1897 Chicago Union (Unions)

This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style only. Color information is unknown and the uniform is rendered in values of gray. Important 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 September 2, 1897. This team photo, based on a photograph, was published in a newspaper on this date. Players were depicted wearing a white or light gray uniform with dark belts and dark stockings. The shirt, which displayed the full team name across the front, featured unusually large oversized collars and probably a short run of lace ties above the lettering. Many players wore the team’s dark sweater, possibly indicating the original photograph was made early in the season and not in late August or early September. Several men wore their sweaters under their shirts in this illustration. The team’s pillbox-style cap can be seen in the foreground. One player standing far right was depicted wearing a shirt with no lettering.

Top row, from left: Bill Joyner, Scales, Frank? Butler, (Frank C. Leland, mgr), Robert Jackson, Robert Shaw and Lou Reynolds. Middle: George Hopkins, Harry (Mike) Moore, (William S. Peters, mgr), Robert Footes and Harry Buckner. Front: Morgan, Harry Hyde, William Smith and Willis Jones. Player IDs and image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, September 2, 1897. Additional info on player IDs from seamheads.com and Dr. Layton Revel, Early Pioneers of the Negro Leagues: William S. Peters (2017).

Dated September 2, 1897. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed the unusually large collars on the shirts. The shirt lettering was also not typical and featured a large “U” and “S” on either end of the word “Unions.”

Dated September 2, 1897. Another detail view of photo A. This detail view showed the team’s dark sweater. The player in the middle of this detail view was depicted wearing a sweater with a “C-U” monogram in the center.

Written documentation on this uniform:
None

Team genealogy: Chicago Union 1887-1900
The Union Base Ball Club was organized in Chicago in 1887 and evolved into a pro team over time. Often referred to in the plural form as the Chicago Unions, the team played as an independent continuously throughout the 1890s and to the end of the 1900 season. For the 1901 season, the team merged with the Columbia Giants, also of Chicago, and the new entity was called the Chicago Union Giants. Info from nlbpa.com and wikipedia.com.