1889 Baltimore (Baltimores, Orioles)
These renderings are 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 renderings.
Rendering accuracy:Year: documented Team: documented
Visual documentation on these uniforms:
Photo A
Dated April 17, 1889. This drawing was printed in a Baltimore newspaper on this day and represented the new uniform. Full view at left, detail view at right. Drawing shows a striped shirt, dark pants, a dark cap, banded stockings and a banded belt. Newspapers described the uniform as being orange and black, with black pants. The drawing matches the uniform shown in the Old Judge baseball cards from this same year, see photos below. Image from the Baltimore Daily News, April 17, 1889.
Photo B
Dated 1889. Old Judge baseball card of T Quinn (89), full view at left, detail view at right. Year of photo can be confirmed as this was the only year Quinn played for Baltimore. The uniform matched a drawing printed in a Baltimore newspaper in April 1889, see photo A. Detail view showed stockings with thick horizontal bands, and quilted padding at the knees. Year Quinn with team from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo C
Dated April to early August 1889. Old Judge baseball card of P Whitaker (88, 89), full view at left, detail view at right. Year of photo can be confirmed as the photo background matches that shown in photo B. Photo date of April to early August 1889 can be determined as Whitaker was released from the team on August 13, 1889. Detail view shows striped shirt with three white buttons, and a belt with horizontal bands. Years Whitaker with team and transaction date from baseball-reference.com. Image from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Photo D
Dated 1889. Old Judge cabinet card of F Foreman (AA 85, 89, NL 92, AL 01, 02), full view at left, detail view at right. Year of photo can be confirmed as the uniform and studio setting matched that of the Old Judge image of player Quinn, see photo B. Uniform also matched a drawing printed in a Baltimore newspaper in April 1889, see photo A. Detail view showed a pillbox-style cap with a broad white horizontal band at the top of the cap. It is possible the entire top of the cap was white. Detail view also suggests that the cap had a braided cord above the bill of the cap. Year with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Tom Shieber.
Photo E
Dated June 1889. Year of photo confirmed by appearance of players Quinn and Hornung. Based on the ballpark in the background, this photo most likely taken in Philadelphia before a game against the Athletics. If the date of June 1889 in the photo caption is correct, this photo was made between June 23, 1889 and June 25, 1889. These were the only dates Baltimore played at Philadelphia during this month. Players in this photo most likely wore a light blue uniform with red stockings. This uniform was described in a newspaper account from the same month and year as the date attributed to this photo. All of the players wore a shirt with elbow-length sleeves. Two players also wore a white undershirt.
Top row, from left: M Griffin (87-89), C Fulmer (86-89), T Quinn (89), B Shindle (AA 88, 89, NL 92, 93), R Mack (89, 90) and F Foreman (AA 85, 89, NL 92, AL 01, 02). Front: B Cantz (88, 89), M Kilroy (86-89), B Cunningham (88, 89, 91), P Tate (89, 90), (B Barnie mgr 83-91), T Tucker (87-89), J Sommer (84-90) and J Hornung (89). Player IDs handwritten on photo. Years with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Mark Fimoff, SABR 19th-century Pictorial Committee. Original photo published in Athletic Sports in America, England and Australia (1889).
Dated June 1889. Detail view of photo E. Detail view shows city name on shirt with extra letter-spacing around the “I” in Baltimore as the word crossed the shirt opening. This lettering style was similar to that worn by the team in 1888.
Photo F
Dated November 19, 1889. This drawing of Baltimore pitcher M Kilroy (86-89), full view at left, detail view at right, was published in a newspaper on this date and was likely based on a photograph. The drawing was possibly a depiction of the 1889 Baltimore uniform. Player ID and image from the Boston Globe, November 19, 1889. Years Kilroy with team from baseball-reference.com. Image scan from Ed Morton.
Photo G
Dated 1890. This drawing of Baltimore pitcher M Kilroy (86-89), full view at left, detail view at right, was published in 1890 and may have been loosely based on a photograph. The drawing was possibly a depiction of the 1889 Baltimore uniform. Image from Bill Kirby, The Way We Were: baseball strikeout king Matt Kilroy won Augusta 1885 championship, published online in the Augusta Chronicle, May 12, 2022, and citing the Augusta Chronicle, 1890, no specific date given. Years Kilroy with team from baseball-reference.com.
Written documentation on these uniforms:
March 1889: “New Oriole uniforms […] are now in the hands of the tailor, and will be among the handsomest which have ever encased the athletic forms of ball players. The rig will consist of French flannel shirts striped with orange and black, black knee-breeches and belts, orange and black stockings and caps of the same colors. The outfit will remind the audiences of the days when the old Lord Baltimore aggregation met and conquered all the leading clubs of the country, and will also serve to give a more decidedly local coloring to the contests waged on the diamond. A change uniform of gray and maroon will be provided. The players will wear the gray uniforms which decked their figures last season [1888] during the exhibition games.” From the Cleveland Leader, March 19, 1889, page 3, citing the Baltimore Herald.
March 1889: “The club will have two styles of uniforms. One will be the oriole, which will consist of black and yellow shirts, stockings and caps. The pantaloons will be black. The other uniform will be gray shirts, caps and pantaloons. The stockings will be maroon. The letter B in maroon will appear on the shirt front.” From the Baltimore Sun, March 21, 1889.
March 1889: “The Baltimore papers favor orange and black as the Baltimore colors. It would serve to give the nine a distinctive character all over the country, and would especially fit with the team’s name of Orioles, besides reviving the glories of the old ‘Lord Baltimores,’ who wore the local colors, and, for time at least, did honor to them.” From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 21, 1889, page 8.
March 1889: “Not only will the Baltimores open the season on handsome new grounds but they will appear in two new styles of uniform. One costume will be the oriole colors of Lord Baltimore, consisting of black and yellow shirts, stockings and caps in solid black pantaloons. The other uniform will be gray shirts, pantaloons and caps with maroon stockings, and the letter B embroidered on the shirt bosom.” From the Philadelphia Times, March 24, 1889, page 16.
April 18, 1889, Baltimore v. Columbus, at Baltimore, home opener: “The Orioles look well in their new uniforms. The Columbus boys wear dark blue uniforms.” From the Baltimore Sun, April 19, 1889, page 4.
April 18, 1889, Baltimore v. Columbus, at Baltimore, home opener: “The Baltimores appeared in their new uniform of orange and black.” From the Philadelphia Inquirer, April 19, 1889, page 6.
May 1889: “The Baltimores, in their new uniforms, look like a lot of escaped convicts.” From the Philadelphia Times, May 26, 1889, page 16. A similar report was published in the New York Evening Telegram, May 28, 1889.
June 19, 1889, Baltimore v. Brooklyn, at Brooklyn, Washington Park: “[The Baltimores] have discarded the hideous orange and black uniform they appeared in on their last visit to Brooklyn, and looked much neater in their light blue suits with maroon stockings.” From the Brooklyn Times, June 20, 1889, page 4. Research from Clifford Blau.
Circa 1889, reported in May 1891: “Pitcher Frank Foreman, who has just signed with the Washington Club, paid a visit to his former home, in Woodberry [in north-central Baltimore], yesterday [on May 13, 1891]. In the afternoon he donned one of the old gray uniforms in which he did such successful work for the Orioles in 1889 and practiced at Union Park.” From the Baltimore Sun, May 14, 1891. According to baseball-reference.com, Foreman played for Baltimore in 1885 and 1889.
1889 Baltimore uniform summary
Uniform: black-and-orange striped shirt, black cap and pants, black-and-orange banded stockings
First worn:
Photographed: drawing from April, player portraits from year
Described: March-May
Material: flannel
Manufacturer:
Supposition:
Variations: orange may have looked yellow
Other items:
Home opener report: yes, April 18 v. Columbus
Uniform: light gray with red stockings
First worn:
Photographed: team photo from June 23-25
Described: March, June
Material:
Manufacturer:
Supposition:
Variations: light gray may have had a blue cast, may also have had shirt with letter B
Team genealogy:
Baltimore 1882-1899
Baltimore was formed to join the American Association (AA) in 1882. The AA was a major league operating 1882-1891. Baltimore played in the AA from 1882 to 1889 and then joined the Atlantic Association, a minor league, for the 1890 season. The team rejoined the American Association in late 1890 when the Brooklyn AA team failed. Baltimore played in the American Association for the 1891 season and when the AA folded, Baltimore was added to the National League (NL) for the 1892 season. The NL began operation in 1876. Baltimore played in the NL from 1892 to 1899. After the 1899 season, Baltimore was dropped by the league and the team disbanded. Information from wikipedia.
Rendering posted: October 29, 2020
Diggers on this uniform: Cliff Blau, Ed Morton, Mark Fimoff, Tom Shieber,