1866 Excelsior, Brooklyn

This rendering is based on written documentation only for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known. However, the written documentation closely matches a related year where visual documentation is known and that visual documentation is the basis for this rendering.

Rendering accuracy:

Year: documented    Team: documented

Visual documentation on this uniform:
None

Written documentation on this uniform:
1866: “Blue pants with white cord; white shirts trimmed with blue, and the letter “E” in German text over the chest; white cap, trimmed with blue cord at bottom and blue braid at top, white vizor; belt, white enameled leather with word “Excelsior” in old English.” From Charles A. Peverelly, The Book Of American Pastimes (1866).

Team genealogy: Excelsior, Brooklyn, 1854-1870s
Excelsior was formed in Brooklyn, NY, in late 1854. The club was one of 16 charter members of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), baseball’s first organization, operating 1857-1870. Named after the New York State motto, Excelsior was noted for organizing one of the first baseball tours, traveling to upstate New York in 1860 and playing in Albany, Troy, Buffalo, Rochester and Newburgh. Excelsior retained amateur status with the advent of open professionalism in 1869 and ceased to play games competitively in the 1870s. The success and popularity of the club before the Civil War led to frequent use of the Excelsior name by other teams in all areas of the country. Info from William Ryczek, Peter Morris and others, Base Ball Founders (2013).