1876 Louisville (Louisvilles, Grays)
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 written documentation for color. Minor details may be undocumented or difficult to determine. An educated guess is made to complete these renderings.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated 1876. Photo date determined by appearance of players Hastings, Carbine, Fulmer, Allison, Bechtel and Ryan, all of whom only played for Louisville in 1876. Players wore a white uniform in this photo with a shield front displaying the name of the team. Newspaper reports from 1876 stated the accent color on the uniform was blue. Players also wore solid light-colored stockings in this photo. However several newspapers in 1876 reported that the team wore white stockings with a blue band around the calf. These stockings were described as “entirely different from anything yet seen on the ball field.”
Top row, from left: S Hastings (76), J Devlin (76,77) and P Snyder (76,77). Middle, sitting: J Carbine (76), B Hague (76,77), C Fulmer (76), J Chapman (76, mgr 76,77), J Gerhardt (76,77) and A Allison (76). Front, on ground: G Bechtel (76) and J Ryan (76). Player IDs from Anne Jewell, Baseball In Louisville (2006). Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Original image at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Dated 1876. Two detail views of photo A. Detail views show the shield front with the city name in light blue lettering. This blue color is nearly invisible in black-and-white imagery.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 1876: “The order for the [Louisville] practice uniforms has already been forwarded to Messrs. Peck & Snyder, and it will consist of white flannel shirt and pants, navy blue stockings, white cap, white and blue belt, and ‘Louisville’ in navy letters across the chest of the shirts. Manager Chapman has opened one of the finest baseball emporiums in the country, and in connection with it will be the club-rooms of the Louisvilles. The rooms will be furnished with billiard tables, writing tables and card tables. […] The Louisvilles propose to make everything comfortable for their own players and those of visiting clubs.” From The New York Clipper, February 12, 1876.
February 1876: “The Louisville club has adopted the following uniform: white suit, pants and cap trimmed with navy blue, the word ‘Louisville’ across the breast of the shirt, blue belt and stockings, making it similar to the garb of the Hartfords.” From the St. Louis Republican, February 24, 1876, and from the Chicago Daily Tribune, February 27, 1876. Tribune research from Don Stokes.
April 1876: “The uniforms of the Louisville club consist of white caps, trimmed with blue; white shirts trimmed with blue, with an embroidered L on the breast; white pants with blue stripes, and white stockings, with about three inches of blue stripe around the calf. The stockings are something entirely different from anything yet seen on the ball field, and will doubtless prove pleasing to the eye.” From the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 16, 1876. Research from Ed Morton. Note that the team photo above showed the full city name spelled out across the shirt and stockings in a solid color, see photo A.
April 25, 1876, Louisville v. Chicago, at Louisville, home opener: “Just before the game began the medals were presented the home club on behalf of Mr. Thomas Russell, the jeweler. The nine having been collected [on the field] in view of the spectators, little Miss Florence, daughter of Mr. Russell, stepped forward, dressed in her prettiest, and, in accents the sweetest said, ‘It gives me great pleasure to present you, as manly exponents of America’s great game, these badges, which are in a small degree symbolical of your profession. May your victories ever be similar to the ball hereon engraved, may your courses in life be as straight and upright as the bat which stands before you.’” From the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 26, 1876.
May 9, 1876, Louisville v. St. Louis at St. Louis: “The Louisville lads presented a very handsome appearance in their neat, white uniform with blue facings, and their showy blue and white stockings.” From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 10, 1876. Research from Jeffrey Kittel, This Game Of Games, www.thisgameofgames.com, and submitted to Threads by Brian McKenna. Game date from Retrosheet, www.retrosheet.org. Louisville played at St. Louis April 29, May 3, May 9 and May 11.
June 1876, Louisville v. Boston at Boston: “Louisville players […] wear a dirty white uniform, low shoes, and white stockings with a blue stripe half way up. They looked more like hired men than any club visiting here.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1845-1881 From Newspaper Accounts (1961). No specific documentation given. Lousiville played at Boston June 6, June 8 and June 10. Games dates from Retrosheet, www.retrosheet.org.
July 24, 1876, Louisville v. Bloomington, IL, at Bloomington, exhibition game: “The uniform of the Louisvilles is almost the same as that of the Bloomington club—shirt, pants and cap of white flannel—differing in the color of the stockings, the Louisvilles wearing white, with a single blue stripe around the calf, the Bloomingtons wearing green.” From the Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph, July 25, 1876. Research from Ed Morton.
1876/1877, described in 1892: “The Louisville Club was the first base ball organization to wear gray uniforms. In 1876 the Louisvilles, then under management of Manager Chapman, went on their Eastern trip and created a sensation by appearing on the Eastern diamonds wearing suits of gray. Previous to that only white was worn by ball tossers. The Kentuckians were immediately dubbed the ‘Johnny Rebs,’ which [was a] name [that] clung to them while they remained in the [National] League.” From The Sporting Life, May 28, 1892. Note that this research project has shown that Louisville first wore gray during the following year of 1877 and that several teams were documented to have worn gray before the Louisville team did.
Team genealogy:
Louisville 1876-1877
Louisville was formed to join the National League for its inaugural season in 1876. The team played 2 years in the NL and disbanded after the 1877 season. –Information from wikipedia.
1876 Louisville summary
Uniform: white, dark blue stockings, possibly a practice uniform
First worn:
Photographed: unspecified during year
Described: February
Material: flannel
Manufacturer: Peck & Snyder
Supposition:
Variations:
Other items:
Home opener report:
Uniform: white, white stockings with blue band
First worn:
Photographed:
Described: April – July
Material: flannel
Manufacturer:
Supposition: cap style, shirt style, letter style
Variations:
Other items:
Home opener report: yes, April 25 v. Chicago
Rendering posted: December 14, 2019
Diggers on this uniform: Brian McKenna, Don Stokes, Ed Morton, Jeffrey Kittel,