1896 Buffalo (Buffalos, Bisons)

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

Visual documentation on this uniform:
None

Written documentation on this uniform:
March 1896: “President Franklin has let the contract for building the ’96 uniforms for the Bisons to E.J. & G.M. Rose. They will be of a green gray color, the green hardly perceptible. The shirts, pants, and the caps will be of the same color, and the players will wear black stockings. The last year’s uniforms [from 1895] are being remodeled and renovated […] with new white caps [and] will be used in practice games.” From the Buffalo Courier, March 25, 1896. A truncated version of this report was printed in the Scranton (PA) Tribune, April 1, 1896. Tribune research from Ed Morton.

May 1896: “The Bisons will appear in Buffalo in new uniform[s] of the blue-gray variety. They will don them to play the Syracuse Stars for the first time.” From the Buffalo Evening News, May 1, 1896.

Team genealogy: Buffalo 1891-1900
Buffalo joined the Eastern Association/League (EL) in 1891. The EL operated between 1891 and 1911, and became the International League in 1912. Buffalo played in the EL between 1891 and 1898 and transferred to the Western League (WL) in 1899. The reorganized WL operated between 1894 and 1899 and reformed again as the American League (AL) in 1900. Buffalo played in the WL in 1899 and in the AL in 1900. The team was then dropped when the AL declared major-league status in 1901 and awarded the franchise to Boston. EL information from Bill O’Neal, The International League (1992). WL information from wikipedia.com.