1890 York PA (Monarchs)

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 this uniform:
Photo A

Dated April 1890 to mid-July 1890. Year of photo can be confirmed as this was the only year of the team’s existence. Date range of April to mid-July determined by the fact that the league disbanded in mid-July. Players wore a white or light-colored uniform in this photo, with dark lettering on the shirt, a dark belt and dark stockings. The shirt had three dark buttons down the center and the city name was divided on either side of the button placket. A newspaper from April 1890 described the uniform as “Shaker gray” with a black belt and black stockings. The cap was in the pillbox style with subtle horizontal bands that one newspaper described as “pleated.” The lettering on the shirt was described as being black in color and measuring “four inches deep.”

Top row, from left: Abe Harrison (90), William Malone (90), George Williams (90), Sol White (90) and Art Thomas (90). Front: Bill Whyte (90), Ben Boyd (90), Jack Frye (90), (J. Monroe Kreiter, mgr), William Jackson (90) and William Selden (90). Players IDs from photo B. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from agatetype.typepad.com, citing a private collection, and retrieved August 19, 2023. Image has been enhanced and retouched by Threads.

Dated 1890. Three detail views of photo A, from left: W Selden (90), S White (90) and A Thomas (90). Detail view showed that shirts had dark-colored trim along the collars and that the city name spaced with a wide divide in the middle. Detail views from agatetype.typepad.com, citing a private collection, and retrieved August 19, 2023.

Photo B

Dated 1890, these player portraits were printed in newspapers during this year. Drawings were based on photo A. Drawings showed subtle horizontal bands on the cap and a button placket.

Top row, from left: Bill Whyte (90), (J. Monroe Kreiter, mgr) and William Jackson (90). Middle: Abe Harrison (90), William Malone (90), George Williams (90) and Sol White (90). Bottom: Ben Boyd (90), Jack Frye (90), William Selden (90) and Art Thomas (90). Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image and publishing info from agatetype.typepad.com, retrieved August 19, 2023.

Written documentation on this uniform:
April 1890: “The York base ball club will open the season on Wednesday [April 23, 1890], when the opponents will be Richmond, Va., team. Manager Kreiter has made all the arrangements and the ‘Colored Monarchs of the Diamond’ will be here tomorrow on the 1 o’clock train. […] The new suits will be here on Wednesday morning and will be displayed in the window of Chas. P. Young’s cigar emporium. […] The new suits will be of shaker gray, with black trimmings, black belt and stockings. The cap will simply have a black button on top.” From the York (PA) Dispatch, April 21, 1890. This report also listed eleven York players on the team roster, “George Williams, Arthur Thomas, William T. Whyte, William H. Malone, William H. Seldon, Sol. White, John H. Frye, Abe Harrison, Wm. Jackson and Benj. F. Boyd. Ross Garrison, the new short stop will not be here until the latter part of the week. […] Manager Kreiter, of the York club, returned from New York Saturday [April 19]. He has signed Ross Garrison, who played short for the Gorhams last year.”

April 1890: “The uniforms of the ‘York Monarchs’ are made of Shaker gray flannel, with black belt, trimmings and stockings. The word ‘York” will be across the breast of the shirts in black letters four inches deep. The cap will be neat and of a new design, the side being pleated, which makes it remain still and it will always be in shape. A black button will ornament the top. Each player will be supplied with a leather hand bag in which to carry his suit.” From the York (PA) Gazette, April 23, 1890. The report also noted that “commutation [i.e., exchange] tickets for ball games are now on sale at the City Bank, Chas. P. Young’s cigar store and from Manager Kreiter.”

May 12, 1890, York v. Harrisburg, at Harrisburg, Island grounds: “The game was liberally advertised, numerous devices being employed early in the afternoon to attract a crowd, one being a team in which was nine small colored boys, a sort of miniature representative of the ‘Monarchs,’ and the other [being] two small boys carrying a large banner on which was printed, “Grant will play with Harrisburg today.’” From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, May 13, 1890. The newspaper also mentioned that during the May 12 game “Grant was the recipient of two handsome bouquets.” Frank Grant, a noted African-American player with the Cuban Giants, signed with Harrisburg at the start of the 1890 season. His SABR biography by Brian McKenna stated that Grant “arrived in Harrisburg to a hero’s welcome on May 5 before his first game with the club.”

Team genealogy: York PA, 1890-1890
The York, PA, team was an African-American club formed in early 1890 to enter the Eastern Interstate League (EIL), commonly referred to as the Interstate League. The team was made-up of players from the 1889 Cuban Giants. The EIL folded in mid-July 1890 when the Harrisburg team left the league. Info from agatetype.typepad.com.