Gambo and T_Wil1 Photopack

[Chickazoola]

So the only known Union Association photos are the 1884 Boston Unions photo - taken in April-May 1884, the Washington Nationals photo taken in August 1884, and the portraits of several St. Louis Union players that appeared in Al Spink's The National Game in 1910.

[Chickazoola]

Here are the Boston Union and the Washington Nationals Union Association team photos.

I've also attached a nice photo of Abner Powell and Chris Fulmer, who appeared for the 1883 Chicago Unions, which operated as an independent club that year and joined the Union Association for 1884. I suspect they used the same uniforms both years based on existing descriptions.

For my book cover, I used a photo of the 1883 Washington Nationals (courtesy of cinemaodyssey) since it was nicer than the 1884 photo and featured many of the same players who appeared in the Union Association.

[Patsy Tebeau]

Wow thats so cool! I have never seen some of those, and i am especially amazed that there is an existing picture of the Chicago Unions! Good finds!

[Patsy Tebeau]

Originally Posted by t_wil1

John Bass

Just to clear things up, that image is not John Bass. It is Birchard Hayes, son of president Rutherford Hayes with the Croghan Base Ball Club in 1871.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by Chickazoola

So the only known Union Association photos are the 1884 Boston Unions photo - taken in April-May 1884, the Washington Nationals photo taken in August 1884, and the portraits of several St. Louis Union players that appeared in Al Spink's The National Game in 1910.

Are these actually from 1884, or were they from one of the subsequent seasons when the club was in the NL. I recall reading somewhere (great source, huh) that there were no known photos of the players with the 1884 club.

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by prewinter

Are these actually from 1884, or were they from one of the subsequent seasons when the club was in the NL. I recall reading somewhere (great source, huh) that there were no known photos of the players with the 1884 club.

The 1884 uniforms were described in the newspapers as having lace ties (rather than buttons).
https://www.threadsofourgame.com/1884-st-louis-ua/

The 1885 and 1886 uniforms were button-front. The team went out of existence after 1886.
https://www.threadsofourgame.com/1885-st-louis-nl/
https://www.threadsofourgame.com/1886-st-louis-nl/

The players in the photos are all wearing laced-up shirts, supporting the claim that these are 1884 images.

[Chickazoola]

Additionally, Dave Rowe and Jack Gleason were blacklisted for most of the 1885 season, as the American Association refused to reinstate them for jumping to the UA. They didn't join St. Louis until late in the season, so I suspect they wouldn't have been photographed in uniform in 1885.

[prewinter]

Originally Posted by RUKen

The 1884 uniforms were described in the newspapers as having lace ties (rather than buttons).
https://www.threadsofourgame.com/1884-st-louis-ua/

The 1885 and 1886 uniforms were button-front. The team went out of existence after 1886.
https://www.threadsofourgame.com/1885-st-louis-nl/
https://www.threadsofourgame.com/1886-st-louis-nl/

The players in the photos are all wearing laced-up shirts, supporting the claim that these are 1884 images.

That all makes sense. I never paid much attention to those photos as regards to what year they were from. Cool.

[Patsy Tebeau]

A much clearer photo of Pike. Written on the back is 'compliments (?) of your cousin, I.E. Pike'

[Patsy Tebeau]

A shot of Gelbert as a rookie with the Cardinals

[Patsy Tebeau]

I saw some people used photo enhancer apps on this forum a few years back so i thought I'd show off this one that I did a few months back.

[Patsy Tebeau]

A nice shot of Meyerle in 1872 in a Philadelphia Athletics uniform with a teammate. I'm not sure who the other one is so if you know feel free to say who it is.

[Patsy Tebeau]

Found this super rare shot of Pratt in 1868 with the Riverside of Portsmouth ball club

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by Patsy Tebeau

A nice shot of Meyerle in 1872 in a Philadelphia Athletics uniform with a teammate. I'm not sure who the other one is so if you know feel free to say who it is.

I am skeptical that this is an image of players from the Athletic team of the National Association of the 1870's. The 1872 uniform of the Athletic team had a plain white shirt, without an A monogram. In other National Association seasons, the shirt had ATHLETIC across the chest. There was an Athletic team based in Philadelphia 1866-1870 that had an A on their uniform, and there were other teams in other locations with similar monograms.

You can see renderings of the uniforms worn by the Philadelphia teams of the 19th century here: https://www.threadsofourgame.com/category/region/panj/#

[Patsy Tebeau]

It's a bit hard to tell given that the1872 rendering of the uniforms on threads of our game is only 1 and a half circles in the accuracy rating, and that the only photos I could find of them in 1872 was with them wearing those coats over the uniforms so it is possible it could have been them. I know 1873 has the word athletic across the chest as we can see in the studio photos but I think looking at what we can see from the images of the 1872 teams the top part of the shirts that are visible doesn't appear to have any sort of logo poking out where as these uniforms have them all the way at the top of the chest. The site I found it on had it labeled as so, and I think the one player does resemble meyerle a bit but the more I look into this I'm not entirely convinced myself so good catch there. Though there were occasions where they wore multiple uniforms like for example the Baltimore Canaries so we can also possibly assume there could be a missing documentation of another uniform but without solid proof I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by Patsy Tebeau

It's a bit hard to tell given that the1872 rendering of the uniforms on threads of our game is only 1 and a half circles in the accuracy rating, and that the only photos I could find of them in 1872 was with them wearing those coats over the uniforms so it is possible it could have been them. I know 1873 has the word athletic across the chest as we can see in the studio photos but I think looking at what we can see from the images of the 1872 teams the top part of the shirts that are visible doesn't appear to have any sort of logo poking out where as these uniforms have them all the way at the top of the chest. The site I found it on had it labeled as so, and I think the one player does resemble meyerle a bit but the more I look into this I'm not entirely convinced myself so good catch there. Though there were occasions where they wore multiple uniforms like for example the Baltimore Canaries so we can also possibly assume there could be a missing documentation of another uniform but without solid proof I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

Craig Brown, the illustrator of Threads of Our Game, is meticulous about including sources that support the uniform illustrations. These can be excerpts from contemporary newspaper articles or photos that have been carefully confirmed as showing a particular team. (Group photos are best for that purpose.)

There have been many photos and tintypes of old baseball players offered for auction or on ebay, with the claims that they are images of major league teams or well-known major league players, that have been debunked on sites like this one. In the 19th century and early 20th century, it was a standard practice for amateur teams to have at least one group photo taken each year, and especially in the 19th century, it was common for individual amateur players to go to a photo studio in uniform to get a keepsake of themselves. Most of the early baseball photos that turn up in estate sales and antique shops do not have famous players or teams in them.