 1. Between August 3 and August 27 the tour played a series of cricket matches with various English teams in and around London, at Dublin, Ireland, and at Glasgow, Scotland, before setting sail for Philadelphia on August 27. The team returned to the US on September 9, 1874. In the photo above, player Spalding, standing second from left in the photo, wore a uniform shirt with one long sleeve and, on his pitching arm, one short sleeve. Nine of the eleven players shown wore neckties.

Top row, from left: C McVey (71, 72, 74, 75), A Spalding (71-75), D White (73-75) and R Barnes (71-75).  Middle: J O’Rourke (73-75, NL 76), A Leonard (72-75, NL 76-78), H Wright (71-75, NL 76-81), H Schafer (71-75, NL 76-78) and T Beals (74, 75). Front, on ground: G Wright (71-75, NL 76-78, 80, 81) and G Hall (74). Player IDs from Harper’s Weekly, June 27, 1874, see photo C. Years with team from Paul Batesel, Players And Teams Of The National Association, 1871-1875 (2012). Tour of England info from George V. Tuohey, A History of the Boston Base Ball Club (1897), and from the Boston Globe, July 27, 1874. Globe research from Don Stokes. Original photo by James W. Black, Boston.

Dated 1874. Detail view of photo B. Photo shows a sculpted bib, tapered at the neck and at the belt line, and lettering on a gradual arch.

Dated 1874. Detail view of photo B. Detail view shows that the shirt lettering was irregular in form, suggesting the letters were hand-cut, or possibly hand-painted onto the bib.

Photo E

Dated June 27, 1874. This drawing was published in Harper’s Weekly on this date and was based on a photograph of the team made seconds before or after the team photo shown above, see photo above. Differences between these two images can be seen in the pose of player G Wright, seated on the ground at left, the pose of player Beals, sitting far right, and by the position of the bats and hats in the foreground.

Photo F

Dated August 8, 1874. Boston and Athletic, Philadelphia, teams at Richmond, London, England. Date from photo frame (not shown). John Bauer offered this summary of the game in Richmond: “After a delay because of a thunderstorm, the Americans met the Richmond Cricket Club in a 22-versus-13 cricket match that concluded early in deference to baseball. The 2,000 spectators [then] watched Dick McBride shut out the Red Stockings through seven innings. Boston managed to score late, but the Athletics claimed an 11–3 win.” From John Bauer, Summer 1874: New game in the Old Country, at sabr.org.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1874: “Each professional nine should have a color and uniform of its own. New York has the green, Boston the red, Philadelphia Athletics the blue, Chicago the white, Hartford will have gray or brown, and Baltimore should have the yellow.” From the New York Clipper, March 28, 1874.

April 1874: “[In the National Association] it will […] be the Reds of Boston, the Whites of Chicago, the Pearls of Philadelphia, the Athletic Blues, the Baltimore Canaries, the Mutual Greens, and the Hartford Grays for 1874.” From the New York Clipper, April 11, 1874.

May 14, 1874, Boston v. Mutual, New York, at Union Grounds, Brooklyn: “Play was called at 3:45 P.M., previous to which the Bostons came on the field together, dressed in their new English cricketing flannel uniform.” From the New York Clipper, May 23, 1874.

July 1874, headline for a listing of Boston team members: “The Boston Red Stockings.” From the New York Clipper, July 25, 1874. This header confirmed the team nickname.

August 3, 1874, Boston v. Athletic, exhibition game in England: “Yesterday, at Lord’s, the Britishers had a capital opportunity of seeing the two best nines of America play and exhibition match at their national game of base-ball. […] The Boston team wore white flannels, red stockings, band, and cap, while the Athletics wore white flannels and blue stockings and caps, and each man had his club marked in big letters on his shirt over his chest.” From the London Standard, August 4, 1874. Research from Ed Morton.

October 7, 1874, Boston v. Atlantic, Brooklyn, at Brooklyn, Union Grounds: “[Atlantic player Herman] Dehlman toed the plate, but, before he thought proper to strike, it began raining, and a suspension of play was called by the umpire, although the necessity was not remarkably urgent. The crowd left the grounds in large numbers, but the rain soon slackened and play was called [to resume]. They then returned. […] The Bostons, in undress every-day uniform, presented a singular appearance in the field.” From the New York Clipper, October 17, 1874. Though the level of “undress” is not clear, one supposition is that the Boston team returned to the field after the rain minus the bibs on their shirts.

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.