1885 Chicago (Chicagos, White Stockings)
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. Some 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 April 1885 to June 1885. Photo date range based on engraving of this photo that was printed in a newspaper on June 6, 1885, see photo B. A second newspaper reported on June 17, 1885 that “a very handsome group photograph of the twelve players of the Chicago Club has been taken,” implying the image had been recently made. Players wore a dark uniform with pin-stripes on the collars and sleeve cuffs. The city name was displayed in large letters that extended to the armpits. A newspaper report from 1885 described the team’s shirt as knit navy blue and unlike anything the team has worn to date.
Top row, from left: G Gore (79-86), S Flint (79-89), C Anson (76-97), S Sutcliffe (Chi 84, 85, StL NL 85), M Kelly (80-86) and F Pfeffer (Chi NL 83-89, 91, 96, 97, Chi PL 90). Front: L Corcoran (Chi 80-85, NY NL 85), N Williamson (Chi NL 79-89, Chi PL 90), A Dalrymple (79-86), T Burns (80-91), J Clarkson (84-87) and B Sunday (83-87). Player IDs from published drawing of this photo, see photo C, and from baseball-reference.com. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Note, player Sutcliffe in back row has a different collar style than others in this photo and white lace ties. Report of “handsome group photo” from The Sporting Life, June 17, 1885. Original photo by Charles D. Mosher, Chicago.
Dated April 1885 to June 1885. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows pin-stripes on shirt collar and sleeve cuffs.
Dated April 1885 to June 1885. Another detail view of photo A. Detail view shows pin-striped collar and dark lace ties, most likely navy blue in color.
Photo B
Dated June 6, 1885. This engraving was printed in a newspaper on this date and was most likely made from the same photo session as photo A. The uniform depicted here matched that shown in photo A. Note, shirt and collar of player Sutcliffe in back row do not match others in this photo, which also suggests same photo date as photo A. This engraving also showed four caps in the foreground. The caps were depicted as light or white in color, and contained four subtle horizontal bands and a dark cord above the bill of the cap. A newspaper report from 1885 described the cap as white in color.
Top row, standing, from left: B Sunday (83-87), S Flint (79-89), S Sutcliffe (Chi 84, 85, StL NL 85), M Kelly (80-86) and T Burns (80-91). Middle, sitting: G Gore (79-86), C Anson (76-97), F Pfeffer (Chi NL 83-89, 91, 96, 97, Chi PL 90) and A Dalrymple (79-86). Front, on ground: L Corcoran (Chi 80-85, NY NL 85), J Clarkson (84-87) and N Williamson (Chi NL 79-89, Chi PL 90). Player IDs based on published engraving of similar photo, see photo C, and from baseball-reference.com. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Engraving from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, June 6, 1885. Most likely based on an original photo by Charles D. Mosher, Chicago.
Photo C
Dated 1885. This was a retouched version of photo A, altered to reflect changes made in the team roster. In this retouched image, player Corcoran was removed from the lower left, and the head and shoulders of player McCormick had been added to the body of player Sutcliffe. McCormick joined the team in mid-July 1885 and Corcoran and Sutcliffe had been released from the team during this time, Sutcliffe being released before July 15, 1885. Note that the shadows on McCormick’s face do not match the other faces in this image.
Top row, from left: G Gore (79-86), S Flint (79-89), C Anson (76-97), J McCormick (Pro 85, Chi 85, 86), M Kelly (80-86) and F Pfeffer (Chi NL 83-89, 91, 96, 97, Chi PL 90). Front: N Williamson (Chi NL 79-89, Chi PL 90), A Dalrymple (79-86), T Burns (80-91), J Clarkson (84-87) and B Sunday (83-87). Player IDs from an engraving made from this image, see photo D. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Sutcliffe release info from The Sporting Life, July 15, 1885. Image scan from Love of the Game Auctions. Original photo by Charles D. Mosher, Chicago.
Photo D
Dated 1885. This is an engraving made from photo C and published in Harper’s Weekly in 1885.
Photo E
Dated September 27, 1885. This drawing was printed in a newspaper on this date. Drawing depicts another altered version of photo A. In this version of the team photo the head of player Pfeffer, originally far right in top row, has been moved onto the body of Sutcliffe positioned between Anson and Kelly. Player Corcoran, front row far left, has been labeled as McCormick in this engraving and possibly, the face has been modified with a mustache to more closely match McCormick. McCormick joined Chicago in mid-July 1885 and Corcoran and Sutcliffe had been released from the team during this time, Sutcliffe being released before July 15, 1885.
Top row, from left: G Gore (79-86), S Flint (79-89), C Anson (76-97), F Pfeffer (Chi NL 83-89, 91, 96, 97, Chi PL 90) and M Kelly (80-86). Front: L Corcoran (Chi 80-85, NY NL 85), N Williamson (Chi NL 79-89, Chi PL 90), A Dalrymple (79-86), T Burns (80-91), J Clarkson (84-87) and B Sunday (83-87). Player IDs from item. Sutcliffe release info from The Sporting Life, July 15, 1885. Image from the New York Daily Graphic, September 27, 1885. Based on an original photo by Charles D. Mosher, Chicago.
Photo F
Attributed 1885. Date unconfirmed, however player portraits appear to match the players represented in photo A. Uniform of player shown at left appears to match uniforms shown in photo A.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1885: “The uniform to be worn by the Chicago nine this season will be unlike anything they have heretofore appeared in. […] It will consist of a knit jersey of navy-blue, with broad cuffs and collars trimmed with white, navy-blue pants, white belt, white stockings and white cap.” From the Chicago Tribune, March 15, 1885. A similar report was published in the Boston Globe, March 18, 1885.
March 1885: “The Chicagos are coming out as dudes this season. [They will wear] white stockings, belt and cap, navy-blue breeches, and a navy-blue knit jersey, with broad cuffs and collars, trimmed in white. The hair will be worn plain, left eye banged, high corsage, and the rank of the player will be indicated by pink flounces and epaulets. Anson ranks as Major Domo, and will wear seven flounces.” From the Detroit Free Press, March 23, 1885. A tongue-in-cheek entry. A flounce is a wide strip of gathered cloth, often sewn to the hem of a dress. A major-domo is the head of a large household.
March 1885: “The new uniform made by the Spalding Brothers for the Chicago nine this season will be unlike anything they have heretofore appeared in.” From the New York Clipper, March 28, 1885. Research from Brian McKenna.
April 1885: “Tomorrow afternoon [April 30, 1885] the first [National] League championship game that has been played in St. Louis since 1877 will take place at the Union Grounds, the new St. Louis League team and the Chicago White Stockings being the competing teams. […] The Chicagos will also appear in their new uniforms which are white, even to the stockings and caps.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 29, 1885. Research from Ed Morton.
April 30, 1885, Chicago v. St. Louis (NL), at St. Louis, opening day: “At 2:30 it stopped raining and the sun commenced to peep out through the clouds. By 4 o’clock, the time for the calling of the game, the grounds were fairly dry. […] The Chicagos came out in their practice suits of blue with white stockings.” From the Chicago Inter Ocean, May 1, 1885. Research from Gary Kodner.
May 1885: “The Chicago Club’s uniforms look like bathing suits.” From the Philadelphia Record, May 16, 1885. Research from Ed Morton. Chicago played at Philadelphia on May 13 and 14 1885.
May 1885: “[Chicago’s] Williamson, who was too fat to play good ball last season [1884], has worked off thirty pounds in training and is once more in proper condition.” From the Detroit Free Press, May 2, 1885.
June 1, 1885, Chicago v. Detroit, at Detroit: “It’s a mystery where the Chicagos get all their dirty stockings. They have worn them for many years, and the supply seems in exhaustible.” From the Detroit Free Press, June 2, 1885.
June 6, 1885, Chicago v. St. Louis (NL), at Chicago, home opener: “[The St. Louis team] withdrew to give the field to the White Stockings.” From the Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1885. This report referenced the color of the Chicago team’s stockings.
June 1885: “A very handsome group photograph of the twelve players of the Chicago Club has been taken.” From The Sporting Life, June 17, 1885.
June 1885: “Every lady who attended the Chicago opening game [June 6 v. St. Louis] received a souvenir album containing photographs of the new grounds and all the Chicago players. Most of the ladies remained home.” From the St. Louis Post-Disptach, June 20, 1885. Research from Ed Morton.
July 1885: “The Providence Club last Thursday [July 9] released [pitcher Jim] McCormick, and so soon as eligible he will don the blue uniform of the [Chicago] White Stockings.” From the Chicago Tribune, July 11, 1885.
July 1885: “The Chicago Club has a mascot in little Willie Hahn, who lives on Throop street, opposite the ball park, and has been made a great pet by the Chicago players. He is not much larger than a trade dollar, but he has secured the entree to the club house, and when he walks onto the field with the club, carrying one of Williamson’s bats, he is the largest man in the neighborhood. Very often he makes raids on his mother’s cake box and treats Williamson and Kelly, who are his idols, to cake and cookies. He always appears in a neat uniform, with the word Chicago across his breast. Now that the club is away on a trip, he is disconsolate and constantly in tears.” From The Sporting Life, July 22, 1885.
August 1, 1885, Chicago v. New York at New York, Polo Grounds: “The crowd at the Polo Grounds on August 1st encircled the field, there being about 15,000 present. ‘The Chicago men appeared to be in perfect trim. Their hardened muscles showed conspicuously through their uniforms. They were as brown as berries and had the suppleness of well trained athletes.’” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 199.
August 1885: “The Detroits will cross bats with the White Stockings upon the home grounds [of Chicago] today.” From the Chicago Tribune, August 25, 1885. Use of the team nickname, based on the color of the stockings.
September 1885: “The coming champions, the Chicago White Stockings, begin the closing games of their championship series [in St. Louis] at the Union Grounds this afternoon with the St. Louis [National] League team as their opponent.” From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 8, 1885. Use of the White Stockings nickname.
September 29, 1885, Chicago v. New York, at Chicago: “The visitors [from New York] wore their customary gray uniforms, while the Chicagos appeared in their blue working uniforms in which they have won their long list of victories, and which they retain as an omen of good luck. The New York giants presented their strongest playing front, with Welch and Ewing as their battery.” From the Baltimore Sun, September 30, 1885. This report appeared in many newspapers across the country on this day.
September 29, 1885, Chicago v. New York, at Chicago: “The New York club were arrayed in white caps, shirts and pants, with red belts and stockings. The Chicagos appeared in blue shirts and pants, with white caps, belts and stockings, with the word ‘Chicago’ across the breast of the shirt in white letters. […] When the victory was finally assured to the Chicago, at the end of the ninth inning, [the crowd] went wild with enthusiasm and threw the cushions on the seats all over the field.” From the York (PA) Daily, October 7, 1885
October 1885: “Pictures of the Chicago [National] League champions, ‘base ball kings,’ as they are called in Chicago, are now ready and for sale. For particulars see advertisement on last page.” From The Sporting Life, October 7, 1885. The ad on the last page of the newspaper stated that “elegant and life-like” cabinet size photos of the Chicago team were for sale by A. G. Spalding & Bros., 108 Madison Street, Chicago, and 241 Broadway, New York, for 25 cents each. Larger size images were also available: 8×10 at 50 cents, 10×12 at $1.00 and 18×22 at $1.50. All were “sent by mail on receipt of price.”
1883-1885, referenced in 1961: “A release from A. G. Spalding and Brothers, the pioneer sporting goods manufacturing and supply firm, reveals some interesting information on the evolution of the baseball uniform. […] The Chicago White Stockings of this period [1883-1885] were regally outfitted in a manner indicative of their preeminence. They had three sets of uniforms of the finest materials. The White Stockings wore wide pants and tight-fitting sleeveless jerseys with capital letters spelling out CHICAGO emblazoned across the front. Every man had his distinctively colored flap-top cap and they wore silk stockings no less.” From Bill Madden, “Bill Madden’s Sports Folio,” the Scottsbluff (NE) Daily Star-Herald, April 14, 1961. Similar reports were published in other newspapers around the country at the start of the 1961 baseball season. Note that, to date, no reports have surfaced of the Chicago team, circa 1883, wearing sleeveless shirts.
Team genealogy:
Chicago 1874-
Chicago reformed after the Great Fire of October 1871 and rejoined the National Association (NA) in 1874 and 1875 after a two-year absence. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. Chicago joined the National League (NL) at its formation in 1876 and the team has played in the NL every year since 1876. Information from Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875, from baseball-reference.com, and from wikipedia.
1885 Chicago summary
Uniform: white, white stockings
First worn:
Photographed:
Described: April
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition: cap style, shirt style
Variations:
Other items:
Home opener report: yes, June 6 v. St. Louis
Uniform: blue, white stockings and cap
First worn: possibly April 30, St. Louis, previously considered a practice uniform
Photographed: team photo from early June
Described: March-May, September
Material: knitted shirt
Manufacturer: Spalding & Bro., Chicago
Supposition:
Variations:
Other items:
Rendering posted: March 14, 2023
Diggers on this uniform: Brian McKenna, Ed Morton, Gary Kodner,