1894 Toledo (Toledos, White Stockings, Swamp Angels)

This rendering is based on partial 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

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A
Dated 1894. Cabinet card photo of D Miller (94, 01, 02). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date determined by similarity with photos B and C. Full view showed player wearing a dark uniform with white lettering that ran across the shirt front and onto a shirt pocket. The shirt had a white collar worn in a turned-up style and thin lace ties down the center. The cap had two white horizontal bands. Detail view showed lettering, lace ties with reinforced tips, and decorative stitching around the shirt placket and on the shirt pocket. Player ID from the SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee, Reflecting the Past newsletter (2015). Years player with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from the Detroit Public Library, Ernie Harwell Collection. A drawing was made from this photo and published in the New York Clipper on June 15, 1895. Original photo by Sperry, Toledo.

Photo B
Dated 1894. Cabinet card photo of F Foreman (94). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date determined by fact that 1894 was the player’s only year with the team. Detail view showed side view of cap that included a button on top. Detail view also showed that the collar had decorative stitching and that the player wore his collar in a turned-up style. All 8 known cabinet photos of Toledo players from 1894 show the collar worn in this style. The turned-up collar first appeared in portraits of baseball players about 1887. However the style was not universally accepted in the late 1880s and early 1890s and was worn only sporadically by a minority of players. Player ID and image scan from the Detroit Public Library, Ernie Harwell Collection. Years player with team from baseball-reference.com. Original photo by Sperry, Toledo.

Photo C
Dated 1894. Cabinet card photo of G Hatfield (94). Full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date determined by fact that 1894 was the player’s only year with the team. Due to the way the player tied his shirt laces, the city name was not aligned across the shirt opening. Detail view showed front of cap and a bill with no decorative stitching. Player ID from the SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee, Reflecting the Past newsletter (2015). Years player with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from the Detroit Public Library, Ernie Harwell Collection. Original photo by Sperry, Toledo.

Written documentation on this uniform:
September 25, 1894: “Toledo v. Kansas City at Toledo, Sept. 25 — The White Stockings held themselves in second place by battling [Kansas City pitcher] Daniels freely and giving [Toledo pitcher] Hughey splendid support.” From The Sporting Life, October 6, 1894. This report implied the team wore white stockings.

November 1894: “Toledo’s first appearance [in Sioux City early in the 1894 season] gave the impression that the [Toledo] Swamp Angels were the strongest in the [Western] league.” From The Sporting Life, November 10, 1894. The Toledo team was sometimes called the Swamp Angels in newspaper reports. Toledo is located north of a former wetland known as the Great Black Swamp, which covered 1,500 square miles across Ohio and into Indiana. Between 1890 and 1920 thousands of miles of underground drainage tile were laid to drain the swamp and make the area available for farming. Info from wikipedia, saudervillage.org and blogs.bgsu.edu, retrieved September 28, 2018.

1894: “Dennis Long fielded the White Stockings in the reconstituted Western League in 1894 and had some success, finishing second. […] Toledo’s nineteenth-century parks [included] Whitestocking Park (1894-1895) on Lagrange Street.” From John R. Husman, Baseball in Toledo (2003).

Team genealogy: Toledo 1894-1895
Toledo joined the Western League (WL) in 1894 when the league reformed. The reorganized WL operated between 1894 and 1899. Toledo played in the WL until June 30, 1895 when the team was transferred to Terre Haute, IN. Information from wikipedia.com. Terre Haute transfer info from baseball-reference.com.