1888 Athletic, Philadelphia (Athletics)
Left & right: These renderings are 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 renderings.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Center: 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 these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated May 13, 1888. Year of photo confirmed by appearance of players Zinn, Sullivan, Blair and Gleason, all of whom only played for Athletic in 1888. The May 13 date is determined by the appearance of pitcher Harry Whitacre, top row far left. Photo was made by a Brooklyn photographer. Though Whitacre was deemed a “promising youngster” in April 1888, he was placed on the Athletic Reserve team by manager Sharsig. Athletic played their first series in Brooklyn on April 27-29, and at the same time over in Camden, New Jersey, Whitacre pitched for the Reserves in a game played on April 29. Three weeks later, on May 20, Sharsig “awakened to the fact,” according to one newspaper, “that there is no use carrying young players on the payroll unless they are some use to the club.” Subsequently, Whitacre was released by the team before June 5 and was never to compete in a regulation game. The only contest played in Brooklyn when Whitacre may have been with the Athletics was a single game played on May 13, the likely date of the above image. Today, we greatly appreciate the effort made by Joseph Hall to identify each player on the photo mount, though in the example above Whitacre was listed as Whitaker, Zinn as Quinn, and Bierbauer was abbreviated as Boner. Wow, that’s not even close. Photo shows team wearing white shirts, dark pants and white or light-colored stockings. One player in back row was dressed in a uniform shirt without the team name across the chest.
Top row, from left: H Whitacre (dnp), F Zinn (88), C Welch (88-90), T Gunning (NL 87, AA 88, 89), H Larkin (84-89, 91), M Sullivan (88), H Stovey (83-89), M Mattimore (88, 89) and B Blair (88). Middle: G Townsend (87, 88), B Gleason (88), G Weyhing (AA 87-89, 91, NL 92-95), (B Sharsig mgr 86, 88-91), E Seward (87-90), L Bierbauer (86-89) and D Lyons (86-90). Front, on ground: B Mathews (83-87, coach 88), T Poorman (87-88), W Robinson (86-90) and J Weyhing (dnp, Cin 88). Player IDs from photo and also from Nigel Ayres. The names of several players were incorrectly provided on the photo mount: Whitacre was given as Whitaker, Zinn as Quinn, and Bierbaurer as Boner. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Info on Whitacre leaving team from the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 5, 1888. Info on J Weyhing transferring to Cincinnati from the Philadelphia Times, July 1, 1888. Mathews coach info from Brian McKenna, SABR Bio Project. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Original photo by Joseph Hall, Brooklyn.
Dated May 13, 1888. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows dark stripes on collar and a light-colored belt with narrow white bands at the edges. Note how lettering across chest extends to armpit area.
Photo B
Dated late March 1888. Montage of player portraits, left, and detail view of Robinson (86-90) portrait, right. Year of 1888 can be determined by the appearance of players Mattimore, Sullivan and Gleason, all of whom only played for Athletic during this season. A late March 1888 date can be suggested by a newspaper report from March 25 that said “the players of the Athletic Club have been photographed in their new blue and white uniforms. They are to be grouped in the form of a diamond with the Athletic Club schedule of games in the center, and 5,000 lithographic copies will be distributed over the town.” Photo B does not include the team schedule, however it is likely these were the portraits mentioned in the report. In late April, a newspaper stated that “a hanger, designed and printed for the Athletic Club, [is] a large card, with exceedingly faithful bust portraits of the players in uniform, skillfully grouped in a diamond, into which is also worked a schedule of the club’s championship games.” Detail view of the Robinson portrait at right showed stripes on collar, string ties on shirt and the team name across the chest with the letters A and T unevenly spaced.
Clockwise from top, center: H Stovey (83-89), M Mattimore (88), G Townsend (87, 88), T Gunning (NL 87, AA 88, 89), L Bierbauer (86-89), M Sullivan (88), B Gleason (88), T Poorman (87, 88), D Lyons (86-90), W Robinson (86-90), G Weyhing (AA 87-89, 91, NL 92-95) and E Seward (87-90). Center, upper: H Larkin (84-89, 91). Center, lower: C Welch (88-90). Player IDs from composite. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Report on photographs being made from the Philadelphia Record, March 25, 1888. Report on promotional sign from the Philadelphia Record, April 29, 1888. Record research from Ed Morton. The montage of portraits was published by VanDyke & Co.
Photo C
Dated 1888. Cabinet card of M Sullivan (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as this was the only year Sullivan played for team. Sullivan wore same uniform as shown in photos A and B, but with dark-colored stockings. Year Sullivan with team from baseball-reference.com. Original photo by William F. Bacon of Gilbert & Bacon, Philadelphia.
Photo D
Dated 1888. Cabinet card of H Stovey (83-89), full view at left, detail view at right. Detail view shows quilted padding on pants around knee and along the side of the leg. It is likely this Old Judge photo session with Stovey was taken later in 1888. The background in this photo does not match other studio photos from this year. Stovey also had a mustache for this photo session and he was not wearing one in the portrait shown in photo B. Years Stovey with team from baseball-reference.com. Original photo by William F. Bacon of Gilbert & Bacon, Philadelphia.
Photo E
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of F Zinn (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as Zinn played only 2 games for team in 1888. Detail view shows a dark cap with white bands and a white button on top. Year Zinn with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Original photo by William F. Bacon of Gilbert & Bacon, Philadelphia.
Photo F
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of B Gleason (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as this was the only year Gleason played for team. Photo shows an alternate uniform from that shown in photos A through E. The pants were middle-tone in color and the stockings were dark in color. The pants were most likely gray as described in the written documentation below, see June 18 entry. Year Gleason with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Original photo by William F. Bacon of Gilbert & Bacon, Philadelphia.
Photo G
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of B Blair (88), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as this was the only year Blair played for team. Photo shows an alternate uniform similar to that shown in photo F. The belt worn in this photo appears to be the same as that worn in other photo documentation show above. Year Blair with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Original photo by William F. Bacon of Gilbert & Bacon, Philadelphia.
Photo H
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of C Welch (88-90), full view at left, detail view at right. Player name misspelled on card. Photo date confirmed as background matches that shown in photo A. Photo shows an alternate cap style, white in color with light-colored bands and possibly a light-colored bill. Years Welch with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Library of Congress. Original photo by William F. Bacon of Gilbert & Bacon, Philadelphia.
Photo I
Dated early September 1888. Year of photo confirmed by appearance of players Farmer, Mattimore, Gleason and Blair, all of whom only played for Athletic in 1888. Date of September determined by newspaper reports from this month that said the team had “a new uniform of navy blue.” A late 1888 date can also be determined by Blair, who belonged periodically on the Athletic Reserve team. He made his debut for Athletic on July 19, 1888, and last played for the team on September 23, 1888. These were his only games played at the major-league level. Team wore a dark uniform and a striped cap in this photo. One player in back row wore a white shirt with the team name in a different lettering style.
Top row, standing, from left: (F Goldsmith, ump), B Farmer (Pit AA 88, Ath AA 88), D Lyons (86-90), M Mattimore (88), H Larkin (84-89, 91), H Stovey (83-89), C Welch (88-90) and (Kame, sec). Middle: B Gleason (88), L Bierbauer (86-89), (B Sharsig, mgr), T Gunning (NL 87, AA 88, 89), T Poorman (87, 88) and B Blair (88). Front: G Townsend (87, 88), E Seward (87-90), W Robinson (86-90) and G Weyhing (AA 87-89, 91, NL 92-95). Player IDs from photo caption, given in 1910. Years with team and Blair first and last games from baseball-reference.com. Image from Alfred Spink, The National Game: A History of Baseball (1910). Image scan from Ken Samoil.
Dated early September 1888. Detail view of above photo. Detail view shows caps with vertical stripes and white lettering on shirt. Note that player in back row wore a white shirt with the team name in a different lettering style.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1888: “Yesterday afternoon the [Athletics] now here [in Philadelphia] were taken to a photographer’s, and afterward they were measured for new uniforms.” From the Philadelphia Inquirer, March 14, 1888, page 3.
March 1888: “New and gorgeous uniforms will be the rage in the [American] association this spring. The Cincinnatis, Louisvilles, and Athletics will show particularly resplendent new clothes.” From the Pittsburgh Press, March 19, 1888, page 3.
March 1888: “The Athletics, under new management, have decided to cast off the mail carrier uniform worn by them for so long and will next season [1888] appear in a make-up similar to the one worn by the Detroits last season [1887]. It will consist of dark blue pants, white jersey shirts and belts, light blue stockings and caps, with the word ‘Athletics’ worked crossed the breast in light blue. They will also have outside jackets made out of jersey cloth.” From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 22, 1888.
March 1888: “The players of the Athletic Club have been photographed in their new blue and white uniforms. They are to be grouped in the form of a diamond with the Athletic Club schedule of games in the center, and 5,000 lithographic copies will be distributed over the town.” From the Philadelphia Record, March 25, 1888 Research from Ed Morton.
March 1888: “Some of the uniforms in use in the American association next season will be as gorgeous as a brand-new three sheet circus poster, says The Sporting Life. The Athletics, under new management, have also decided to cast off the mail-carrier uniform worn by them for so long, and will next season appear in a make-up similar to the one worn by the Detroits last season. It will consist of dark blue pants, white shirts and belts, light blue stockings and caps, with the word ‘Athletics’ worked across the breast in light blue. They will also have outside jacket[s] made out of Jersey cloth. This uniform is very pretty and a credit to the maker, Charles Mason, of this city.” From The St. Paul Globe, March 25, 1888. Research from Don Stokes. Note, descriptions of cap and lettering do not exactly match the uniforms shown in the photo documentation shown above.
March 1888: “The Athletics will […] shed their uniform of last season [1887], and in its stead will wear a garment very similar to that worn by the Detroits last season [1887]. It will consist of dark blue pants, white Jersey shirts and belts, light blue stockings and caps, with the word Athletic worked across the breast of the shirts. They will also have outside jackets made of Jersey cloth.” From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 26, 1888, citing the Cincinnati Commercial. Research from Gary and Oliver Kodner. Note, the photo documentation above does not support a light blue cap or a white belt as described in this preseason report.
March 1888: “The Athletics will open this season on Friday, March 30. There will be two nines made up out of the 21 players under contract.” From The Sporting Life, March 28, 1888. The second team was called the Athletic Reserves.
March 31, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Yale, at Philadelphia, exhibition game: “The Athletic players wore their new uniforms of dark blue pants and coats, white flannel shirts, blue stockings and dark blue caps with two white stripes.” From the Philadelphia Times, April 1, 1888, page 2. Research from Don Stokes and Graig Kreindler.
March 31, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Yale, at Philadelphia, exhibition game: “The Athletic players marched on the field in their new suits of dark blue coats and pants, white shirts, blue stockings and blue and white caps.” From the Philadelphia Inquirer, April 2, 1888, page 3.
April 1888: “The Athletics’ uniform will consist of dark blue pants, white jersey shirts, with the word ‘Athletic’ worked across the breast of them in light blue letters, light blue stockings, white caps trimmed on top with blue, white belt and dark blue jacket.” From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 1, 1888. Research from Gary Kodner.
April 1888: “About the neatest thing in the advertising line ever got out by a ball club is a hanger, designed and printed for the Athletic Club. It is a large card, with exceedingly faithful bust portraits of the players in uniform, skillfully grouped in a diamond, into which is also worked a schedule of the club’s championship games.” From the Philadelphia Record, April 29, 1888. Research from Ed Morton.
May 2, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Cleveland, home opener: “The nine men who tackled the Clevelands, Wednesday, were kept from any remarks on uniforms by the appearance of their own clothes. Taking a sweeping glance over the diamond at them, the observer could not help but notice that the Athletics looked like a lot of blue Jays fluttering around on the grass. Blue is bad enough, a blue of different shades and mixed with white is worse.” From the Cleveland Press, May 3, 1888.
June 1888: “New uniforms of gray are being made for the Athletics. They will be worn for the first time just before the Western trip.” From The Sporting Life, June 13, 1888. The team’s western trip began on June 29, 1888 with a game at Kansas City. Kansas City date from retrosheet.org.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletics wore handsome new suits of gray pants, striped shirts and caps, made from English cricket flannel, and blue stockings and belts, yesterday [June 18], and despite the prediction by many of their admirers that the new clothes would prove ‘Jonahs.’” From the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 19, 1888. Three Philadelphia newspapers all had slightly different descriptions of this new uniform on this day.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletic players appeared in new summer uniforms yesterday [on June 18]. They consist of blue flannel suits, with cap to match, gray trousers and blue stockings and belt.” From the Philadelphia Record, June 19, 1888. Research from Ed Morton. Three Philadelphia newspapers all had slightly different descriptions of this new uniform on this day.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletics wore handsome new suits of gray and white striped shirts and caps, gray trousers, blue belts and stockings.” From the Philadelphia Times, June 19, 1888. Three Philadelphia newspapers all had slightly different descriptions of this new uniform on this day.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletics, looking gorgeous in their new summer suits of striped flannel shirts and caps, gray pantaloons and blue stockings and belt, won an interesting game from the Cleveland team.” From the Philadelphia North American, June 19, 1888, page 4. Research from Ed Morton.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletics appeared in new uniforms yesterday [June 18], which are about the prettiest ever worn by that team.” From the Philadelphia Press, June 19, 1888, page 7. Research from Ed Morton.
June 18, 1888, Athletic, Philadelphia, v. Cleveland, at Philadelphia: “The Athletics Looked very pretty in their new suits.” From the Philadelphia Public Ledger, June 20, 1888, page 6. Research from Ed Morton.
Summer 1888: “The Athletics had new summer garb. The uniforms were the prettiest the team had ever worn, blue striped flannel shirts with caps to match, gray trousers, blue stockings and belt.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1882-1891 From The Newspaper Accounts (1966, 1967, reprinted by SABR in 2021), pg. 349.
September 5, 1888: “The Athletics have a new uniform of navy blue.” From the Canaseraga (NY) Times, September 5, 1888. Issue date not available on newspaper scan but the Athletic record was 62-37 on this day. Newspaper issue date based on Athletic game log on retrosheet.org. This report may be describing a new uniform not shown in photo documentation above. This same report was published in the Monmouth Press, Freehold NJ, September 8, 1888, and other small city newspapers in mid-September.
September 18, 1888, Athletic v. Cincinnati at Cincinnati: “The Reds won the first game [from] their blue stockinged opponents. The Athletics in their uniform of dark blue presented a very natty appearance by the way, but uniforms do not win games.” From the New York Clipper, September 29 1888. Game date from retrosheet.org.
1888 Athletic uniform summary
Uniform: white shirt, dark blue cap and pants, light blue stockings
First worn: March 31, Philadelphia
Photographed: portraits from late March, team photo from late April, and in baseball cards from year
Described: March, April
Material: jersey shirt, some reports say flannel
Manufacturer: Charles Mason, Philadelphia
Supposition:
Variations: also wore with white caps with light blue bands, wore with gray pants and dark blue stockings
Other items: dark blue jersey cloth jackets
Home opener report: no, April 18 v. Baltimore
Uniform: light blue striped shirt and cap, gray pants, dark blue stockings
First worn: June 18, Philadelphia
Photographed:
Described: June
Material: English cricket flannel
Manufacturer:
Supposition: shirt style, stripe style, and shirt lettering style
Variations:
Uniform: dark blue with light blue stockings, light blue and white striped cap
First worn: September
Photographed: team photo from September
Described: September
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition:
Variations: also wore with a white shirt
Team genealogy:
Athletic, Philadelphia 1880-1890
Athletic was formed in Philadelphia, PA, in 1880 as a touring team and joined the American Association (AA) in 1882. The AA was a major league operating 1882-1891. Athletic played in the AA between 1882 and 1890. The team was expelled from the AA after the 1890 season and the team subsequently folded. The Philadelphia team of the Players’ League (PL) joined the AA for the 1891 season after the PL folded in 1890 and used the Athletic name. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: October 7, 2025
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Ed Morton, Gary Kodner, Graig Kreindler, Ken Samoil, Mark Fimoff, Nigel Ayres, Oliver Kodner,