1886 Pittsburgh (Pittsburghs, Alleghenys)

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

Visual documentation on this uniform:
None

Written documentation on this uniform:
March 1886: “The [Pittsburgh] management have decided to retain the same uniforms as last season; gray, with red trimmings, red stockings and jackets.” From The Sporting Life, March 3, 1886. Research from Chuck McGill and from Ed Morton.

March 1886: “The American Association players will have to pay for their uniforms this season.” From the Philadelphia Times, March 14, 1886.

December 1886: “The Pittsburg[h] nine […] always counted on having good luck. […] Each man was provided with two pairs of uniform pantaloons, one pair white and the other blue. One color would be worn so long as the club was successful, but when luck changed the other pair would be donned.” From the San Francisco Chronicle, December 24, 1886. This is an excerpt from an interview by the Chronicle with Louisville manager Jim Hart on the subject of baseball superstitions. Hart, who was in San Francisco managing a series of exhibition games at the time, mentioned many other odd baseball behaviors in the article as well. In the excerpt above, it is undetermined if Hart was referencing the Pittsburgh team of 1886 or a Pittsburgh team from another year. As dark colored pants were not typical for baseball teams to wear in the the mid-1880s, it is possible the Pittsburgh team changed into stockings of a different color for good luck, not pants of a different color.

1886: “[Pittsburgh] had two pairs of uniform pantaloons for each man, one red and one blue. Each color would be worn as long as the club was successful, then changed if not.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 268. This passage may have been taken from the San Francisco Chronicle report above, although Orem listed the pantaloons as red and blue, while the Chronicle said white and blue.

Team genealogy: Pittsburgh 1870s-
Pittsburgh began as Allegheny, an independent pro team in Pittsburgh formed in the late 1870s. Allegheny joined the American Association (AA) at its formation in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Allegheny played in the AA through the 1886 season and then moved to the National League (NL) as Pittsburgh in 1887. The NL began operation in 1876 and Pittsburgh has played in the league every year from 1887 to present time. Information from wikipedia.

1886 Pittsburgh summary

Uniform: light gray, red stockings
First worn:
Photographed:
Described: March
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition: cap style, shirt style
Variations: may have worn red pants and also blue pants during year
Other items: red jackets
Home opener report: no, May 1 v St. Louis