1896 St. Joseph MO (Saints, Aunt Jemima's)

Serving up a uniform with some local flavor.

Civic pride runs deep, just ask the good people of St. Joseph, Missouri. The city was once home to a popular consumer brand known “from the Hudson Bay to Cape Horn.” Aunt Jemima was introduced to the world from St. Joe’s in the early 1890s, a product of the Davis Mill Company. In 1896 the pancake flour was so well recognized that the Western Association baseball team decided to put the name on their shirts, as you can see above.

No longer the Saints, they were now the “Aunt Jemima’s” in newspaper headlines and in box scores. “Local baseball enthusiasts appeared to look upon this scheme with a great deal of favor,” one newspaper reported in 1896, saying “it has long been the custom of ball players in the great cities of the land to be known by some nickname of this order.”

Minneapolis, another milling town, certainly felt this way. The Millers’ shirts said this in 1890 and this in 1895. However, all was not well back in St. Joseph. The team got off to a 4-12 start, the owners quickly quit, the manager was run out of town, and the club had to face the taunts of opposing crowds. In Rockford, Illinois, for example, the Aunt Jemima nine “is the subject of the bleacherino who hurls various epithets connected with the cakes.” The nickname seems to have been dropped in the middle of the 1896 season as by then newspapers were again calling the team the Saints. No report has been found if the wording was removed from the shirts.

So how does the St. Joe uniform, um, stack up?

To my eye the uniform comes across as nothing but advertisement, even if the intent was for the city of St. Joseph to boast a little. The St. Joseph News and Press said in 1896 that “the Davis Mill Company is almost daily in receipt of communication from big manufacturers, from dramatic companies, from business and professional men of almost every class and character, requesting the permission to use the name it has made famous and which it has securely copyrighted.” At the same time, ads for Aunt Jemima ran in the newspapers of St. Joseph on an almost daily basis.

There are no known photos of the Aunt Jemima uniform. The plate is empty, so to speak. When I asked researcher Carson Lorey to dig, he found a picture of the 1912 St. Joseph bowling team with the Aunt Jemima caricature on the shirts. I’m not showing it because it is offensive, as was the brand itself—appropriately phased out by its current owner, PepsiCo, in 2021. If nothing else, the lines in baseball were sometimes blurred between civic pride and sponsorship in the 1890s. Case in point, at the same time the letters were being sewn onto the St. Joseph uniform a new all-star team in Adrian, Michigan, had been formed with the words “Page Fence Giants” lettered across the shirt.

Thanks to Frank Vaccaro for bringing this story to the table. “Hudson Bay…”, “Local baseball enthusiasts…”, and “Daily in receipt…” from the St. Joseph News and Press, February 20, 1896. “Subject of the bleacherino…” from the St. Joseph Herald, June 7, 1896. See full documentation below. Thank you for your time.

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:
February 1896: “The uniforms of ‘96 have been ordered. They are of light gray flannel, with black trimmings, stockings and belts, with Atlantic City cap. The word ‘Saint’ will be in black letters across the front of the shirts.” From the Sporting Life, February 15, 1896, page 2. Research from Chuck McGill.

February 1896: “It was reported that the managers of the St. Joseph Baseball Association have decided to adopt the popular and widely advertised appellation, the ‘Aunt Jemimas,’ for its aggregation of pennant winners during the season now about to open. The St. Joseph club heretofore has been known as the Saints, but as that name was first claimed by the St. Pauls and is still held by them, confusion results. Local baseball enthusiasts appeared to look upon this scheme with a great deal of favor. They say it has long been the custom of ball players in the great cities of the land to be known by some nickname of this order: for instance the Boston club is known as the ‘Bean Eaters,’ the Washingtons (D. C.) as the ‘Senators,’ the Milwaukees as the ‘Brewers,’ the Minneapolis as the ‘Millers,’ the Peoria as the ‘Distillers,’ and so on down the list. A wider known cognomen than the ‘Aunt Jemimas’ would indeed be hard to hit upon. Aunt Jemima is known from ocean to ocean—and further from the Hudson Bay to Cape Horn. It is said that the Davis Mill Company is almost daily in receipt of communication from big manufacturers, from dramatic companies, from business and professional men of almost every class and character, requesting the permission to use the name it has made famous and which it has securely copyrighted, in some connection or other.” From the St. Joseph News and Press, February 20, 1896, page 7. Research from frank Vaccaro.

April 18, 1896, St. Joseph v. Kansas City (WL), at Kansas City, exhibition game: “Haller’s men had their base ball suits on, the same ones that it is thought will bear the words, ‘Aunt Jemima,’ across their breasts before long period.” From the St. Joseph Gazette, April 22, 1896, page 2.

April 23, 1896, St. Joseph v. Cedar Rapids, at St. Joseph, home opener: “The parade that attracted the attention of the entire city preceded the contest on the green diamond, and then the fans flocked to the ball park, where Haller’s strong boys, officially known as the ‘Aunt Jemimas,’ were arrayed against the aspiring youths from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Both teams posted their strongest men in the points, and all the players, attired in their handsome new uniforms for the first time, presented a pretty appearance. The management of the St. Joseph club has given its consent to nicknaming the team the ‘Aunt Jemimas.’ The handsome new suits of the home team bear on the breast the following inscription: ‘Aunt Jemimas, St. Joseph,” and five months hence, when they return to the city bearing aloft victoriously the trophy of conquerors, they would doubtless be dubbed by fallen adversaries, ‘Pancake Eaters,’ ‘A Stack of Whites,’ ‘Nine Straight Up with Maple,’ or something else equally expressive and worthy of applause.”  From the St. Joseph Daily News, April 23, 1896, page 8.

April 1896: “The uniforms to be worn by the Saints in their opening game today and hereafter our models of neatness. The jaunty blue caps have been seen by those who have witnessed any of the games this year, and are known as the bicycle cap. The shirts are of gray woolen cloth, across the breast being the words, ‘Aunt Jemima’s, St. Joseph,’ arranged in three lines. These letters are composed of the finest black felt and carefully sewed on, this portion of the work being done in St. Joseph. The completed uniforms were turned over to President Bauer yesterday afternoon and gave great satisfaction, not only to that official, but to all who saw them. The pants are of the same material as the shirts. The uniforms were all made to order and consequently fit better than is usually the case. The ’Aunt Jemima’s’ will present a handsome appearance.” From the St. Joseph Daily Herald, April 23, 1896, page 5. This report was also published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, April 24, 1896, page 8. Gazette research from Frank Vaccaro.

April 25, 1896, St. Joseph v. Cedar Rapids, at St. Joseph: “While this condition prevailed in the Rapids, the ‘Aunt Jemimas’ were pounding out runs with the greatest of ease.” From the St. Joseph Herald, April 26, 1896, page 5. An example of the team nickname in use. The headline read: “Aunt Jemima’s Make Six Runs in First Inning.” The nickname was also include in box scores, including one published in the St. Joseph Gazette, May 2, 1896, page 3.

May 1896: “The officers of the St. Joseph ball club held a meeting at the office of President Hesse last evening. […] It was decided that the franchise of the St. Joseph ball club should be sold, and that at once. […] President Henry Hesse, when interviewed by a Herald reporter last night said: ‘No doubt luck has been against us in the manner of winning as nearly all of our games have been lost by close scores of only one or two runs. The signing of the players was all left to Mr. Haller, and while he may have made mistakes in his judgment of players he undoubtedly did the best he knew how.’” From the St. Joseph Daily Herald, May 20, 1896, page 3. The May 15, 1896, issue of the Herald, page 2, listed the St. Joseph record as 4-12 in standings.

May 1896: “The St. Joseph baseball club, which has been in danger of disbandment or transferred to some other town, is in better condition today than for some time. The former managers and owners, Messrs. Hesse and Bauer sold the franchise in the Western Association yesterday to a stock company, the members of which withhold their names from publication.” From the St. Joseph Weekly Gazette, May 26, 1896, page 6.

June 1896: “The St. Joseph team arrived in the city today [Rockford, June 7] and open a series of three games with the local club at Riverside Park this afternoon. The Saints have been christened the ‘Aunt Jemima Pancake Eaters,’ in honor of the R. T. Davis Mill Co., of St. Joseph, who make that famous table delicacy. This name is the subject of the bleacherino, who hurls various epithets connected with the cakes at the visiting team. The pancake eaters have evidently flourished on their diet of late, as they are making a good record of games won and are liable to play havoc with the percentage of the Rockfords unless the home team makes a brace in battling.” From the St. Joseph Herald, June 7, 1896, page 8, citing the Rockford Register Gazette.

June 1896: “Soon after Manager Haller of the Saints was signed he began to distinguish himself by all kinds of erratic sayings and actions. […] There probably never was a player in the home team more cordially detested than he is by the people of the city. He long since lost the confidence of the patrons of baseball here.” From the St. Joseph Daily Herald, June 7, 1896, page 8.

June 1896: “St. Joseph’s ‘Aunt Jemimas’ are dragging along the bottom of the league ladder, with slim hopes, as long as it remains under the present field management. St. Joseph base ball fans seemed to have lost confidence entirely in the club, mostly from the manner in which it has been handled while away from home, and the return will not likely be heralded with trumpets of brass or silver.” From the Kansas City Times, June 16, 1896, page 9. Manager Haller left the team by late June. The St. Joseph Daily News, July 7, 1896, page 3, noted that “Peoria, with ex-Captain Haller of the Saints on first base, came today for revenge” in a game at St. Joseph.

Team genealogy: Coming soon