1888 St. Paul (St. Pauls)
Left: This rendering is 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 rendering.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Right: 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 1888. Year of photo can be confirmed by the appearance of players Veach, Morrisey, Ringo, Anderson, Shafer and Earle, all of whom only played for St. Paul in 1888. Players wore a dark uniform in this photo, with a white belt and white stockings. The shirt had white letters across the chest and white lace ties. Several players in the middle row held the team cap, which was in the pillbox style and was white in color with dark-colored vertical stripes. Seven of the fourteen players in the photo wore short-sleeved shirts, one of these players, back row second from left, wore a striped undershirt. This was possibly the striped team sweater, see full view of the sweater in the Old Judge baseball card of player Pickett below. A newspaper report from early 1888 stated the St. Paul uniform was to be blue in color, with a black-and-white striped cap.
Top row, from left: R Kemmler (StP 87, 88, Dav WA 88), W Tuckerman (88, 89), P Veach (StP 88, SC WA 88), T Morrissey (88), J Duryea (86-88) and L Murphy (88-90). Middle: J Pickett (87-89, 95, 96), C Reilly (88, 89), (J Barnes, mgr 86-89), F Ringo (88) and V Anderson (StP 88, Min WA 88, Oak CaL 88). Front: T Shafer (StP 88, Min WA 88), S Carroll (84, 88, 89, 91), B Earle (88) and J Sowders (StP 88, 89, Min AA 88). Image and player IDs from the St. Paul Globe, December 8, 1901. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Paul Winter.
Dated 1888. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the city name in white letters arched across the chest of the shirt. It is possible the player sitting at right had smaller-sized letters on his shirt compared to the other shirts in this photo. Detail view also showed white laces on the shirts, tied in both an “x” pattern, shown left, and an inverted “v” pattern, shown right. Note the striped cap on the laps of two of the players. This was the same cap shown in the Old Judge baseball cards below.
Photo B
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of V Anderson (StP 88, Min WA 88, Oak CaL 88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as 1888 was the only year Anderson played for team. Photo shows dark-colored shirt and pants, with a striped cap, and white belt and stockings. Detail view shows white lettering, white lace ties and white stitching around the shirt placket and shirt pocket. A newspaper report from early 1888 stated the uniform was to be blue in color, with a black-and-white striped cap. Year Anderson with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo C
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of T Shafer (StP 88, Min WA 88). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date confirmed as 1888 was the only year Shafer played for team. Photo shows side view of uniform, including version of pants with quilted padding at hip and knees. A newspaper report from early 1888 stated the uniform was to be blue in color, with a black-and-white striped cap. Year Shafer with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo D
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of J Sowders (88, 89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed by studio background which appears to match photo C. Photo shows another view of shirt front. A newspaper report from early 1888 stated the uniform was to be blue in color, with a black-and-white striped cap. Years Sowders with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo D
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball card of C Reilly (88, 89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed by studio background which appears to match photo C. Photo shows side view of quilted padding on pants, as well as detachable sleeves on shirt. A newspaper report from early 1888 stated the uniform was to be blue in color, with a black-and-white striped cap. Years Reilly with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photos E & F
Dated 1888. Old Judge baseball cards of J Pickett (87-89, 95, 96). Photo shows horizontally-striped pullover sweater worn by team. Years Pickett with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 188: “Manager [John] Barnes yesterday [February 11, 1888] ordered suits for the St. Paul ball players this season. The uniform will be blue shirts and trowsers [sp], caps black and white, with white stockings.” From the St. Paul Globe, February 12, 1888. Research from Ed Morton. Note, baseball-reference.com lists only Andrew Thompson as manager for St. Paul in 1888, and both Thompson and Barnes as managers in 1889, presumably in error.
June 24, 1888, Minneapolis v. St. Paul, at St. Paul: “The St. Paul team makes its appearance in new suit of black—At 3:15 yesterday afternoon [June 24] Manager [John] Barnes marched his ball players on the field in handsome new uniforms of black doeskin pants, white flannel shirts, black caps and black silk stockings. The crowd was suspicious that they couldn’t play ball in them, and remarks that they had dressed up in Sunday clothes to attend their own funeral were heard.” From the St. Paul Globe, June 25, 1888. Research from Don Stokes.
Team genealogy: Coming soon
Rendering posted: September 25, 2021
Diggers on this uniform: Don Stokes, Ed Morton, Paul Winter,