Good Tuesday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a pleasant Monday.
ICYMI, I had a couple of later articles yesterday, one of which was a pretty deep dive into the Cincinnati Bengals uniform history, and also an exploration of the latest upset fan burns team jersey episode (this one is an odd one).
Now then.
As he has for the past month and a half, Leo Strawn continues his look at early 20th Century baseball. So far, Mr. Strawn graced us with the The Old Ball Game (Volume 1), Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, and Volume 6. The series continues today with Volume 7.
Enjoy!
The Old Ball Game (Volume 7)
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
And welcome to the Roaring ’20s! As an artist, it’s one of my all time favorite periods thanks to Art Deco. I’ll share what I have regarding the aesthetics of the diamond from that decade.
I know this is odd and hopefully not too uncomfortable, but over the past few weeks I’ve talked about Addie Joss, Al Murnane and mentioned Win Mercer, and I have a couple more unfortunate baseball tragedies to begin this edition. Cleveland honored Ray Chapman with black armbands in 1920 when he died from a beanball on August 17 and further honored him by bringing the World Championship to Cleveland several weeks later.
When this photo was taken (1920, if I’m not mistaken), the Cardinals hadn’t used the birds and bat on jerseys yet. That would happen in ’22. It’s odd to see St. Louis wearing anything other than that, so I think photos like this are always a treat. HOFer Rogers Hornsby is on the left. The year after this photo was taken, 1921, was a stellar year for the player on the right, Austin McHenry, but sadly it would be the last full season. Another tragic baseball story, if you’re not familiar.
Not everything was dark in those days, though. Check out this absolutely stunning White Sox uniform worn by Hall of Famer Red Faber in 1920. Although he pitched for the Sox during the 1919 season, he wasn’t involved in the Black Sox scandal and earned his spot in Cooperstown in 1964.
The Philadelphia Athletics embraced the elephant on the front of their jerseys in 1920. Connie Mack didn’t wear this uniform, of course, but his coaches, Harry Davis and Danny Murphy did. According to Dressed to the Nines (on the previous link), these are green, but in my copy of the first edition of Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, the entry for the 1920 Athletics is blue, one of the two colors (along with red) they had used since their inception. Did I miss or overlook something? (None of the other navy AL teams from that season look that way on the website.) Is it a website error? Anyone have any info? The only other teams I am aware of that wore green in the first half of the 20th century were the 1910 Phillies and 1937 Dodgers. Can we add the 1920 Athletics to that list?
I’m not sure how this photo came to be. The first MLB ASG wouldn’t be played for nearly a decade after this pic was taken, so I can only assume this was a spring matchup between the Cubs and Chisox in 1924. This website says the Sox held spring training in Winter Haven, Florida that year and the Cubs trained in Avalon, California. Anyone know the story behind this?
Brad Bierman discussed this 1925 NL Golden Jubilee patch while sharing his collection with UW in May.
Check out the sock stripe pattern on the circa 1926-27 Giants. That link for Okkonen’s research shows it as red/white/blue/red/white/blue.
Speaking of sox, the White Sox wore white sox on their cap in 1926. (It was on their sleeve, too.) Looks good on Chief Bender!
This is one ugly Tiger head. I don’t understand why Detroit had two different heads that season. Similar angle, similar size.
The 1927 home jersey had a much better looking graphic. They should have just gone with this one.
The following season, Detroit’s road jersey had an unusual look. The front had “TIGERS” spelled out in a font they had never used before and they moved one of the 1927 tiger heads to the back of the jersey. Unfortunately, it was the ugly one.
The Boston Braves liked that idea and wore club-related imagery on their backs a year later and kept the look through 1930.
There’s something odd about abbreviating St. Louis without a “t”, don’t you think? This is Jimmy Austin with the Browns in 1929.
One last pic. This photo is from 1928, when Brooklyn revived the checked style for a season.
That will wrap up the Roaring ’20s. A look at the 1930s is coming up.
Until then…
Cheers!
Thanks, Leo — yet another fun one. Gonna disagree with you on the meth Tiger sported by Detroit — that was one of those “so bad it’s good” logos that really would never happen today. There’s just something so wonderful about a playful logo that wasn’t designed on a Mac and rendered with Brandiose-esque weighting and shading. Looking forward to Leo’s next look at the old ball game in the 30s!
Readers? What say you?
Nice job, Leo! I loved learning about those Tigers jerseys! I never knew teams had logos on the back.
The first MLB ASG wouldn’t be played for nearly a decade after this pic was taken, so I can only assume this was a spring matchup between the Cubs and Chisox in 1924.
A resonable, but incorrect, assumption. This was before a game in the 1924 post-season City Series between the Sox and Cubs. In 1924, the Sox won four games to two.
link.
The photo is from Cubs Park (it would be renamed Wrigley Field on December 3, 1926). The City Series was played at Cubs Park on even days in 1924, so the photo is from October 1, 3 or 5th, 1924.
It was played at Cubs Park on ODD days, not EVEN.
Yes. City Series were common, in the cities with both AL and NL teams, in years when neither of those teams made the World Series. I know the Cubs and Sox played them until the early ’40s.
This indeed was a gimme 10/17/1976, the expansion bowl. Seattle at Tampa Bay in both their first years of existence. Seahawks 13, Tampa Bay 10 at the Old Sombrero. Onew additional meeting in Seattle the following year and they wouldn’t meet again for almost 20 years.
Those Tigers jerseys are so fascinating to me. Why were the letters aligned like that? It looks like a mistake rather than a feature. Who came up with the idea to put the tiger head on the back? So many questions!
Also, while that tiger logo is ugly as can be, I do find it endearing as a result.
We never speak ill of the “cocaine tiger”.
That’s the smart move.
I agree, the “ugly tiger head” lends to the Art Deco look. Much less generic than the other one. If I was a Tigers fan this would be my favorite design on a T shirt.
GTGFTS: 26 Jul 2010, Tigers 0 – 5 Rays, Matt Garza’s no-hitter and the only no-hitter in Rays history.
GTGFTU: 17 Oct 1976, Week 6, Seahawks 13 – 10 Buccaneers. Both expansion teams were 0-5 going in, guaranteeing one of them their first-ever win.
Technically that’s not correct as both teams could have played to a draw.
Great article, Leo. Love this era of baseball. Beautiful photographs. Those Browns hats indeed look strange with just the SL, San Louis?
Perhaps they were thinking to abbreviate “Saint Louis” and went with “SL.” When “St. Louis” became more prevalent as the written form of the name, so did “STL” as the abbreviation.
As I understand it, the “Saint Louis” nomenclature refers strictly to the college whose mascot is the Billiken. In all other uses, the accepted spelling is “St. Louis”.
Leo again another great read. My question for you, I’m I correct to guess that White Sox lettering isn’t purple but a faded blue. The same purple hue appears on those jerseys when I looked up those uni’s on MLB Collectors. Mentions nothing about the White Sox using purple. Thanks again !
Leo again another great read. My question for you, am I correct to guess that White Sox lettering isn’t purple but a faded blue. The same purple hue appears on those jerseys when I looked up those uni’s on MLB Collectors. Mentions nothing about the White Sox using purple. Thanks again !
Great article with wonderful pics. Obviously those Tigers on the back uniforms stand out and I love the smiling Chief Bender sporting a great hat but my winner is the SL Browns hat. Would love to own one.
Leo, I really enjoy this series of articles, and thank you for the shout out.
“it’s one of my all time favorite periods thanks to Art Deco.”
That guy had a lot of great paintings, eh? Seriously, though, I like that era as well, which is why I love how the Guardians have leaned into that aesthetic. Just wish they had done it sooner, when I still went to baseball games.
You saved the best for last, Leo. Love that checked uniform!
If you’re a fan of Guess the Game from Uniforms, there is a bonus game located in the Auction Action that just published. Enjoy!
Leo always have to look at your World posts more than once! There is always something that leads me down a rabbit hole. Thanks!
Leo
Sincere condolences for your loss.
Respectfully
Howard