1900 New York (New Yorks, Giants)
Left: 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
Right: 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
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated April 28 or April 30, 1900. Year of photo confirmed by the appearance of manager Ewing, who only managed in New York in 1900 and resigned on or about July 11, 1900. A photo date of April 28 or April 30 can be suggested by the location of the photo in combination with Ewing. The style of the grandstand in the background of the image suggests the team was photographed at Philadelphia. New York played two series in Philadelphia with Ewing as manager, April 28, 30, and June 15-19. The June dates can be dismissed as this photo was published in the Philadelphia Record on June 6, 1900. The Philadelphia location would suggest the team was wearing a light-gray road uniform, however it was also possible the team was wearing a white uniform in this photo. The buttoned shirt had the city name arched across the front in dark-colored lettering. This lettering was heavier and more square in style when compared to previous years. The cap was light gray or white in color and had a rounded crown. The stockings were dark in color. A newspaper in 1900 implied that both the home and road stockings were black in color, and described the road uniform as “gray of a very pretty tint.” The majority of the eleven players shown in the photo wore a shirt with short sleeves and sleeve extensions. Several players wore regular full-length sleeves, several wore ¾-length sleeves, one wore short sleeves with a dark undershirt, and one wore a dark sweater over his uniform. Four of the eleven players in this photo wore their shirt collar styled up.
Top row, from left: G Davis (93-01, 03), E Doheny (95-01), P Hawley (00) and C Hickman (00, 01). Middle: K Selbach (00, 01), G Van Haltren (94-03), W Mercer (00), (B Ewing mgr 00), J Doyle (92-95, 98-00, 02) and K Gleason (96-00). Front: J Warner (96-01, 03, 04) and M Grady (98-00). Player IDs from the Philadelphia Record, June 6, 1900, and from Ken Samoil. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Approximate date of Ewing resignation from The Sporting Life, July 21, 1900. Note that only eleven players were shown in this photo. Most teams carried up to 17 players on their roster in 1900 and it is unknown why the missing players were not included in the photo. Box scores showed that all of the players in the team photo played in the April 28 and April 30 games. One additional player, P Foster (98-00), participated in the April 28 game but was not included in the photo. Also note that in this image a retouch artist had removed the grandstand seating behind the players. It was this version that was published in the Philadelphia Record. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Original image from C. M. Gilbert, Philadelphia.
Dated April 28 or April 30, 1900. Detail view of photo A. Detail view showed that the top button of the shirt was positioned on a tab that encircled the neckline, and that the letter “Y” in New York was centered on the button placket. Also note that the cap had a rounded crown and a large button at the top.
Dated April 28 or April 30, 1900. Another detail view of photo A, showing the uniform worn by G Davis (93-01, 03). Detail view showed that the top of the shirt had a sewn tab encircling the neckline under the collar. Detail view also showed that a shirt button was positioned just above the letter “Y” in the city name. Years Davis with team from baseball-reference.com. Detail view from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, NY.
Photo B
Dated 1900. Studio portrait of W Mercer (00), full view at left, detail view at right. Photo date determined by fact that this was the player’s only year in New York. Player wore a light gray uniform in this photo. Detail view showed that the top of the shirt had a sewn tab encircling the neckline. Detail view also showed the letters sewn onto the shirt. This lettering was heavier and more square in style when compared to previous New York uniforms. All of these uniform features matched those shown in photo A, above. Image scan and player ID from Hunt Auctions. Image research from Ken Samoil. Year Mercer with team from baseball-reference.com. Original image by Elmer Chickering, Boston.
Photo C
Left, portrait of J Warner (96-01, 03, 04) published in The Sporting Life on June 2, 1900, and right, original photo made in 1898. This is an example of a portrait from a previous year being published several years later. The style and color of the cap as well as the lettering on the shirt did not match the uniform shown in a team photo from 1900, see photo A. Years Warner with team from baseball-reference.com.
Photo D
Dated September 21, 1900. This portrait of D Murphy (00, 01), full view at left and detail view at right, was printed in a newspaper on this date. The image was most likely taken in mid-September 1900 as Murphy signed with New York at this time and played his first game on September 17. Player wore a white or light gray shirt and cap in this photo. Note that the lettering on the shirt did not match that shown in photo A, and more closely matched that worn by the team in 1899. Possibly this was a uniform from 1899 that was put back into use. Detail view at right showed that the cap with a rounded crown, a dark cord above the brim, and a larger than normal button on top, similar to that shown in photo A. Image and player ID from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 21, 1900. Years Murphy with team from baseball-reference.com. Signing info and date of first game from The Sporting Life, September 22, 1900. Image scan and publish date from Ken Samoil.
Photo E
Dated October 28, 1900. This portrait montage was printed in a newspaper on this date. It featured ten New York players who participated in a series of exhibition games against Brooklyn in Havana, Cuba. Full view at left, detail view of player C Seymour at right. Players were photographed wearing a light gray uniform with thick black lettering across the chest. This uniform was very similar to that shown in photo A. Note that the portrait of player Mercer, lower right, was the same image as shown in photo B, possibly suggesting these portraits were made specifically of the New York players who traveled to Cuba. According to researcher Brian McKenna, “twenty-two members of the Brooklyn and New York National League clubs took off for Havana from New York on October 27, 1900. The trip was a financial failure in Havana, prompting ten members of the group to return home on November 17.” McKenna listed the early returnees from the New York team as O’Brien, Daly, Foster, Davis, Seymour, Grady and Hickman, and that the remaining New York players, Gleason and Mercer, returned with the rest of the players on November 30. Researcher Steven Holbrook noted that the trip was organized by Brooklyn secretary, Thomas C. Simpson, and that George Davis acted as the New York manager.
Clockwise from top left: J Doyle (92-95, 98-00, 02), P Foster (98-00), K Gleason (96-00), G Davis (93-01, 03), C Seymour (96-00), T O’Brien (NY 99, Pit NL 00), C Hickman (00, 01), W Mercer (00), M Grady (98-00) and P Hawley (00). O’Brien played for Pittsburgh in 1900 and was shown in the montage wearing street clothes. This portrait was also published in The Sporting Life on April 28, 1900, with the caption “Outfielder Thomas O’Brien, of Pittsburg[h].” The studio background in The Sporting Life portrait was flat with no undulation, while the version included in the montage above had a painterly background that matched the other portraits. Montage and player IDs from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 28, 1900. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Ken Samoil. Info from McKenna and Holbrook from baseball-fever.com. Original portraits by Elmer Chickering, Boston.
Photo F
Dated early November 1900. Photo of players from the New York and Brooklyn teams who participated in a series of exhibition games in Havana, Cuba. The New York players wore a gray uniform in this photo, with gray caps, dark lettering on the shirts and dark stockings. This lettering on the shirts was very similar to that shown in photo A, suggesting the team wore their regular uniforms from the 1900 season. One New York player, seated lower left, wore a dark gray cap. The Brooklyn players wore white uniforms and white caps in this photo. The photo caption translates as “group of players from the Brooklyn and New York clubs.” For more information on the Cuban tour, see photo G.
Three New York players wearing gray uniforms in third row from top: J Doyle wearing a dark sweater (92-95, 98-00, 02), W Mercer (00) and at far right, P Foster (98-00). Four New York players in gray uniforms in front row: M Grady (98-00), G Davis (93-01, 03), C Hickman (00, 01) and K Gleason (96-00). The gentleman in street clothes seated in the middle was most likely Thomas C. Simpson, Brooklyn secretary and tour organizer. Player IDs, image scan and publication info from Ken Samoil. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Original image published in the Cuban periodical El Score, January 6, 1901.
Photos G & H
Published in 1901 as a recap of 1900. Left: M Grady (98-00), photo date undetermined. Right: D Murphy (00, 01), photo date mid-September 1900. These portraits are two detail views of a printed photo montage (full view not shown) of the 1900 team. The Grady image showed a white or light gray pillbox cap and a white or light gray shirt with dark lace ties. The Murphy image was the same as shown in photo C. Image and player IDs from the Spalding Baseball Guide 1901, which was published as a recap of the 1900 season. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.
Photo I
Published in 1901 as a recap of 1900. Left to right, P Foster (98-00), C Seymour (96-00) and E Doheny (95-01). This is a detail view of a printed photo montage (full view not shown) of the 1900 team. All three images in the montage were from the 1898 New York team photo and were not made in 1900. In each portrait the original background behind the player had been removed. Image and player IDs from the Spalding Baseball Guide 1901, which was published as a recap of the 1900 season. Years with team from baseball-reference.com.
Photo J
Drawings of the 1900 New York uniforms by baseball historian Marc Okkonen. Note that Okkonen has depicted dark blue stockings for the road uniform and a small “NY” on the road cap. Photos of the road uniform from the following year of 1901 showed that New York wore a “NY” on their caps during this season. To date no documentation has been discovered to confirm they wore a similar cap in 1900. Additionally, the city name Okkonen depicted on the shirt was more similar to the lettering found in photographs of the 1898 New York uniform. As detailed above, the lettering on the 1900 uniforms was heavier and more square when compared to other years. Drawings from the Dressed To The Nines uniform database at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum website, and retrieved February 19, 2022.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1900: “The tailor who is to make the uniforms for the [New York] team this year was present and took measure of the players who reported. The traveling uniform will be gray of a very pretty tint. The home uniform, of course, will be white flannel. Black stockings and black caps will be worn with the uniform. It has been decided to abolish sweaters, and the players this year will wear coats.” From the New York Telegram, March 29, 1900. Research from Ed Morton. This report implied the team wore black caps and black stockings with both uniforms. However subsequent reports implied the team wore white caps at home.
April 19, 1900, New York v. Brooklyn, at New York, Polo Grounds, home opener: “The appearance of the new Giants as they tripped blushing in the newness upon the sward [i.e., an expanse of short grass] was the signal for a rousing welcome. They looked spick and span as a bright new tin growler [i.e., beer container] in immaculate white panties and black hose […] opera cloaks of white with gray collars and cuffs. After many years of black sweaters the innovation made the rooters gasp with amazement.” From the New York Evening World, April 19, 1900. Research from Ed Morton.
April 19, 1900, New York v. Brooklyn, at New York, Polo Grounds, home opener: “The New York players looked like a collection of elongated ghosts. Every man of them was in white, even to a white jacket. The only relief to the eye was found in the black stockings.” From the New York Evening Telegram, April 19, 1900. Research from Ed Morton.
April 19, 1900, New York v. Brooklyn, at New York, Polo Grounds, home opener: “The crowd was on hand early and there was a large assemblage when the New York players walked slowly up from the clubhouse to the diamond. Ewing, the new manager, was in with his eighteen white uniformed men.” From the New York Sun, April 20, 1900. Research from Ed Morton.
April 19, 1900, New York v. Brooklyn, at New York, Polo Grounds, home opener: “The bulky form of Amos Rusie was not one of the white-clad squad.” From the New York World, April 20, 1900. Research from Ed Morton. The report said the Rusie “did not report yesterday to his manager. It was a little like the play of ‘Hamlet’ with Hamlet left out.”
Team genealogy: New York 1883-1957
New York joined the National League (NL) in 1883, with many of its players coming from a disbanded NL team in Troy, NY. The NL began operation in 1876 and this New York team played in the NL from 1883 to 1957. The team moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season. Information from wikipedia.com.
Rendering posted: February 19, 2022
Diggers on this uniform: Brian McKenna, Ed Morton, Ken Samoil,