1887 Cincinnati (Cincinnatis, Reds)

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 1887: “The uniform the Cincinnatis will wear away from home is entirely different from that they will don on their own grounds.  Their ‘traveling uniform,’ as it is called, will consist of light gray shirts and trousers, checked with red, the stripes so narrow and faint as to be hardly distinguishable. Red caps and red stockings complete the outfit.” From The Sporting Life, March 2, 1887. Research from Chuck McGill.

March 1887: “The St. Louis and Cincinnati Clubs, the only [American] Association teams that did not have traveling uniforms last season [1886], have fallen into line and will come out with brand-new costumes [in 1887].” From the Philadelphia Times, March 13, 1887.

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: […] Cincinnati — White shirt, trousers and cap, red belt and stockings.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 14, 1887, citing the New York Sun. Research from Todd Radom.

Team genealogy:
 Cincinnati 1881-
Cincinnati was formed in 1881 to join the American Association (AA) for its inaugural season in 1882. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Cincinnati played in the AA throughout the 1880s and then joined the National League (NL) for the 1890 season. The NL began operation in 1876. Cincinnati has played every year in the NL from 1890 to present time. Information from wikipedia.