1890 Spokane WA (Spokanes)

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 late June 1890 to early September 1890. Year of photo confirmed by appearance of players Phillips, Powell, McGuirk and Colgan, all of whom only played for Spokane in 1890. Date range of late June 1890 to early September 1890 in part from Jim Price, writing for the Spokane Spokesman-Review in 2015. Price wrote that in June 1890 “the Texas League, dominated by star-studded Galveston, had collapsed. [Spokane manager] Barnes, who apparently had advance knowledge, signed five of its best players [Ward, Huston, Polhemus, McGuirk and Peeples]. Those five men transformed Spokane into a different team and made their debut […] on June 21.” Price has found that by early September 1890 the team had replaced the uniforms in this photo with new outfits featuring wide vertical stripes, see photo B. The players in the photo above wore a white uniform shirt featuring a dark collar and the city name arched across the chest in dark lettering. The shirt had white buttons and one of these buttons overlapped the letter “K” in Spokane. The caps were dark, as were the pants and stockings. The shoes were white, which was very unusual for this time period. Two of the twelve players wore white caps, not black caps. One player wore a black cap with white trim on the front of the brim. A newspaper reported in May 1890 that the team opened the season wearing white shirts with black caps, pants and stockings.

Top row, from left: G Borchers (Spo 90-92, Por 90), I Phillips (Spo 90, StP WA 90), L Mills (90, 03), (J Barnes mgr 90, 91), A Powell (Spo 90, Ham/Mon IA 90), T McGuirk (Spo 90, Gal TxL 90) and M Polhemus (Spo 90-92, Gal TxL 90). Front row: J Huston (Spo 90-92, Gal TxL 90), W Peeples (Spo 90, 01, Gal TxL 90), T Turner (90, 91), B Colgan (90), P Ward (Spo 90, 91, Gal TxL 90) and G Klopf (90-92). Photo, year of photo and player IDs from the Spokane Spokesman-Review, March 14, 1909. Research from Jim Price. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. The photo caption published in 1909 (not shown) stated that player J Stenzel (91) was not in the picture “as he left at the close of the season, before the group was photographed.” Baseball-reference.com does not list Stenzel as playing with Spokane in 1890. The photo caption also listed the officers of the 1890 team and a few details behind the creation of Twickenham Park in Spokane.

Dated late June 1890 to early September 1890. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the lettering across the chest and that the team wore white shoes, very unusual for this time period.

Photo B

Dated early September 1890 to October 1890. Year of photo confirmed by appearance of players Powell, McGuirk and Colgan, all of whom only played for Spokane in 1890. Date range of early September 1890 to October 1890 from Jim Price, writing for the Spokane Spokesman-Review in 2015. Price wrote that on September 7, 1890, the Spokane team “broke out new uniforms that included navy blue pants and stockings with white shirts and caps marked with broad vertical navy stripes.” This description matched the uniforms shown in this photo. Players wore a combination of long-sleeved shirts and short-sleeved shirts in this photo. One player, middle row third from left, wore a shirt with one 3/4-length sleeve and one long sleeve. The caps were of the pillbox style and the pants had quilted padding.

Top row: G Klopf (90-92), J Huston (Spo 90-92, Gal TxL 90), T Turner (90, 91), G Borchers (Spo 90-92, Por 90), T McGuirk (Spo 90, Gal TxL 90) and P Ward (Spo 90, 91, Gal TxL 90). Middle: L Mills (90, 03), A Powell (Spo 90, Ham/Mon IA 90), (J Barnes mgr 90, 91), W Peeples (Spo 90, 01, Gal TxL 90) and M Lynch (90). Front, on ground: M Polhemus (Spo 90-92, Gal TxL 90), (Prince) and B Colgan (90). Player IDs and color description of striped uniform from Jim Price, the Spokane Spokesman-Review: Spokane’s First Pro Ball Team Also Its First Champ, published May 17, 2015, retrieved August 25, 2019, no citations given. Price also noted that the St. Bernard in the front row of the photo was named Prince and was owned by the Spokane manager John S. Barnes. Player IDs also from Carson Lorey and Nigel Ayres. Image scan from Nigel Ayres. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image in the possession of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane. Original photo from Maxwell Brothers, Spokane.

Dated early September 1890 to October 1890. Detail view of photo B. Detail view showed that the shirts of the uniform were not all tailored the same and that the positioning of the stripes varied on some shirts. This was most noticeable on the shirts worn by the players in the back row where the white shirt buttons were against a white stripe, not a navy blue stripe.

Written documentation on these uniforms:
May 3, 1890, Spokane v. Portland at Twickenham Park, Spokane, opening game: “The locals wore black knickers, stockings and caps with white shirts. A shield over the left breast spelled out Spokane in black letters.” From Jim Price, the Spokane Spokesman-Review: Spokane’s First Pro Ball Team Also Its First Champ, published May 17, 2015, retrieved August 25, 2019, no citations given.

September 1890: “By Aug. 31, Spokane headed home with 19 victories in 25 games. The next Sunday [September 7, 1890], Barnes broke out new uniforms that included navy blue pants and stockings with white shirts and caps marked with broad vertical navy stripes.” From Jim Price, the Spokane Spokesman-Review: Spokane’s First Pro Ball Team Also Its First Champ, published May 17, 2015, retrieved August 25, 2019, no citations given.

Team genealogy: Coming soon