1877 Lowell MA (Lowells)

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 the rendering.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on this uniform:


Image A

Dated 1877, probably before mid-July 1877. Year of issue confirmed by the appearance of player Crane, who only played for Lowell in 1877. Similarity in studio background and lighting suggests the portraits were made at the same time. Possible date of before mid-July 1877 for portraits can be suggested by a newspaper report that stated photographs of the team were on display in a Lowell store window, see written descriptions below. Players wore a white uniform shirt in these photos, with a white bib secured by large buttons. The bib displayed a large letter “L” in an old-English font. The accent color for the team was brown.

Top row, from top left: L Knight (77, 78), S Crane (77), A Whitney (77, 78) and E Stoughton? Middle row: C Foley? (77, 78), S Wright (77, 78) and D Sullivan? (77, 78). Bottom row: F Whitney (77, 78), D Cook?, B Hawes (77, 78) and J Piggott? Player IDs and image from Nigel Ayres. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Based on a newspaper report from 1877, the original photos may have been made by Frank L. Morrill, Lowell.

Photo B

Dated 1877. Portrait of S Crane (77). This same photo was used in the collage of team portraits, see photo A. Year with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from SABR, The National Pastime (Number 3, Spring 1984), collection of Lew Lipset. Original photo may have been made by Frank L. Morrill, Lowell.

Image C

Dated 1877. Illustration uses player portraits from 1877, see image A. Image from SABR, The National Pastime (Number 3, Spring 1984) and the collection of the National Baseball Hall Of Fame And Museum.

Written documentation on this uniform:

March 1877: “The uniform of the Lowells will be white, with bosom trimmings, and each player will be designated by a different colored cap. The material for the suits has been purchased and will be made up…for the first game.” From the Lowell Daily Citizen And News, March 24, 1877. Research from Brian Sheehy. Note: it may be that the Lowell team did not fulfill their plan to wear colored caps to identify each player. Photo B seems to show players wearing the same colored cap and also, the newspaper account from April 21 (below) mentions only a brown cap.

April 21, 1877, Lowell v. Boston, at Boston: “The brown caps of the Lowells look hot; white, with brown trimmings, would be better.” Account and game date from the Lowell Daily Citizen And News, April 23, 1877. Research from Brian Sheehy.

July 1877: “Finely executed photographs of the members of the Lowell base ball nine for 1877 are shown in J. W. White’s window, Central Street. In one window they are shown in a frame, while in the other the photographs are separate. F. L. Morrill is the photographer, and performed his work quite creditably.” From the Lowell (MA) Daily Courier, July 18, 1877. Research from Ed Morton. F. L. Morrill was Frank L. Morrill, who had a studio at 31 Central Street in Lowell.

Team genealogy:
 Coming soon