Arriving April 2027 from Schiffer Publishing.
Introducing BASEBALL THREADS.
The Book of Early Baseball Fashion, 1849 to 1900.
by Craig S. Brown
Why do we need another baseball book? Here are 900 reasons why.
I am pleased to announce a forthcoming book, BASEBALL THREADS. It is based on the Threads Of Our Game project and within its pages you will find over 900 renderings of nineteenth-century uniforms. The book will be available from Schiffer Publishing in April 2027.
What’s inside?
BASEBALL THREADS will feature a host of uniform stories, a foreword by Dale Murphy, a tribute to Marc Okkonen, and team uniforms from every top league between 1871 and 1900. You’ll also find a gallery of uniforms grouped by city, as well as the suits of pioneer-era and African-American teams. Thanks to the generous research contributions of many who are reading this post, BASEBALL THREADS has the potential to become the definitive reference book on the subject.
BASEBALL THREADS has been created for the ardent baseball fan, the collector, the historian, the vintage baseball player, and all students of the game. This one-of-a-kind reference book shows how 19th-century baseball really looked, an era today that exists only as sepia tone. Now fans and historians alike can hold in their hands the true colors of the early game.
• See how the first recorded baseball uniform of 1849 looked, replete with long pants and a straw hat
• See the shockingly colorful stockings of the 1870s and the crazy striped uniforms of the 1880s, ones the players themselves called clown suits
• See the uniforms of early African-American teams, never before compiled and presented
• See a gallery of uniforms organized by city, and a year-by-year almanac of every top league from 1871 to 1900
Cover
Introduction
Tribute to historian Marc Okkonen
Uniform Stories
Uniform Gallery by City
Uniform Almanac
Early praise for a preview of BASEBALL THREADS:
“BASEBALL THREADS shows us what players wore—in color, no less!—in the game of my favorite century. Promises to be a marvel of a book.”
—John Thorn, Official Historian of Major League Baseball, author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden
“Though the photographs were black-and-white, BASEBALL THREADS proves that the uniforms were anything but. A kaleidoscope of shields, stripes, and stockings.”
—Michael Clair, writer mlb.com, author of We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball
“BASEBALL THREADS makes me salivate. Craig is the only writer doing this kind of work. His website is one-of-a-kind, impeccable, and just plain fun to read. His book will be a must-have for fans and collectors.”
—Thomas W. Gilbert, author of How Baseball Happened, Death in the Strike Zone, and a leading authority on baseball’s origins
“This book looks terrific in every way — beautiful, informative, with eye-opening research into the history of the game.”
—Todd Radom, author of The Ballpark and Beyond, Winning Ugly, and creator of some of the most familiar icons in professional sports branding
“The sheer work and research that goes into each uniform Craig covers is amazing. Needs to be seen to be believed.”
—Gary Cieradkowski, historian, artist, and author of The League of Outsider Baseball, and InfiniteCardSet.com
In 1992, when baseball historian Marc Okkonen published his seminal work, The Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, he created a new category of baseball fan: the uniform aficionado. Now over 30 years later, a companion piece is available for uniform lovers everywhere — one that dovetails with Okkonen’s study and that focuses on the game’s formative period, the 19th century.
The visual history of the early game has faded over time, literally and figuratively, and for many years the subject seemed too daunting to ever research and compile. No comprehensive study existed telling who wore what and when before 1900 — until now. Save a spot on your bookshelf for BASEBALL THREADS.
Look for further announcements coming soon about BASEBALL THREADS.
About the author.
Craig Brown is the creator of the online uniform database, Threads Of Our Game, featuring over 2,500 uniform renderings, each meticulously documented in tandem with leading historians and drawn by the author. Craig is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and was recognized by the organization in 2018 for “significant contributions to the knowledge and understanding of historical baseball imagery.” SABR has called Threads Of Our Game “possibly the best 19th-century baseball pictorial site in existence.” Craig is a design and marketing professional living in sunny Georgia.
Read recent posts by the author at the Threads News Feed blog here.
See what others are saying about the Threads Of Our Game website here.