1884 Boston (Bostons, Red Stockings, Beaneaters, Red Caps)

This rendering is based on incomplete 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

Setting the record straight on Boston and their red caps.

Team nicknames are a funny thing. Today, every club has one — officially recognized, inseparable from the city name, and printed on everything from letterheads to luggage tags. I guess that’s why it’s so hard for us to understand the lack of team nicknames before 1900. Nothing was official back then, with a few notable exceptions. Still, as historians, we want to attach a name, so we borrow what we can from the newspapers of the day.

As you can see above, the 1884 Boston NL team wore red caps. Sure enough, you can find many references today, both printed and online, calling the team the Boston Red Caps. But there’s a problem with this nickname, so let’s dig deeper.

The Boston team was formed in 1871, and was first known as the Red Stockings. But red was only the color of the socks, not the caps. In fact, documentation presented on this website tells us that Boston, between the years of 1871 and 1900, only wore red caps for two (maybe three) seasons, the first being 1884. See a summary here.

Wikipedia.com (yes, I know) says “the team name was changed in 1876 from the Boston Red Stockings to the Boston Red Caps to avoid confusion with the new Cincinnati Red Stockings team.” (No citation given.) Wiki goes on to list the team as the “Boston Red Caps” from 1876 to 1882, and then the “Boston Beaneaters” from 1883 to 1906. This implies the team had official nicknames, which it didn’t.

Baseball-reference.com says: “The name Boston Red Caps is applied to the first seven seasons played by the Boston franchise in the National League, from 1876 to 1882. The franchise had no official nickname (besides the Boston National League Baseball Club) and the name has been applied retroactively, with little concern over whether it was actually used by anyone at the time.” Regarding Boston and Cincinnati, B-R adds “to avoid confusion between the two Red Stockings teams, particularly Boston’s first seven seasons in the National League, historians have given the nickname ‘Red Caps’ to the Boston franchise.”

Retrosheet.org does the best job when it comes to accuracy, avoiding the Red Caps name altogether and simply listing the club as the “Boston NL team” from 1876 to 1882.

Newspaper archives tell us that the most common nickname during these years was “the Bostons” — not Red Stockings, not Reds, not Beaneaters, and certainly not Red Caps. In fact, the only use found to date in contemporary reports of the Red Caps nickname applied to a Boston team — for the entire century — comes from a Boston-Buffalo game account printed in the Boston Globe on October 12, 1884. There may be others, but that’s all we’ve found. Just one mention from the final series of the 1884 season, and during the first year when Boston actually wore red caps. It’s clear that the “Red Caps” label, in general, should not be applied to this team.

Herein lies a big problem with the digital age. Information is often misinformation, passed from one researcher to the next like a team-wide hitting slump. If you’re writing about the Boston team, please don’t call them the Red Caps — because, they really weren’t. Always check original sources. Be careful with team nicknames. And thank you for listening.

Visual documentation on this uniform:
None

Written documentation on this uniform:
December 1883: “[At a meeting of the National League] the uniform committee recommended that the 1883 uniform be retained [for 1884].” From Base Ball’s 19th-Century Winter Meetings, 1857-1900 (SABR, 2018), citing the New York Clipper, December 1, 1883, and stating that the uniform committee was [John B.] Day, [George W.] Howe and [Al] Reach. Research from Michael R. McAvoy. The committee was most likely responsible for selecting and/or approving the stocking color for each team.

March 1884: “The Boston Club has ordered 39 uniforms for its players.” From The Sporting Life, March 26, 1884. Research from Ed Morton.

April 1884: “The Boston team’s new caps are red trimmed with white.” From The Sporting Life, April 23, 1884. Research from Ed Morton.

April 1884: “A fine day and the expectation of witnessing an interesting exhibition of the beauties of the national game led to a very numerous assemblages of people being present yesterday [April 23] to see the advent of the champion team of the [National] league in Brooklyn, the noted Boston Red Stockings.” From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 24, 1884. A very wordy sentence using the team nickname, which was based on the color of the team’s stockings.

May 1, 1884, Boston (NL) v. Buffalo, at Boston, home opener, South End grounds: “The championship flag was raised and the crowd burst into cheers and applause, which changed to roars of laughter when it was noticed that the flag was upside down.” From the Boston Globe, May 2, 1884. Boston won the NL championship for the 1883 season. The Globe also reported that “the Keystones and Boston Unions were present at the game yesterday afternoon [May 1] on invitation of the [Boston National] League club.” The Union Association teams played their opening game in Boston at Back Bay grounds on April 30, 1884.

May 1884: “The Boston newspapers are already crowing very loudly about the phenomenal success of George Wright’s Union team. The Cincinnati Unions will try and take some of the conceit out of the Bean-Eaters when they play here [in Boston] next week.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, May 4, 1884. An early use of the “Beaneaters” nickname.

June 13, 1884, Boston (NL) v. Providence at Providence: “The two errors made by Hines [of Providence] in the first inning were very costly, and with a little batting by the Red Stockings, gave the visitors two runs.” From the Chicago Inter Ocean, June 14, 1884. Use of the Boston team nickname, based on the color of the stockings.

July 1, 1884, Boston (NL) v. Buffalo, at Buffalo: “For two innings neither side scored. The third gave an earned run to the bean-eaters.” From the Buffalo Times, July 2, 1884. An early use of the “Beaneaters” nickname.

October 12, 1884, Boston (NL) v. Buffalo at Buffalo: “Buffalo beats the Boston Red Caps fourteen to five. […] The red stockings [of Buffalo] this afternoon turned the tables on the red caps [of Boston], outplaying them all around.” From the Boston Globe, October 12, 1884. This is a rare example of the Red Caps nickname in use. Many sources today suggest the Red Cap nickname was widely used by the team throughout their first years in the National League. However between 1876 and 1883, documentation tells us that the team wore white caps, not red. It was not until 1884 when the team reportedly wore red. Even so, the use of the Red Cap nickname was still rare this year, and was not used in subsequent years. Documentation confirms the team returned to white caps in 1886. Baseball-reference.com writes: “The name Boston Red Caps is applied to the first seven seasons played by the Boston franchise in the National League, from 1876 to 1882. The franchise had no official nickname (besides the Boston National League Baseball Club) and the name has been applied retroactively, with little concern over whether it was actually used by anyone at the time.” In the first five years of the National League, both the Boston and Cincinnati teams wore red stockings, Baseball-reference adds “to avoid confusion between the two Red Stockings teams, particularly Boston’s first seven seasons in the National League, historians have given the nickname ‘Red Caps’ to the Boston franchise.”

October 15, 1884, Boston (NL) v. Buffalo at Buffalo: “[Buffalo pitcher] Serad started in finely, but the bean-eaters began to hit towards the end and we almost lost. […] When the ninth opened it looked as though the bean-eaters were going to pull out of the hole.” From the Buffalo Times, October 16, 1884. Early examples of the “Beaneaters” nickname in use.

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.

1884 Boston summary

Uniform: white, red stockings and cap
First worn:
Photographed:
Described: April, July, October
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition: shirt style
Variations: two uniforms made for each player
Other items:
Home opener report: yes, May 1 v. Buffalo