Mustaches in early baseball

[Rhotchkiss]

Below is a picture of a very cool cabinet from 1886 posted by a member for sale on BST. Notice that every single player pictured except one (1) has a mustache. 23 years later the t206 set comes out, and of the 524 possible card fronts, there is only one single player/front with a mustache (Titus). What happened that the stash went from “the look” to nada?

[mr2686]

That 1886 Cabinet is obviously mislabeled and should say the 1972 A's. LOL

[brass_rat]

Interesting question...

Here are some thoughts from the interweb...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moustache
"Moustache popularity in the 19th century peaked in the 1880s and 1890s coinciding with a popularity in the military virtues of the day."

From this reference article:
http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2015/11/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-military-moustache/

And there was this neat graph (although I have no idea how accurate it is...) from this GQ article:
https://www.gq.com/story/facial-hair-trends-over-time

[RCMcKenzie]

I think today's style is the James Harden, Dallas Keuchel look. I'm older so I go with the Miami Vice style...

We could be close to running out of topics on here..ha-ha

[Rhotchkiss]

That graph is wild! So many thoughts.... Regarding my original post, seems that mustaches were indeed the bees knees in the US when the cabinet came out.

[GeoPoto]

Hats in the stands were once universal but disappeared around WWll, before making a comeback as less fashionable, but more practical, baseball caps.

[MVSNYC]

Ryan, I mean look at the last 50+ years alone...

60's- Clean face
70's- Goatees/Beards
80's- Clean face
90's- Goatees
2000's- Clean face
2010's- Beards come back

[oldjudge]

Hats in the stands were once universal but disappeared around WWll, before making a comeback as less fashionable, but more practical, baseball caps.

The death of hats was really JFK. If my memory is correct he was the first President not to wear a hat in public.

[GaryPassamonte]

Ryan, I mean look at the last 50+ years alone...

60's- Clean face
70's- Goatees/Beards
80's- Clean face
90's- Goatees
2000's- Clean face
2010's- Beards come back


Moustaches were really king in the 1970s. There was a
lot of peach fuzz out there.

[mouschi]

I couldn't love this thread more! This has been in my head for quite some time. IIRC (and I could be wrong) but if you look at baseball cards from the turn of the century all the way up until the 70s, you'll be hard pressed to find any facial hair. My N28 Allen & Ginter set from 1887/88 only had a few folks w/naked upper lips.