1886 Denver (Denvers)
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:
Photo A
Dated late May 1886 to mid-July 1886. This drawing of the 1886 team was made from a photograph and was published in a newspaper on July 29, 1900. Year of photo determined by the appearance of players McHarg, Straub, McMillan, Hunter and Meinke, all of whom only played for Denver in 1886. Date range of late May to mid-July may be determined by player Silch in combination with McHarg. Silch played his first game for Denver May 25, 1886 and McHarg last played for the team on July 17, 1886. Players were depicted wearing a shirt with lace ties. Some of the players wore caps with vertical stripes. The shirt had the city name arched across the chest. Newspaper reports from 1886 described the Denver uniform as being old gold in color, with red accents. One player seated far left in photo, E Silch, wore a uniform without any lettering across the chest. In another team photo from later in the year, see photo B, player O’Neil wore a similar shirt that had no lettering. Based on this, it is possible the identity of Silch and O’Neil were transposed when photo A was published in 1900.
Top row of four men, from left: T McHarg (86), J Straub (86), (R McClintock, mgr 86-88) and J Ryan (85-87). Front row of eight: E Silch (86, 87), G McMillan (86), D O’Brien (85, 86), F O’Neil (86, 87), B Hunter (Den WL 86, Lea WL 86), G Tebeau in back (85, 86, 91, 00), I Phillips in front (86, 87) and F Meinke (86). Image and player IDs from the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, July 29, 1900. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Date of Silch first game and McHarg last game from researcher Paul Winter. Baseball-reference.com lists McHarg as McHargan and does not include his first name, Thomas, which has been provided by Winter citing the Decatur (IL) Daily Republican, September 18, 1885. Image scan from Carson Lorey.
Photo B
Dated mid-August 1886 to October 1886. Photo year confirmed by appearance of players Straub, Lauser and Meinke, all of whom only played for Denver in 1886. Date range of mid-August 1886 to October 1886 determined by appearance of player Dugdale, who joined the team in mid-August after playing in Denver the previous year. Players wore a light-toned uniform in this photo with striped caps, a dark belt and dark stockings. The lace-tied shirts had the city name arched across the chest. Newspaper reports from 1886 described the Denver uniform as being old gold in color, with red accents. Player standing top left in photo, F O’Neil, wore a uniform without any lettering across the chest. Three players appeared to have cut their shirt sleeves shorter on the arm.
Six players standing, from left: J Straub (86), F O’Neil (86, 87), (G Higgins, pres), T McAndries (85, 86, 88, 89), (R McClintock, mgr 86-88) and J Ryan (85-87). Six players sitting: E Silch (86, 87), I Phillips (86, 87), H Lanser (Cha SL 86, Den WL 86), T Hogan (Den 86, Lea WA 86), D Dugdale (Den 85, 86, KC NL 86) and F Meinke (86). Two players lying on ground: D O’Brien (85, 86) and G Tebeau (85, 86, 91, 00). Player IDs from Carson Lorey, based on a drawing of the team published in 1900, see photo A. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Some printed references, as well as baseball-reference.com, have different identifications listed for certain players shown in photo A. This same image was published in The Western League: A Baseball History, 1885-1899 (2002), by W. C. Madden and Patrick Stewart, which credits the photo as from the collection of Jay Sanford. Some of the player IDs in the Madden book do not match those referenced here. Researcher Nigel Ayres notes that the Madden book incorrectly listed Dugdale as Dugan. Identification of Silch from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. The identification of T Hogan comes from researcher Paul Winter, who has found that a pitcher named Tom Hogan played for both Leavenworth and Denver of the Western League in 1886. Hogan is not currently listed in baseball-reference.com, and the player in the photo has typically been labelled as E Hogan. Winter notes that “the box score for a game between Leavenworth and Denver from the Leavenworth Times on August 5, 1886 lists […] T. Hogan pitching. Pitcher Hogan was sold to Denver about one week later [around August 12].” The approximate date of Hogan joining Denver further supports a mid-August 1886 date or later for the team photo. Carson Lorey adds that Winter has also found that “baseball-reference.com incorrectly attributes an “H. Lauser” to the 1886 Denver team when it was actually Henry Lanser who played for them.” Dugdale signing info from The Sporting Life, September 1, 1886. Info on T Hogan from Paul Winter, SABR BioProject: Bob Hogan, retrieved June 22, 2021.
Dated 1886. Detail view of photo B. Note that detail view shows a shirt pocket and what appears to be chenille lettering. Also note that the player seated in middle may have hand-cut his shirt sleeves to make them shorter.
Written documentation on this uniform:
March 1886: “The Denver Club, of the Western League, are to have old gold uniforms with blue trimmings and hose.” From The Sporting Life, March 10, 1886. Research from Chuck McGill. Note that a newspaper report from May 1886 said the accent color was red, not blue.
March 1886: “Manager Wallace, of the Denver Club, was in the city [of Chicago] last week and placed his order for uniforms with the Spalding Brothers.” From The Sporting Life, March 24, 1886.
May 1886, Denver v. Lincoln at Lincoln: “Not less than twelve to fifteen hundred Lincoln people turned out […] to witness the first game of base ball of the season here between the Western league teams of this city and Denver. […] The Lincoln club wore gray uniforms with brown caps, belts and stockings, while the Denver boys were striking figures in yellow uniforms, striped caps of red and yellow, red belts and stockings.” From the Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), May 13, 1866. Research from Don Stokes.
Team genealogy: Coming soon
Rendering posted: June 22, 2021
Diggers on this uniform: Chuck McGill, Don Stokes, Mark Fimoff, Nigel Ayres, Paul Winter,