1898 Boston (Bostons, Beaneaters)
These renderings are based on written documentation for uniform color only. An artist’s conceptualization is used to create the rendering based on this and documentation of uniform style from a related year.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated March 21, 1898. This cartoon of the Boston team marching to spring training in Greensboro, NC, was published on this date. The players were depicted wearing a uniform with a shirt bib that featured an old-English letter B in the center. This uniform was somewhat similar to the Boston home uniform for both 1897 and 1898 seasons. Cartoon from the Boston Globe, March 21, 1898. Note the depiction of “fans” seeing the team off, one of which was crying at far left. In the background, a wheelbarrow toting a crock of baked beans was included in the parade.
Photo B
Dated March 25, 1898. Rendering of J Collins (NL 95-00, AL 01-07), full view at left, detail view at right. This illustration, based on a photo, was printed on this day and may have been made during an exhibition game at Greensboro, NC, on March 24, 1898. Boston trained at Greensboro between March 21 and March 30, 1898. On March 23, 1898, the Greensboro Telegram reported that “the Bostons have received their new uniforms and will use them for the first time tomorrow [March 24] in the game with Augusta.” The rendering showed a uniform shirt with a bib front that included an old-English “B” positioned in the middle. This uniform was very similar to the one Boston wore for both 1897 and 1898 seasons. The player was depicted wearing a dark cap with a rounded crown, a dark belt and dark stockings. The cap was most likely not part of the new uniform as a newspaper described the road cap of 1898 as gray with a red brim. Image and player identification from the Boston Globe, March 25, 1898, with research from Ed Morton. Years Collins with the team from baseball-reference.com. Greensboro Telegram research from Dan O’Brien. Spring training dates from the Boston Globe, March 22 to April 2, 1898.
Photo C
Dated March 30, 1898. Rendering of J Sullivan (Bos 91, 95-98, Pro EL 98), full view at left, detail view at right. This rendering was published in a newspaper on this date and was based on a photograph taken at Greensboro, NC, where the team held spring training between March 21 and March 30, 1898. On March 23, 1898, the Greensboro Telegram reported that “the Bostons have received their new uniforms.” Other newspaper reports from this period stated that the home uniform would be “the same design as last season [1897]” and that the road uniform would be pearl gray in color with an old-English B “on the breast.” However, the rendering of Sullivan showed a shirt with the city name arched across the front. It is unknown if this was an old uniform from a previous season or a new uniform for the upcoming 1898 season. In the rendering, the cap was depicted as being in the pillbox style with a dark brim and thin dark bands encircling the body. The player wore his shirt sleeves rolled up and a dark turtleneck sweater under his shirt. The neck of the sweater has been rolled down on top of his uniform shirt collar as was the fashion of the day. Image and player identification from the Boston Globe, March 30, 1898. Years Sullivan with team from baseball-reference.com. Spring training dates from the Boston Globe, March 22 to April 2, 1898.
Photo D
Dated April 2, 1898. Rendering of C Stahl (NL 97-00, AL 91-06), full view at left, detail view at right. This rendering was published in a newspaper on this date and was based on a photograph most likely taken at Greensboro, NC, where the team held spring training between March 21 and March 30, 1898. On March 23, 1898, the Greensboro Telegram reported that “the Bostons have received their new uniforms.” Other newspaper reports from this period stated that the home uniform would be “the same design as last season [1897]” and that the road uniform would be pearl gray in color with an old-English B “on the breast.” Based on this report, it may be that Stahl wore the 1898 Boston home uniform in this photo. The rendering showed a long-sleeved shirt with an old-English “B” in the center of a scalloped bib. The cap was in the pillbox style with a dark brim and thin dark bands encircling the body. Image and player identification from the Boston Globe, April 8, 1898. Years Stahl with team from baseball-reference.com. Spring training dates from the Boston Globe, March 22 to April 2, 1898.
Photo E
Dated April 8, 1898. Rendering of G Yeager (96-99), full view at left, detail view at right. This rendering was published in a newspaper on this date and was based on a photograph taken at Greensboro, NC, on March 30, 1898, where the team held spring training between March 21 and March 30, 1898. On March 23, 1898, the Greensboro Telegram reported that “the Bostons have received their new uniforms.” Other newspaper reports from this period stated that the home uniform would be “the same design as last season [1897]” and that the road uniform would be pearl gray in color with an old-English B “on the breast.” Based on this report, it may be that Yeager wore the new 1898 road uniform when the photo was taken. The rendering showed that the long-sleeved shirt had lace ties down the front and an old-English “B” on the left breast. The cap was in the pillbox style with a dark brim and thin dark bands encircling the body. Image and player identification from the Boston Globe, April 8, 1898. Years Yeager with team from baseball-reference.com. Spring training dates from the Boston Globe, March 22 to April 2, 1898.
Photo F
Dated April 20, 1898. Rendering of opening day of Boston v. New York, at New York on April 19, 1898, full view at left, detail view at right. The caption stated this was a rendering of Boston player F Tenney (94-07) running home, see red circle (circle added later). The detail view depicted the Boston uniform with a letter on the front of the shirt. Years Tenney with the team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Boston Globe, April 20, 1898. Research from Ed Morton.
Photo G
Published October 22, 1898, drawing based on a team photo from 1897. The drawing was made to reflect the players on the current roster at the end of the 1898 season. Six players in the original photograph from 1897 were removed from the back row of the drawing: Sullivan, Stivetts, Allen, Ganzel and Lake. Three of these players, Sullivan, Stivetts and Lewis, were members of the 1898 Boston team at one point during the season. Added to the drawing were players Bergen and Willis, positioned back row, far left. Bergen was on the team in 1897 but did not appear in the original photo and Willis was new to the team in 1898. Players were depicted wearing the same uniform as shown in the original photo from 1897. To date, there are no known player photographs from the 1898 season, however one newspaper report from February 1898 stated that home uniform would be “the same design as last season [1897]”. Note that the year mentioned in the caption at the bottom of the drawing declared Boston as defending champions for the ensuing season of 1899.
Top row, from left: M Bergen (96-99), V Willis (98-05), F Klobedanz (96-99, 01) and T Lewis (NL 96-00, AL 01). Middle: H Long (90-02), K Nichols (90-01), G Yeager (96-99), B Allen (96), (F Selee mgr 90-01), H Duffy (AA 91, 92-00), F Tenney (94-07) and B Hamilton (96-01). Front: J Collins (NL 95-00, AL 01-07), C Stahl (NL 97-00, AL 91-06) and B Lowe (90-01). Drawing and player IDs from The Sporting Life, October 22, 1898. Research from Dan O’Brien.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 1898: “The Boston Base Ball Club will wear next summer handsome traveling uniforms of pearl gray, with [a] cardinal old English ‘B’ on the shield of the shirt, gray cap with cardinal visor and trimmings, cardinal stockings and sweaters. The belts will be red, white and blue. The home uniform will be white, and of the same design as last season.” From the Boston Herald, February 24, 1898. Research from Dan O’Brien. The red-white-and-blue belts were a show of patriotism after the USS Maine exploded on February 15, 1898, in Havana Harbor, Cuba.
March 1898: “The Bostons’ traveling uniforms will be pearl gray with cardinal red trimmings.” From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 2, 1898. Research from Don Stokes.
March 1898: “The traveling suit of [Boston] this year will be a pearl gray with cardinal trimmings. Shirt, with old English ‘B’ on the shield, caps gray with cardinal visor and cord, stockings cardinal, sweaters cardinal—very Harvard-like uniform. Home uniform will be of the usual white, with stockings probably red instead of cardinal. The circus feature of the traveling suits will be the belts, which will be a combination of red, white and blue, such as worn by the All Americas in their trip to the coast. […] It is better to stick to plain colors in picking out a uniform. Combination suits do not find public favor.” From The Sporting Life, March 5, 1898. Research from Chuck McGill.
March 1898: “The baseball public in other cities will have no chance this year to guy [i.e., ridicule] the Boston bicycle breeches as they did last year [1897]. The uniforms have been ordered, and the traveling suits will be as tasteful and neat as the home flannels. The team will wear on the road a suit of pearl gray and cardinal; the shirt and trousers are of gray, with cardinal stockings; a cardinal old English ‘B’ on the breast; caps of gray, with cardinal visor and band; belts of patriotic red, white and blue, with ornamental buckles, and the whole thing topped off with a heavy cardinal sweater, in place of the coat in vogue the past few years.” From the Cincinnati Enquirer, Sunday, March 6, 1898. Research from Dan O’Brien.
March 1898: “The morning practice [in Greensboro, NC] consisted of ‘fungo’ and ground ball work.” From the Boston Globe, March 22, 1898. Possible early use of the word “fungo.”
March 1898: “The Bostons have received their new uniforms and will use them for the first time tomorrow [March 24, 1898] in the game with Augusta [during spring training].” From the Greensboro (NC) Telegram, March 23, 1898. Research from Dan O’Brien.
March 1898: “Greensboro, N.C., March 31 — […] America’s champions have been here since Monday, March 21. […] The new uniforms are very pretty, indeed. They are neat and yet are not too plain.” From The Sporting Life, April 2, 1898.
April 15, 1898, Boston v. New York, at New York, Polo Grounds, season opener: “A light, drizzling rain was falling. […] The Boston men donned their sweaters and took their positions [in the field] in a way that presaged no merry time for the boys.” From the Boston Globe, April 16, 1898.
April 19, 1898, Boston v. New York, at New York, Polo Grounds: “[Boston pitcher] ‘Ted’ Lewis did not appear in [a] natty traveling uniform […] instead wore the jeans which lately have seen effective service on the Harvard diamond.” From the Boston Globe, April 20, 1898. Research from Ed Morton.
October 1898: “Boston, Oct. 27 — […] The event of the past week was, of course, the return of the champions to their native heath and the entertainment in their honor in Music Hall. […] The entertainment was of the vaudeville order. It lasted until almost 12 o’clock. After the first part the curtain was raised and disclosed the champions in their spick and span uniforms of white in which they won many a victory on the home grounds last season [1898]. From The Sporting Life, October 29, 1898. The Boston Music Hall was located on Winter Street in Boston and operated from 1852 to 1900, when it was converted into a vaudeville theatre. Music Hall info from wikipedia.com. The appearance of the Boston team there in October of 1898 may suggest it had been converted into a theatre earlier than 1900.
Team genealogy: Boston 1871-1952
Boston was formed to enter the National Association (NA) in 1871. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. Boston played in the NA in every year of the league’s existence and moved to the National League (NL) upon its start in 1876. Boston played in the NL from 1876 to 1952 and moved to Milwaukee for the 1953 NL season. Information from Paul Batesel, Players And Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875, from baseball-reference.com and from wikipedia.com.
Rendering posted: May 25, 2020
Diggers on this uniform: Chuck McGill, Dan O'Brien, Don Stokes, Ed Morton,