1876 Allegheny, Pittsburgh (Alleghenys)

Left: 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

Right: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style and partial written documentation for color. Important details may be undocumented or difficult to determine. An educated guess is made to complete the renderings.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A
Dated July 1876 to October 1876. Full view at left, detail view at right. When this image was published in a newspaper in 1910, it was in the possession of Samuel Wilkinson, a player pictured on this team. Presumably, Wilkinson also supplied the photo year of 1876 and the player IDs. Date range of July 1876 to October 1876 can be determined by the appearance of players Nelson and McKelvy, both of whom joined Allegheny in July 1876. Nelson joined after his former team, Philadelphia, disbanded. Players wore a tight-fitting shirt in this photo. The shirt had short sleeves and possibly a bib front. The pants may have been of a slightly darker tone than the shirts. The stockings were dark in color and the cap, shown on the ground, was light in color. This may be the uniform the team planned to wear on August 10, 1876. This uniform was described as consisting of a white shirt with gray pants and caps.

Top row, from left: J Hagan, Cummings, S Wilkinson and Hamm. Front row: A Rocap (76), J Quest (76), R McKelvey (76, 77), C Nelson (76, 77) and G Lane. Image and player IDs from the Pittsburgh Press, June 26, 1910. Research from Don Stokes. Rocap year with team from Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association 1871-1875 (2012). Nelson years with team from the New York Clipper, October 8, 1881. McKelvy years with team from the New York Clipper, July 10, 1880. Quest year with team from the New York Clipper, June 12, 1880. Players with team in 1877 also from baseball-reference.com. First names for players Hagan (Joseph) and Lane (George) from Andy Terrick and Craig Britcher.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
April 1876: “The first base ball game of the season will be played at half past two o’clock next Sunday afternoon [April 16, 1876] at Union Park, Allegheny, by the Xantha and Allegheny clubs. Both clubs will appear in new uniforms. […] The suits of the Alleghenies comprise [of] white caps with blue cords, white shirts trimmed with blue and on the breasts blue leather shields, white pants with blue cords, and blue stockings and belts.” From the Pittsburgh Daily Post, April 10, 1876. Research from Ed Morton.

August 1876: “The Alleghenys and Buckeyes play their third game at Union Park [Pittsburgh] this afternoon. The Alleghenys are getting a new uniform and will wear it for the first time in their game with the Neshannocks [of New Castle, PA] on Thursday [August 10, 1876]. The letter ‘A’ on the breast of the old uniform is supplanted by the word ‘Allegheny.’ The shirt is white and the pants and cap gray. Altogether the new is much prettier than the old.” From the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, August 8, 1876. Research from Don Stokes.

Related uniform — May 15, 1877, Allegheny, Pittsburgh, v. Star, Syracuse, at Syracuse, Lakeside Park: “ The visiting club […] uniform consists of light blue caps, white close-fitting blouses, light blue trousers, dark blue stockings and low ties.” From the Syracuse Standard, May 16, 1877. Based on this description, the 1877 uniform shared many of the same features as the 1876 uniform.

Team genealogy: Coming soon