1874 Chicago (Chicagos, White Stockings)

This rendering is based on written documentation only 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

This rendering is included in the book, BASEBALL THREADS.

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Dated 1875. Illustration of the Chicago uniform, full view at left, detail at right, from the Catalog of All Kinds of Fine Sporting Goods, by James F. Marsters, Brooklyn, New York (1875). Illustration depicted a sculpted bib with a serif “C” in the center and green trim, green stockings, a banded belt, and green ribbing on the cap. There is no documentation from this year (or any) to suggest the Chicago team had green as an accent color. Image scan from commons.wikimedia.org. Image link from Jonathan Popovich. Reports from 1875 stated the Chicago team had the city name on the shirt. Therefore this illustration may be a depiction of the 1874 uniform.

Written documentation on this uniform:
1874: “New [Chicago] uniform of white cap, a white shirt with broad blue collar and blue wristbands, and white corduroy knee britches with blue cord on the side seams.” From Paul Batesel, Players And Teams Of The National Association, 1871-1875 (2012). No support documentation given.

March 1874: “Each professional nine should have a color and uniform of its own. New York has the green, Boston the red, Philadelphia Athletics the blue, Chicago the white, Hartford will have gray or brown, and Baltimore should have the yellow.” From the New York Clipper, March 28, 1874.

April 1874: “Much trouble has been caused by the question of how the new nine shall be uniformed. At first it was determined to dress the boys in a sort of half mourning, which everybody who saw it disliked, and accordingly it was resolved to make an entire change in the style of dress, and consequently a new uniform has been devised. The shirt, pants, cap, shoes, and stockings are of purest white, emblematic, no doubt of the virgin purity of the wearers. The belt will be of blue. This uniform is […] much preferable to the nondescript suit which it was at first intended.” From the Chicago Weekly Post and Mail, April 2, 1874, page 4. Research from Ed Morton.

April 1874: “A letter was received yesterday [April 4] by the corresponding secretary of the Empire Base Ball Club from the manager of the Chicago White Stockings, stating that the terms offered them were satisfactory, and that, if agreeable to our clubs, the Chicago ‘White Legs’ would visit us week after next, and play the Empires Tuesday, 21st instant, the St. Louis Reds, Thursday, 23d, and the Empires again on Saturday, the 25th instant.” From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 5, 1874, page 3.

April 1874: “[The National Association teams are] the Reds of Boston, the Whites of Chicago, the Pearls of Philadelphia, the Athletic Blues, the Baltimore Canaries, the Mutual Greens, and the Hartford Grays for 1874.” From the New York Clipper, April 11, 1874.

May 1874: “The uniform of the Chicagos is by no means a pretty one, being easily soiled, and in poor taste, consisting as it does of white corduroy pants, and stockings, caps and shirts of the same color, the latter being adorned with a very large blue collar, sailor fashion.” From the Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, May 17, 1874. Research from Richard Hershberger.

June 18, 1874, Chicago v. Mutual, New York, at New York: “[Chicago had] elaborate uniforms from the most fashionable tailor of Chicago, elegant Russian calfskin shoes sewed with nice yellow thread and adorned with fancy tassels.” From Preston D. Orem, Baseball 1845-1881 From Newspaper Accounts (1961). No specific documentation given by Orem other than mid-June time period. Exact game date from retrosheet.org.

1874, referenced in April 1875: “The White Stockings are having their new uniforms made [for 1875]. They will not differ from those of last year [1874], except that the word ‘Chicago’ will appear on the shirt fronts.” From the Chicago Inter Ocean, April 10, 1875. Research from Ed Morton.

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.