1898 Chicago (Chicagos, Orphans, Colts)
Left: This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style and written documentation for color. Minor details may be undocumented or difficult to determine. An educated guess is made to complete the rendering.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Right: 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 these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated March 1898 to early May 1898. This photo was published in a magazine on May 4, 1898. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of players Woods and Kilroy, who only played for Chicago in 1898. Based on the photo setting, it could be guessed that the image was taken during spring training, either at a clubhouse or a hotel. Around March 6, 1898, the team left Chicago for spring training at Waycross, Georgia, arriving there in mid-March after a stop in Louisville. However, the players had an “open revolt” about the practice field and hotel accommodations in Waycross and petitioned the team president around March 26 to relocate to Savannah, which they did by April 2. They played an exhibition game in Savannah on April 2 but then took a short tour of the South, playing games in Charleston on April 4, Atlanta on April 6 & 7 and Mobile on April 8. Around this time, a newspaper reported that the team was going to Birmingham after Mobile and that players Griffith and Friend had “deserted without cause at Mobile.” The report stated Manager Burns feared that Griffith had “war fever.” The team opened the season in St. Louis on April 15. However the photo frame, see above, credited the image to a Chicago photographer. Therefore, it could be suggested that the photo was made in Chicago between April 10 and April 14, the time before the team started the season in St. Louis, or between April 29 and May 3, the team’s only home stand before the photo was published on May 4. The team wore a white uniform in this photo, and newspapers in early 1898 described the new Chicago home uniform as white with maroon stockings, stating that “the old white stockings have gone with Anson.” The shirt had maroon lace ties and the majority of players in the photo wore long-sleeved shirts. Two players wore 3/4 length sleeves. The cap was designed in the pillbox style and was white in color with a maroon visor and possibly with two thin horizontal cords. Two players in the photo wore non-matching white caps that had a rounded crown, not in the pillbox style, and with maroon cord radiating from a top button. Another player in the photo wore a cap that was possibly made of leather.
Top row standing, from left: M Kittridge (Chi 90-97, Lou 98), W Thornton (95-98), B Everitt (95-00), J Ryan (85-00), F Isbell (NL 98, AL 02-09), F Chance (98-12), B Dahlen (91-98), D Friend (Chi 95-98, Col WL 98, KC WL 98) and B Briggs (Chi 96-98, 04, Col WL 98, Det WL 98). Front row, sitting: C Griffith (NL 93-00, AL 01, 02), B McCormick (96-01), W Woods (98), J Callahan (NL 97-00, AL 01-05, 11-13), (T Burns mgr 98, 99), B Lange (93-99), M Kilroy (98), J Connor (92, 97-99) and T Donahue (95-00). Image and player IDs from The World Of Sport magazine, May 4, 1898. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Chicago game dates from retrosheet.org. Spring training info from The Sporting Life, March 12, 1898 through April 16, 1898. Info on players deserting from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 16, 1898. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-Century Pictorial Committee. The World Of Sport research from Ken Samoil. Original image from William M. Henshel, Chicago.
Dated March 1898 to early May 1898. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed a white uniform with maroon lace ties on the shirt and a pillbox-style cap with a maroon visor and possibly two thin maroon cords encircling it. Note that the numbers on the uniforms were added later by hand to help identify platers.
Dated March 1898 to early May 1898. Another detail view of photo A. Detail view showed one player, third from left, wearing a loose-form cap with a rounded crown and maroon cord radiating from a top button.
Photos B & C
Published May 18, 1898. Two photos of J Ryan (85-00), most likely taken at West Side Grounds, Chicago, in early May 1898 before either an official game or an exhibition game was to take place. Based on the similarity in lighting and the crowd in the background, it can be concluded both photos were made on the same day and possibly within minutes of each other. Player wore an all-white cap in these photos. This differed from the cap worn in the team photo from this time period, which featured a cap with a maroon visor, see photo A. The photo at left showed that the pants also had a thin cord on the pant seam. Images and player ID from The World Of Sport, May 18, 1898. Years Ryan with team from baseball-reference.com. The World Of Sport research from Ken Samoil. Photos possibly made by William M. Henshel, Chicago.
Photos D & E
Published May 18, 1898. Two photos of F Chance (98-12), most likely taken at West Side Grounds, Chicago. These photos were taken between March 1898 and mid-May 1898 and may have been taken on the same day as the Ryan photos, see photos B & C. The 1898 date can be confirmed by the fact that this was the first year Chance played for Chicago. Player wore a dark cap in these photos that featured a monogram on the front of the cap above the visor. This differed from the cap worn in the team photo from this time period, which featured a white cap with a maroon visor, see photo A. The photo caption (not shown) stated these two images were “snapshots of the Chicago Club’s players at practice.” This may imply the player wore a different cap for practice, possibly one from a previous year and team. Chance spent part of 1897 playing for Washington College, Irvington, California. Both photos above showed that the pants had a thin cord on the pant seam. Images and player ID from The World Of Sport, May 18, 1898. Years Chance with team from baseball-reference.com. Washington College info from Gregory Rhyal, SABR BioProject: Frank Chance, retrieved September 11, 2020. The World Of Sport research from Ken Samoil. Photos made by William M. Henshel, Chicago.
Photo F
Published December 10, 1898, based on a photo taken 1890 to 1898. Portrait of M Kittridge (Chi 90-98, Lou 99), full view at left, detail view at right. Drawing depicted a shirt with a short run of dark-colored lace ties. This was similar to the Chicago uniform shown above and may suggest the drawing was based on a photo from early 1898. Kittridge was sold to Louisville on June 20, 1898. Image and player ID from The Sporting Life, December 10, 1898. Year Kittridge with teams and transaction info from baseball-reference.com.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
February 1898: “Those famous white stockings are to go […] so President Hart intimated yesterday. The Colts may be seen this year in spangles entirely new. [… ] The old dead white home uniform and the old rebel gray and white road dress is too dull and monotonous. President Hart declared: ‘The white stockings are unsightly after a couple of games. The men come up looking dirty, and some in various colored suits.’ Thus it appears that along with Anson will go the name that sturdy veteran helped to make so famous.” From the Chicago Daily Tribune, February 16, 1898. Research from Dan O’Brien. A similar report was published in the Louisville Courier-Journal, February 17, 1898.
February 1898: “The new suits of the the Chicago ball club are about finished. The old white stockings have gone with Anson, and a deep maroon is substituted. The club will wear the blue-gray traveling uniform and cap, and white at home. The belts are maroon, and the cap is round, with cords of maroon radiating from the maroon button in the top.” From the Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1898. Note that the team photo above, see photo A, showed a majority of players wearing a pillbox-style cap, not a round cap.
February 1898: “The Chicago Club has ordered new uniforms. […] The new suit in which the Colts will appear this season is gray, with maroon trimmings. They will wear maroon stockings, maroon belt and gray cap striped with maroon. […] In their home games the Chicagos will wear white suits with maroon stockings.” From the Pittsburgh Press, February 25, 1898. Research from Peter Reitan.
February 1898: “The color of the Chicago team’s uniform has been changed to maroon.” From the New York Sun, February 26, 1898.
February 1898: “President Hart announces that white will be abandoned as the distinctive color of the Chicago team. Those white stockings, nevertheless, will be missed.” From The Sporting Life, February 26, 1898.
March 1898: “Manager Tom Burns objects to having the Chicagos called Colts any longer — that title having been in use about ten years — but wants a new name coined.” From The Sporting Life, March 26, 1898.
April 1898: “Tommy Burns has christened his Chicago team ‘The Maroons.’ An unlucky name, as St. Louis and Indianapolis can testify.” From The Sporting Life, April 2, 1898. The name was in reference to the team’s accent color this year.
April 1898: “The Chicagos have discarded white stockings, and wear maroon.” From the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 21, 1898.
May 1898: “Would it not be sadly straining the truth to say the national game was dead or dying when 16,000 people could be cajoled into going out to the game at Chicago to see the Orphans beaten by the Browns Sunday?” From The Sporting Life, May 1, 1898. An example of the Orphans nickname in use. SABR member Ed Coen writes that “after the 1897 season, [manager Cap] Anson was fired from the team after 19 years at the helm. Thus, the team became known as the Orphans in 1898. Orphans continued as the accepted nickname through 1901.” From Ed Coen, Setting the Record Straight on Major-league Team Nicknames, SABR Fall 2019 Baseball Journal (2019).
1898, referenced in 1912: “The [Chicago] team continued to wear white stockings from the day of its organization until 1898.” From the New York Sun, November 3, 1912. Note that this statement was not entirely accurate as Chicago did not continuously wear white stockings since the time of their founding in 1870.
Team genealogy: Chicago 1874-
Chicago reformed after the Great Fire of October 1871 and rejoined the National Association (NA) in 1874 and 1875 after a two-year absence. The NA was baseball’s first league, operating 1871-1875. Chicago joined the National League (NL) at its formation in 1876 and the team has played in the NL every year since 1876. Information from Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875, from baseball-reference.com, and from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: September 11, 2020
Diggers on this uniform: Dan O'Brien, Ken Samoil, Mark Fimoff, Peter Reitan,