1889 Kansas City (Kansas Citys, Cowboys)

Left: This rendering is based on written documentation for uniform color only. An educated guess is made on uniform style, based on visual documentation of another team uniform from this same year, and also on minor details that may be missing or difficult to determine.

Rendering accuracy:    Year: documented    Team: documented

Right: 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

Visual documentation on these uniforms:

Photo A

Dated 1889. Old Judge baseball card of B Hamilton (88, 89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Player wore a light-colored or white uniform with dark cap, belt and stockings. This uniform may be the gray uniform (possibly light gray), with blue cap and stockings as described in a preseason newspaper report from 1889. Detail view show pants with a large area of quilted-padding at the knees and hips. Years Hamilton 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 lettering on shirt, button placket with square tab at bottom, and a long shirt pocket on the below the left breast.

Photo B

Dated 1889. Old Judge baseball card of J Burns (88, 89). Full view at left, detail view at right. Uniform and photo background appears to match photo A. Detail view shows cap without subtle horizontal bands that were common for the period. Years Burns with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Photo C

Dated September 1889. Year of photo can be confirmed by appearance of players Alvord, Mattimore, Long, Conway, Gunson and Manning. Date of September 1889 in photo caption can be confirmed as player Mattimore was released by Athletic, Philadelphia, on September 1, 1889 and subsequently signed by Kansas City. Photo was most likely taken at Athletic, Philadelphia, at Jefferson Street Grounds, between September 2, 1889 and September 4, 1889, the only dates Kansas City played at Athletic that month. It is likely all of the players in this photo wore the (light) gray uniform with blue stockings and caps, and matching that shown in photos A and B. The players wore a short-sleeved shirt in this photo. Only the uniform of player Hamilton, front row far right, was long-sleeved. Two players in the back row wore a dark undershirt, and one player in the front row wore a white undershirt.

Top row, from left: J Burns (88, 89), J McCarty?, B Alvord (89), M Mattimore (Phi AA 89, KC AA 89) and C Hoover? Front row: H Long (89), J Conway (89), J Gunson (89), (B Watkins, mgr 88, 89), J Manning (89), J Sowders? and B Hamilton (88, 89). Player IDs from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. IDs of McCarty, Hoover and Sowders unconfirmed. Years with team and Mattimore release date from from baseball-reference.com. Game dates in Philadelphia and Jefferson Street Grounds info 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 C. Detail view shows the lettering style of the city name across the button placket and the position of four white buttons running down the placket. The position of the buttons in relationship to the lettering differed from uniform to uniform in this photo. For example, note the position of the button between the letters “I” and “T” in the word “city” on the two seated players in this detail view. Also note the slightly differing positions of the button partially covering the letter “N.”

Written documentation on these uniforms:
January 1889: “Manager Watkins thinks blue uniforms are a ‘hoodoo,’ and the new Cowboys’ attire will be a black shirt, with gray pants and dark colored stockings.” From The Sporting Life, January 2, 1889. This uniform description differs from a second preseason report published later in January, see below.

January 1889: “Kansas City has selected its new uniforms for next season. The home suits will be made up of white flannel shirts and pants, with brown stockings and belt and striped caps, and the traveling suits will consist of gray flannel pants, shirts and caps, with blue stockings, belts and trimmings.” From The Sporting Life, January 30, 1889. Research from Chuck McGill.

Team genealogy:
 Kansas City 1888-1889
Kansas City was formed to join the American Association (AA) in 1888. The AA was a major league operating between 1882 and 1891. Kansas City played two season in the AA and folded after the 1889 season. Information from wikipedia.