1883 Toledo (Toledos)
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. Details, including shirt color, are undocumented or difficult to determine. An educated guess is made to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated 1883. Photo date based on appearance of players Jones and Moffett. Top row, from left: J Miller (NWL 83, AA 84), J Jones (83), F Walker (NWL 83, AA 84), C Lane (NWL 83, AA 84) and J Tilley (NWL 83, AA 84). Middle: S Moffett (83), S Barkley (NWL 83, AA 84, IL 89), C Morton (mgr, NWL 83, AA 84, IL 89), C Welch (NWL 83, AA 84) and H O’Day (NWL 83, AA 84). Front: T Poorman (NWL 83, AA 84) and H Lockwood (83). Player IDs from Ralph Elliott Lin Weber, The Toledo Baseball Guide of the Mud Hens, 1883-1943 (1943). Research from John R Husman, Baseball in Toledo (2003). Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Contributing research from Nigel Ayres.
Dated 1883. Detail view of photo A. Note, the “T-B-C” monogram is hard to see in this detail. It is barely visible on the shirt of the player seated at left and on the shirts of the players reclining in foreground.
Dated 1883. Two detail views of photo A. The monogram was clearly visible in this enhanced and cleaned-up version of the image.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
1883: “The colors of hose adopted by the different [Northwestern League] clubs were as follows: Peoria, red; Springfield, white; Toledo, blue; Fort Wayne, olive; Quincy, brown; East Saginaw, old gold; Grand Rapids, gray; Bay City, red and black.” From the Spalding’s Base Ball Guide, 1883, p. 42. Research from John Thorn.
May 1883: “The Toledo Base Ball Club has selected the following uniform for its players: light gray hat, shirt, and pantaloons, red belt, blue stockings, and the word ‘Toledo,’ in red across the breast.” From the Cleveland Leader, May 10, 1883. Research from John Thorn.
June 1883: “The new uniforms of the Toledo Club have arrived, and will be worn in their game with Fort Wayne tomorrow [June 9]. They consist of old gold shirts, white pants and blue caps, belt and stockings. They will be a great improvement over the old affairs.” From the Toledo Blade, June 8, 1883. Research from John R Husman.
June 9, 1883, Toledo v. Ft. Wayne at Toledo: “The Toledos make a much better appearance in their uniforms. Saturday it was quite a relief to see them in something else than their former ill-fitting suits.” From the Toledo Blade, June 11, 1883. Research from John R Husman.
October 1883, Toledo v. Cincinnati (AA), at Cincinnati, exhibition game: “[Toledo] wore yellow waists, light blue trousers and blue stockings and caps.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, October 8, 1883. Research from Ed Morton.
1883: “Uniforms [of Toledo]—blue shirts, white trousers and blue stockings.” From Ralph Elliott Lin Weber, The Toledo Baseball Guide of the Mud Hens, 1883-1943 (1943). Research from John R Husman. Note, this description was given by Lin Weber as a caption under the same team photo as shown in photo A (above). This written description does not match the account given in the Toledo Blade, see June 8, 1883 entry above.
Team genealogy: Coming soon
Rendering posted: March 29, 2015
Diggers on this uniform: Ed Morton, John Husman, John Thorn, Nigel Ayres,