1887 Baltimore (Baltimores, Orioles)
Documentation recorded on these uniforms:
White– visual & written
White/Blue– written only
Red-Striped/Blue– written only
These renderings are included in the book, BASEBALL THREADS.
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated mid-June 1887 or after. Kalamazoo Bats baseball card of the Baltimore team. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players Davis in combination with players Griffin, Tucker and Greenwood. These men only played together for Baltimore in 1887. Though unconfirmed, the photo was most likely taken in Philadelphia at the Jefferson street grounds, based on the ballpark in the background and the fact that the Kalamazoo Bats cards were produced by a Philadelphia-based cigar manufacturer. Determining when photo A was taken has proven elusive. It is is likely the photo was taken mid-June 1887 or after based on the fact that several players wore a cap with horizontal bands. According to newspaper reports, this cap was first worn in an game played June 14. Photo A was certainly made before mid-August 1887 when player Fulmer, top row third from left in street clothes, last played for the team in a game on August 15. He left that game with a “smashed finger” and on August 17 a newspaper reported that “Fulmer has gone to his home in Pennsylvania and will not likely play any more this season.” Player Griffin, top row far left, also wore street clothes in this photo. Griffin played in all but 5 games during the 1887 season, and in every game during the regular season while Fulmer was with the team. This may suggest that photo A was taken during an exhibition game during an off-day in the schedule and when Griffin and Fulmer were given a rest. Another suggested date was July 14, 1887, based on two Baltimore pitchers who were NOT in photo A. Pitchers E Knouff (Bal 86, 87, StL AA 87) and L Shreve (Bal 87, Ind NL 87) were used sparingly during the season. As Knouff started only 9 games and Shreve 5 games, it is not clear if either always travelled with the team. We do know that Knouff was sent home with a sore arm on July 14, 1887, returning to the team on July 28. A week before Knouff left, on July 6, 1887, Shreve left the team to travel ahead to Louisville where he rejoined the team on July 15. So it is possible, though not likely, that photo A was taken on July 14 in Cleveland, the day that Knouff left and a day before Sherve returned when the team arrived in Louisville. In photo A, the majority of players wore a jacket with vertical stripes, white pants and dark stockings. One player had no jacket and wore a white uniform shirt. One player, in the back row, wore a buttoned sweater. In the photo, the men wore both a cap with vertical stripes and a cap with horizontal bands. Newspapers reported in 1887 that the stocking color was red and the jackets were “red and black.”
Top row, from left: (M Griffin, 87-89), P Smith (87, 88), (C Fulmer, 86-89), J Davis (86, 87), T Tucker (87-89) and J Sommer (84-90). Middle: T Burns (84, 85, 87, 88), L Daniels? (87), (B Barnie mgr, 83-91), B Purcell (85-88) and B Greenwood (87, 88). Front: M Kilroy (86-89) and S Trott (86-88). Player IDs from Ken Samoil. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Info on Fulmer signing from the Baltimore Sun, April 4, 1887, and leaving the team from the Baltimore Sun, August 16 and 17, 1887. Info on Knouff leaving and rejoining from the Baltimore Sun, July 22 & 29, 1887. Info on Shreve leaving and rejoining the team from the Baltimore Sun, July 8 & 16, 1887. Card produced by Charles Gross & Co., a Philadelphia-based cigar manufacturer and merchant.
Dated mid-June 1887 or after. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows two different style caps, one with thin vertical stripes, see players at top, and another with two wide horizontal bands.
Dated 1887. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows the striped jackets the team wore this year. Player sitting in lower right of this view wore a cap with horizontal bands.
Photo B & C
Dated circa 1887. Buchner Gold Coin (N284) baseball cards. Left: O Burns (84, 85, 87, 88). Right: B Purcell (86-88). Cards depict white shirt, pants and cap with red stockings and belt. Illustration of Purcell, right, also shows a button placket and and old-English letter B on the shirt. Images from oldcardboard.com. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.
Photo D
Undated. Drawing of M Kilroy (86-89) printed in The Sporting News, publish date not identified. Full view at left, detail view of uniform letter at right. This image supports the Buchner Gold Coin image above, see photo C. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Photo from Mears Online Auctions.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 1887: “The Baltimore club will have a new uniforms of light blue knee breeches, white shirts and blue stockings.” From the Brooklyn Citizen, February 19, 1887. This report mentions blue stockings while all others say red.
February 1887: “The Baltimore Club, instead of wearing the regular uniforms of light gray, will this season be called upon to wear blue pants, white shirts, maroon stockings, with a cap and belt similar to the pants. Their other suit will be plain white, the same as last year. The circus suit, as some players term it, will be ordered in Brooklyn.” From the Philadelphia Times, February 20, 1887. Research from Don Stokes. The mention of a blue cap in this report is the basis for the blue and red striped caps shown in the uniform renderings for this year.
February 1887: “The Baltimore club will have new uniforms of light blue knee-breeches, white shirts and maroon stockings. More gaudy than neat, we should say.” From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 20, 1887. This blurb was picked-up by many newspapers, including The Sporting Life, March 2, 1887. Sporting Life research from Chuck McGill. Note, this report described the pants as light blue.
March 1887: “At the banquet given by the Cleveland representatives to the American Association delegates last week [March 7], each representative was presented with a menu card encased in a flannel covering, with the colors of the uniforms to be worn by the clubs this season. Manager Barnie’s had one of blue and white.” From the Baltimore American, March 13, 1887. Research from Ed Morton.
March 19, 1887, Baltimore v. St. Louis, at Baltimore, exhibition game: “The Baltimores in their practice were cheered heartily, and in new striped jackets of maroon and blue, with caps to match.” From the Baltimore American, March 20, 1887. Research from Ed Morton.
March 1887: “Manager Barnie has given the contract for the suits to the London Clothing House of this city [Baltimore], and Manager Dannenberg yesterday remarked that he never saw such fully developed men. In measurement Davis heads the list with 42 3/4; Trott, 41; Knouff, 40 1/4; Daniels, Burns, 40; Summer, 39; Tucker, Griffin, 38 1/2; Smith, 38; Wadsworth, 37.” From the Baltimore American, March 27, 1887. Research from Ed Morton. An 1886 Baltimore city directory listed an Issac Dannenberg as manager of the London Clothing House, 104 West Baltimore Street.
April 1887: “The members of the Baltimore Base Ball Club visited the clothing house of Mabley and Carew yesterday [April 2] and were measured for Norfolk jackets. The material is a fine quality of imported French flannel, in black and red stripes.” From the Baltimore American, April 3, 1887. Research from Ed Morton. An 1886 Baltimore city directory listed Mabley and Carew as a clothing and men’s furnishings store in Baltimore at the corner of Baltimore and Light Streets.
April 1887: “One of the new uniforms of the Baltimore club arrived yesterday [April 15]. The new suit consists of dark blue pants, maroon stockings, white shirt, caps and belts. The letter “B” graces the left breast of the shirt.” From the Baltimore American, April 16, 1887. Research from Ed Morton.
April 16, 1887, Baltimore v. Athletic, Philadelphia, at Baltimore, home opener: “Baltimore, outfitted in white shirts, light blue breeches and maroon stockings, trimmed the Athletics.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 284.
April 16, 1887, Baltimore v. Athletic, Philadelphia, at Baltimore, home opener: “The Baltimore players wore their new suits, but as their Norfolk jackets of red and black had not arrived some of them wore their red jackets, which gave them the appearance of patriotically flying the red white and blue colors.” From the Baltimore Sun, April 18, 1887. This entry implies the team wore white shirts and blue pants for this game. The Sun also noted that “the number of balls used during the game was five, several having gone over the fence, and the small boys on the lots preferring to keep them to play with rather than reap the reward which comes to those above temptation — a free admission to whomever brings the ball in the gate.”
April 1887: “A number of the Baltimore players yesterday [April 19] received small grips to carry their suits in on Eastern trips. They will, in all cases, carry as little luggage as possible.” From the Baltimore American, April 20, 1887. Research from Ed Morton.
May 1887: “The nine young men [of Baltimore] in blue pants and white shirts know a great deal about the national game.” From the Baltimore American, May 21, 1887. Research from Ed Morton.
May 28, 1887, Baltimore v. Cleveland at Cleveland: “When Baltimore fell to bat for the fifth time the base line resembled a sprinting track with a streak of blue uniforms coming around it.” From the Cleveland Leader, May 29, 1887. Baltimore scored six runs in the fifth inning of this game.
June 1887: “The color of a least one uniform of each club in the [National] League and American Association is given below. It would be next to impossible to give the several different uniforms of each club, as they change the different pieces of one uniform to another, and may appear on the field in a different make-up every day for a week. However, one complete uniform of each club is as follows: […] Baltimore — White caps, dark trousers and shirts, red stockings.” From the New York Sun, June 12, 1887, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 14, 1887. Research from Todd Radom. It is possible the “dark” color was navy blue.
June 14, 1887, Baltimore v. St Louis, at Baltimore, Huntington avenue grounds: “The clubs had their street parade in the morning, leaving the Eutaw House. […] The Baltimore players wore their new caps, blue, with maroon bands, and the suits in which they always win. […] The Baltimores had on their ‘winning suit,’ blue pantaloons, white shirts, maroon stockings, and their new caps of blue and maroon.” From the Baltimore Sun, June 15, 1887.
June 19, 1887, Baltimore v. St. Louis, at Baltimore, Huntington avenue grounds, continuation of June 16 game: “[Baltimore] wore their new striped shirts and caps, maroon and blue, with their much-used blue pantaloons and maroon socks. In fact, there is so much maroon about the Baltimores’ style of dress that they are entitled to the name of maroons.” From the Baltimore Sun, July 20, 1887.
July 27, 1887, Baltimore v. St. Louis, at Baltimore: “The [St. Louis] champions wore their dark uniforms and had a decidedly funereal[sp] appearance, quite apropos of the services they were about to perform for the Baltimores. The latter wore the gray suits of last year’s Baltimore team [of 1886].” From the Baltimore Sun, July 28, 1887. St. Louis won the game, 11 to 6.
March 1888, referencing 1887: “Although most of the clubs are changing their styles of uniform this season [1888] there will be little difference in the costumes of the Baltimore men. They will wear blue, with maroon trimmings and maroon colored jackets.” From the Philadelphia Times, March 25, 1888. Research from Don Stokes. Photos from 1888 suggest the blue color was a navy blue. This may be the same color worn in 1887.
March 1888, referencing 1887: “[Manager] Billy Barnie will make only one change in his Baltimore uniform. His men will wear the blue pants, maroon stockings, belts and caps of last season, and will have in addition a maroon-colored Jersey jacket.” From The St. Paul Globe, March 25, 1888. Research from Don Stokes.
1887 Baltimore summary
Uniform: white shirt, blue pants, red stockings, cap with red and blue vertical stripes
First worn: April 16, Baltimore
Photographed: cap photographed in team photo from year
Described: February-June
Material:
Manufacturer: ordered in Brooklyn
Supposition:
Variations: May also have worn dark blue shirt, wore gray uniform from previous year
Other items: Norfolk flannel jacket with red and black vertical stripes, also red cardigan sweater with blue accents
Home opener report: yes, Apr 16 v. Athletic
Uniform: white with red stockings
First worn:
Photographed: team photo from year, illustrations from year
Described: February
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition:
Variations: also wore white shirt with red “B” on left breast
Uniform: red and blue striped shirt, blue pants, red stockings, blue cap with red bands
First worn: cap, June 14, Baltimore; shirt, June 19, Baltimore
Photographed: cap photographed in team photo from year
Described: June
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition: thickness of stripes on shirt
Variations:
Team genealogy:
Baltimore 1882-1899
Baltimore was formed to join the American Association (AA) in 1882. The AA was a major league operating 1882-1891. Baltimore played in the AA from 1882 to 1889 and then joined the Atlantic Association, a minor league, for the 1890 season. The team rejoined the American Association in late 1890 when the Brooklyn AA team failed. Baltimore played in the American Association for the 1891 season and when the AA folded, Baltimore was added to the National League (NL) for the 1892 season. The NL began operation in 1876. Baltimore played in the NL from 1892 to 1899. After the 1899 season, Baltimore was dropped by the league and the team disbanded. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: July 15, 2025
Diggers on this uniform: Chuck McGill, Don Stokes, Ken Samoil, Todd Radom,