1889 Indianapolis (Hoosiers)
Left: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniform is rendered in values of gray. Minor details may also be undocumented or difficult to determine and an educated guess is made to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy: Year: documented Team: documented
Left 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
Right Center & 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
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated 1889. Old Judge baseball card of A Rusie (89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date can be confirmed as this was the only year Rusie played for team. Player wore a white or light-colored uniform in this photo, with a dark cap, belt and stockings. Detail view shows a button placket running down the shirt and arched lettering across the breast. Subtle horizontal bands can be seen on the dark cap. Year Rusie with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Dated 1889. Detail view of photo A. Detail view shows quilted padding on pants, extending from the knees to the hips.
Photo B
Dated April 1889 to mid-June 1889. Cabinet card photo of J Whitney (89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Date range determined by player’s time with the Indianapolis team. Whitney was traded to Indianapolis on March 29, 1889 and released on June 22, 1889. This was his only year with the team. Lettering on shirt appears similar to that shown on the Rusie card, see photo A. Detail view of Whitney card shows cloth material and stitching of letters on shirt. Note the placement of a button between the “N” and “A” of city name on the shirt placket. Year Whitney with team and transaction info from baseball-reference.com. Original photo by Margeau & Power, Indianapolis.
Photo C
Dated circa 1889. Cabinet card photo of J Denny (87-89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Date range of April 1889 to mid-June 1889 can possibly be determined by similarity to Whitney card, see photo B. However, note that Denny wore a mustache in this photo but was clean-shaven in photo D from later in the year. This may put the date of this cabinet card in question. Detail view shows pocket and stitching on left breast. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Original photo by Margeau & Power, Indianapolis.
Photo D
Dated September 1889. Photo year can be confirmed by appearance of players Rusie and Andrews. Photo date of mid-August 1889 to October 1889 can be determined by appearance of Andrews, who signed with the Indianapolis team on August 16, 1889 and did not play for Indianapolis any other year. Photo of team most likely taken at Philadelphia, Huntingdon Grounds. If the photo caption of “September 1889” was correct, this photo may have been made on September 14, 1889, the only day during the month Indianapolis played at Philadelphia (the teams played a double-header). Players wore a light gray or light-colored uniform in this photo consisting of a buttoned short-sleeve shirt, a dark belt and stockings, and a white cap with dark horizontal bands. This may be the uniform described in a newspaper from July 1889 as the team’s “new hot weather uniform” consisting of light gray shirt and pants, and navy blue trimmings. The lettering style on the shirt was similar to the player portraits from earlier this same year—however the lettering appears slightly larger in size in this team photo. The uniform of player Andrews, top row, far left, was different than the others. It had lace ties, not buttons, and the lettering on his shirt was more bold, more arched, and extended to the armpits. As mentioned, Andrews joined the Indianapolis team in August and it is likely this uniform was made for him at this time and after the other uniforms were made in early July. Two players in the front row wore pants with padding at the knees.
Top row, from left: E Andrews (Phi NL 89, Ind NL 89), unidentified, unidentified, C Getzien? (89) and E Seery (87-89). Front: J Denny (87-89), A Rusie (89), J Glasscock (87-89), J McGeachey? (87-89), H Boyle (87-89) and P Hines (88, 89). Player IDs are from another copy of this photo in which names were added in the 20th century. Unidentified players may be C Bassett and C Daily, but these IDs cannot be confirmed. Researcher Ken Samoil offers a few different player identifications for this photo. Samoil says: “It is unlikely that the fourth player on the right, top row, is Pretzels Getzein. He did not pitch in the games in Philadelphia, or in any of the games on this road trip, so he probably was not traveling with the team. I believe that this player is Jack McGeachey, and that the player in the bottom row identified as McGeachey is Charlie Bassett. The second player from the left in the top row is almost certainly Andy Sommers, who was the catcher in the Philadelphia doubleheader. That leaves the third player from the left in the top row. Amos Rusie started both games of the doubleheader and other games on this road trip, and Henry Boyle also started games during this trip. One other pitcher made his major league debut in the second game of the doubleheader, pitched in six more games that season, and then never again appeared in the major leagues (though he pitched in the minors through 1895). I believe that the unidentified player may be Jack Fee. I cannot find a photo of Jack Fee, so the identification cannot be confirmed, but given that he played in the doubleheader it is likely that he was in uniform with the team for the picture.” Researcher Nigel Ayres speculates that the three men standing in the middle of the back row are, from left, J Fee, C Daily and C Bassett. Years with team and Andrews transaction info from baseball-reference.com. September game date from retrosheet.org. Original photo published in Athletic Sports in America, England and Australia (1889). Original photo by Levytype Co., Philadelphia.
Dated September 1889. Detail view of photo D. Detail view shows arched lettering on shirt, a button placket, and a white cap with horizontal bands. Note how lettering looks slightly larger than that shown in photos A through C.
Dated September 1889. Detail view of photo D. Detail view shows unique uniform of player Andrews, back row left. Andrews uniform had lace ties and larger lettering across the shirt.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
April 1889: “The Indianapolis uniform has been decided upon and ordered. The shirts, pants, and caps will be made of dark blue material, with orange-colored stockings and belts to match, and cap trimmings of the same kind. They will not be worn until the opening of the championship season.” From The Sporting Life, April 3, 1889. Research from Chuck McGill. Note, the team’s first league game was April 24, 1889 at home v. Cleveland. Game date info from retrosheet.org.
April 24, 1889, Indianapolis v. Cleveland at Indianapolis: “The director of the National League Indianapolis team decided to dress the players for Opening Day in orange and black striped uniforms. On the carriage parade to the ballpark, the Irish players, who made up more than half of the Hoosier ball club, were ridiculed by the assembled crowd for forsaking their native green. By the time the carriages arrived at the park, the players had abandoned the parade. […] After the game, more acceptable uniforms were ordered for the ball club.” From Jerrold I. Casway, The Culture and Ethnicity of Nineteenth Century Baseball (2017). Orange is the traditional color of Northern Ireland.
April 1889: “The Indianapolis uniforms are dark blue, with orange stockings, belts and caps.” From the Salisbury (NC) Truth, April 25, 1889. Research from Don Stokes.
May 1889: “The Hoosiers sport the ugliest uniforms in the [National] League.” From The Sporting Life, May 22, 1889.
June 1889: “The yellow stockings and belts and uniform trimmings which some people looked upon as a hoodoo, have been discarded since the team left home and replaced with white.” From the Indianapolis Journal, June 12, 1889. Research from Richard Hershberger. Note that the accent color was described as yellow in this report, and as orange in earlier newspaper reports. This report also stated the color change was made while the team was on the road. Remarkably, Indianapolis played twenty-two consecutive road games between May 8, 1889 to June 10, 1889, returning to play at home on June 11. Schedule info from retrosheet.org.
July 1889: “The Hoosiers have had a new uniforms made for the hot weather. They are of a light gray color, with navy blue trimmings and college caps. The suits were sent to them [the] day before yesterday [i.e., July 10, 1889].” From the Indianapolis Journal, July 12, 1889.
July 22, 1889, Indianapolis v. Chicago at Chicago: “The Indianapolis and Chicago uniforms are much alike in color and design.” From the Chicago Tribune, July 23, 1889. Research from Don Stokes. Indianapolis played four games in Chicago, beginning July 22. Newspaper reports of the Chicago uniform from this year were that the team wore a light blue-gray uniform with black stockings.
August 8, 1889, Indianapolis v. New York at New York: “An amazing incident of the meeting [between teams] was the motley appearance of the Giants when they went on the field. The large uniform trunks had been left behind in Chicago and they had to depend on the Hoosier club for such apparel as was around loose. Connor, Brown, Tiernan and O’Rourke wore the dark blue Indianapolis uniform with white stockings.” From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 9, 1889.
Team genealogy:
Indianapolis 1887-1889
Indianapolis joined the National League (NL) in 1887 when the St. Louis NL team was sold and transferred. The NL began operation in 1876 and Indianapolis played in the the NL between 1887 and 1889. The team folded after the 1889 NL season. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: January 20, 2017
Diggers on this uniform: Chuck McGill, Don Stokes, Ken Samoil, Nigel Ayres, Richard Hershberger,