1887 Cleveland (Clevelands)
These renderings are based on written documentation for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known and an artist’s conceptualization is used to create the renderings.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
None
Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 1887: “The Cleveland Club will have two uniforms next season. One will be of white and the other of blue gray, both with dark blue stockings and dark blue belts and bands on hats.” From The Sporting Life, February 23, 1887. Research from Chuck McGill.
March 1887: “The time-honored blue stockings of the Cleveland team may be discarded for maroon. Manager Williams and Treasurer Howe are to select uniforms and they are thinking of making this change.” From the Philadelphia Times, March 13, 1887.
March 1887: “The [Cleveland] uniform question has been settled in favor of white and brown striped uniforms, both relieved by dark navy-blue belts, stockings and hat-bands. The stripes are thin.” From The Sporting Life, March 16, 1887. Research from Ed Morton. Other reports from this year do not include the color brown.
April 1887: “The Cleveland club uniforms of white and blue and gray checked flannel, with caps to match each suit, and belts and stockings of rich navy blue, were completed and delivered by A. F. Drake & Co. of this city [Cleveland] yesterday. The work was excellently done.” From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 2, 1887. Research from Don Stokes. The color descriptions in the first sentence of this report are hard to understand, however it could be interpreted that the team had a “white and blue” uniform, and a second “gray checked” uniform.
April 1887: “The Cleveland ball players will not be allowed to […] smoke or drink while wearing the uniform of the club.” From the Philadelphia Times, April 17, 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: […] Cleveland — Has a uniform of dark gray.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 14, 1887, citing the New York Sun. Research from Todd Radom.
Team genealogy: Cleveland 1887-1899
Cleveland was formed to join the American Association (AA) in 1887. The AA was a major league operating 1882-1891. Cleveland moved to the National League (NL) in 1889. The NL began operation in 1876 and Cleveland played in the NL from 1889 to 1899. After the 1899 season, Cleveland was dropped by the league and the team disbanded. Information from wikipedia.com.
Rendering posted: July 17, 2018
Diggers on this uniform: Chuck McGill, Don Stokes, Ed Morton, Todd Radom,