1897 Boston Beaneaters Logo
 

Hey everyone,

I recently completed a story on a circa 1897 Wright & Ditson wool football sweater on www.antiquefootball.com. I purchased the sweater last February. It was sold as a Bowdoin College football sweater. The team wore an identical style sweater in the late 1890's, but I couldn't identify any team photo in which a player had the same Gothic font "B". Bowdoin's track team used a Gothic B in the early 1900's, but it was a different font.

http://www.antiquefootball.com/aom/aom_nov18.htm

After additional searching, I came across photos of the 1897-1899 Boston Beaneaters on Net54. The "B" font is a very close match to the font on the sweater. My conclusion is that the sweater is likely period to the late 1890's (perhaps not Bowdoin) and that since it was manufactured by Wright & Ditson in Boston W&D used the same font used by the Beaneaters. My early W&D catalogs don't provide font examples like later catalogs do, so I don't know how to confirm this.

Another theory is that the sweater was purchased from W&D without the "B" and the team or the owner simply used the same font.

I'm curious if anyone on Net54 might know if Wright & Ditson manufactured the Beaneaters uniforms? Does anyone know whether or not logos like the Beaneaters "B" were provided by the manufacturer or if they were sourced from a third party? Any help would be appreciated!

Chris Hornung
AntiqueFootball.com

Hey Chris, I love your website.

I just wanted to mention that the possibility exists that the sweater was produced for hockey. Being that Wright & Ditson was prominent in the sport, and one of the earliest American stick retailers, the chance does exist. That, along with the fact that these early wool sweaters with high neck collars, simple felt emblems and no verso numbers were literally interchangeable between the sports, its something to consider.

I attached a link showing the 1907 Stanley Cup champion Kenora Thistles, and you'll notice how similar the styles are.
Maybe this information will help in your research.

Brent

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...d-stanley-cup/

Thanks Brent!

I did take note that these sweaters were worn by other athletes, and were really more of a letter sweater and warm up than specific to any one sport. In fact, there’s a Bowdoin baseball team photo from the early 1900’s where a couple of players are wearing these.

Wright & Ditson
 

1896 and 1899 Wright & Ditson baseball uniform team list.

Great info. Thanks so much Don!

You're welcome, Chris. I doubt that any team supplied any material to the making of a baseball uniform to the uniform company. I've never ran into it on any of my 1500 pre 1910 baseball uniform searches.

Some local teams with not much money might have had players make their own uniforms and you would see a lot of variations of the uniforms and lettering.

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