Good Sunday morning, Uni Watchers. So much for taking the weekend off…
This won’t be your typical weekend post — but it should be a fun one. If there’s any “breaking” uni news today, I’ll have it covered for you on Monday.
I’m back again today with Leo Strawn, who recently returned from a multi-year hiatus to bring us another installment of “Leo’s World”. IF you didn’t check that out, it’s well worth a few extra minutes of your time!
What follows is a quiz from Leo on obscure MLB uniforms and caps (nine questions). Leo has provided me with the answers, but I won’t post them with this article. I’ll post the quiz with the answers later on this afternoon, so after you’ve made your guesses, you can come back later to see how you did.
Ready?
Obscure Baseball Unis and Caps
by Leo Strawn
Years ago, I did some UW content on occasion. Decided to do a few for Phil during Paul’s August hiatus this year while resting my (mildly) injured back, so, without further ado…
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
This edition will focus on obscure baseball uniforms and caps. Some of these are hard sliders, but some are slow pitch softball tosses, so just give it your best and have fun with it, okay? (And, yes, being a Buckeye, I AM partial to the awesome wishbone C!!)
1. Which Major League club sported these beauties for road games in 1910?
2. This team wore what might be considered (by me, at least) the first (sort of) wishbone C in major league baseball. If these 1903 uniforms were worn as a throwback today, which club would be wearing them?
3. Who wore these gorgeous hooped pillbox caps at home in 1919?
4. What club wore these wishbone C caps for six seasons, 1965-69 & 1972? (Hint: The answer might come to you all of a “Sudden”.)
5. Who wouldn’t love to see these beautiful caps return as a throwback someday? Two teams *might* be able to claim this cap as a throwback (although for one of those, it would be a stretch), but which club wore it with road unis in the 1960s?
6. The one-time third Major League this team played in no longer exists, but their home ball park is still in use in MLB. What team is it?
7. A quarter of a century prior to the White Sox shorts experiment, this team tried them on for size. They were not in a Major League, but it was a very important league in terms of minor league history. Who wore these unis?
8. What Major League team wore these monochromatic beauties?
9. (This one is TOUGH. Photo and video will be available when the answers are posted. Kudos to anyone who knows or correctly guesses the answer.) What team was the last team to play a World Series in caps with no logo or other image identifying their location or nickname?
Extra inning. What else was unusual about that World Series?
And there you have it! Please post your answers/guesses in the comments below — and NO PEEKING at those answers posted before yours ;). I’ll have the official answer key in a separate post later today, so let’s see how you do!
Thanks to Leo for coming up with this fun quiz for a Sunday morning! Leo’s World will return a couple more times before my August run has ended, so if you enjoyed this, there are more in store.
1. St Louis browns- fleur de lis was a logo for them for several years
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Not sure, Cards?
4. Cleveland Indians- vest era in the 60s
5. Kansas City As.
6. Chicago Whales federal league
7. Hollywood Stars ( 2nd version)
8. Buffalo Blues federal league
9. 1944 st Louis browns
1. A St. Louis team, either Cardinals or Browns
4. Cleveland
6. Chicago Whales, Federal League , 1910s
The Cleveland Indians didn’t wear wishbone C caps in 1970-71? This I must investigate.
Ohhh, I see. He meant red caps.
1) St. Louis Browns
2) Chicago White Sox
3) St. Louis Cardinals
4) Cleveland Indians
5) Kansas City Athletics
6) Chicago Whales/ChiFeds played in Weeghman Park, now called Wrigley, Field in the Federal League.
7) Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League
8) Buffalo Blues/BufFeds of the Federal League
9) 1944 St. Louis Browns
Extra) The 1944 World Series was played entirely at Sportsman’s Park, since both the Cardinals and Browns shared the stadium, only the fourth time in WS history this has happened (1921+22 at Polo Grounds. 2020 in Arlington for Covid)
Extra extra) The minor league championship (The Little World Series) was played in Baltimore and had a higher attendance than this series. Ten years later, the Browns would become the Orioles.
These are some fun questions! I got most of them, and really like the one about the last team to go to the World Series with no logo on their cap. That Browns cap is famous, but it’s surprising to think that they were still wearing logo-less caps, something people usually associate with the pre-1920 era, as late as 1944.
It was definitely a fun quiz! I got 9/10 (counting the 9th question as two questions). Kinda bummed I missed one but Leo made the quiz pretty difficult.
Looking back at some of those olde tyme looks, there are definitely a few that could make a comeback in modern tailoring with just a couple minor tweaks.
1. Cincinnati Reds
2. St. Louis Browns
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Cleveland Indians & Sudden Sam McDowell
5. Kansas City Athletics
6. Chicago Whales – Federal League & Weeghman Park – now Wrigley Field
7. Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast
League
8. Buffalo
9. St. Louis Browns, 1944 played their crosstown rival Cardinals at a time when Major League Baseball was depleted of Star players because of WWII
Great quiz!
1. St. Louis Browns
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Don’t know, guessing Cardinals or Cubs
4. Sudden Sam McDowell of Cleveland!
5. K.C. Athletics, could be a throwback for Oakland/Las Vegas/Wherever Athletics or K.C. Royals (stretch)
6. Chicago Whales
7. Hollywood Stars of the PCL
8. Buffalo of the Federal League
9. 1944 St. Louis Browns
Extra: First WS played entirely west of the Mississippi River (not very far west, but still west). Browns’s only AL pennant. One of five WS played entirely in one ballpark. One of two WS (outside of New York) played in one city. (And there must be some other fascinating trivia associated with this WS as well.)
This was a great quiz! I suspect that for many, 10 was the easiest question. Additional to the various quirks of this series listed by Chris, this was the series in which WWII recruitment maximally affected big league rosters. If Earl Weaver Baseball and APBA cards are to be trusted, 1944 featured by far the weakest teams to ever contest a World Series.
1. St Louis Browns
2. Cleveland
3. No idea
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Kansas City A’s
6. Chicago Cubs-Wrigley Field
7. Hollywood Stars (PCL)
8. Buffalo Bison
9. No idea (before seeing other answers)
Sunday Funday! Thanks, Leo!
“5. Who wouldn’t love to see these beautiful caps return as a throwback someday? Two teams *might* be able to claim this cap as a throwback…”
I certainly would applaud its’ return (though maybe not strictly as a road option), but there’s only 1 MLB franchise that can claim it as their own, right? Hint: they no longer call KC home – but they used to – and made the baseball world a more colorful place by switching to green/gold prior to their departure.
StL Browns
Chi Sox
StL Cardinals
Cleveland I+%@&s
KC Athletics
Chi Whales
Hollywood Stars
Buffalo Bisons
StL Browns
All StL series.
Can someone please help revive my city?
1 – Browns
2 – White Sox
3 – Reds?
4 – Indians
5 – A’s
6 – Chicago Whales/Chi Feds
7 – Hollywood stars
8 – Buffalo… Bison(s)?
9 – Browns again
X – because it was during WWII and all the good players were in the military? Oh, also all the games were played in Sportsman’s Park because it was Browns vs. Cardinals
What happened to the Saints wearing throwbacks? Did I miss something? Thank you!
Please disregard my last comment. I was referring to last years post about the uniforms. Not sure how I missed the date of the article.
1. St. Louis Browns
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Washington Senators
4. Cleveland Indians
5. Kansas City Athletics
6. Chicago Whales
7. Hollywood Stars
8. Buffalo Blues (or Buffeds)
9. St. Louis Browns
All games played at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis
Fun quiz, I had 8 out of 10 thanks to a stack of books about old baseball and watching the Ken Burns series on the history of the game. I also love wishbone C hats, the Hiroshima Carp is the one that I am still looking for. I know it looks a lot like a classic Reds home cap, but the hue is slightly different, I think.
I have a Carp cap with that particular blue C, white outline on Red! Also has a stitched part just above the bill that says “Carp”, which is unfortunate, otherwise it would work as a Cleveland cap, too!
Throughout its history, the Carp has borrowed Cleveland/Cincinnati caps.