1885 Athletic, Philadelphia (Athletics)

These renderings are based on written documentation for uniform style and color. No visual documentation is known and an artist’s conceptualization is used to create the renderings.

Rendering accuracy:Year: documented    Team: documented

These renderings are included in the book, BASEBALL THREADS.

Visual documentation on these uniforms:
None

Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1885: “Gray is becoming a favorite color for baseball suits. The Athletic will have new uniforms of light steel-gray for midsummer work. The heavy gray suits worn the latter part of last season will be called into use during April.” From the Philadelphia Record, March 14, 1885. Research from Ed Morton.

May 1885: “The Athletic Club’s new suits are of white flannel, with blue caps, belts and stockings.” From The Sporting Life, May 6, 1885. Research from Ed Morton.

May 1885: “The Athletics’ new uniform has been by Westerners voted the prettiest and neatest of any club in the American Association.” From The Sporting Life, May 20, 1885. Research from Ed Morton. Athletic played on the road from April 24 to May 27, including a western swing through St. Louis, Louisville and Pittsburgh.

June 1885: “The uniforms of the various clubs in the American Association are as follows: Louisville, white with dark red stockings and caps; Cincinnati, white with scarlet stockings; Pittsburg[h], gray, with red stockings; St. Louis, white, with brown stockings; Athletics; white, with blue stockings; Baltimore, white pants, pink-striped caps and jackets and red stockings; Brooklyns, gray, with red stockings; Mets, blue suits, with white stockings.” From the Ellicotville (NY) Post, June 15, 1885. A similar report was included in The Sporting Life, June 17, 1885, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 20, 1885, and a research pamphlet by Preston Orem, Baseball From Newspaper Accounts, 1885 (early 1960s). Specific documentation was not provided by Orem but his finding most likely came from a newspaper from the June 1885 time period. Orem passage from John Thorn. Sporting Life research from Chuck McGill.

July 1885: “The reporters of this city [Philadelphia] made arrangements for their base ball match with the New York reporters on the Polo Grounds in New York tomorrow [July 8, 1885]. Mr. William Sharsig, of the Athletics, has offered the use of the new white uniforms of the Athletic Club and will probably be selected to umpire the game.” From the Philadelphia Times, July 8, 1885. Research from Ed Morton.

Team genealogy: Athletic, Philadelphia 1880-1890
Athletic was formed in Philadelphia, PA, in 1880 as a touring team and joined the American Association (AA) in 1882. The AA was a major league operating 1882-1891. Athletic played in the AA between 1882 and 1890. The team was expelled from the AA after the 1890 season and the team subsequently folded. The Philadelphia team of the Players’ League (PL) joined the AA for the 1891 season after the PL folded in 1890 and used the Athletic name. Information from wikipedia.

1885 Athletic summary

Uniform: white, light blue cap and stockings
First worn:
Photographed:
Described: March, May, June
Material: flannel
Manufacturer:
Supposition: cap style, shirt letter
Variations: may have worn dark gray uniform from 1884 in April
Other items:
Home opener report: none, April 18 v. Metropolitan