1876 scorecard in REA

[GaryPassamonte]

This scorecard just sold for a crazy price of $5500. excluding BP in REA. What was unusual about this particular scorecard was the colors listed below the name of each Chicago player. It has always been thought that 1882 was the first and only year players wore jerseys color coded by position. It would seem that this idea was also tried in 1876. Has anyone ever seen another scorecard with similar "color" notations?

[bmarlowe1]

Amazing - I've never heard of this.

[Dto7]

The 1888 Pittsburgh Alleghenys wore different colored hats in August 1888.

[johnmh71]

It is news to me too. It must have been interesting to watch a game back then with everyone wearing a different color jersey or hat.

[oldjudge]

Gary--as someone who bid on this scorecard, I think your characterization of the price it went for being crazy is, to coin a term, crazy. On the contrary, I think it is one of the most important scorecards in existence. To put this in context, by 1875 William Hulbert was convinced that eastern baseball powers in the National Association were conspiring against western teams. After the 1875 season he spirited Al Spaulding, Cap Anson, Deacon White and Ross Barnes to Chicago and then orchestrated the formation of the National League. On May 30, 1876 Boston met Chicago for their first National League game. This was the first time that Al Spaulding played against his former team, and marked the first battle of the two baseball powers of the early years of the league. Today, 138 years after the National League was formed, only two franchises have had uninterrupted National League membership, making them the oldest National League franchises-the Cubs and the Braves--and this is the scorecard from the first time they met.
As for your question about the colors listed with the Chicago player's names, in 1876 the Chicago team had each player wear a different colored fez like hat (no tassel). The program shows the color each player wore.

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

As for your question about the colors listed with the Chicago player's names, in 1876 the Chicago team had each player wear a different colored fez like hat (no tassel). The program shows the color each player wore.

The Threads of Our Game website has further information about the Chicago uniforms in 1876: http://www.threadsofourgame.com/1876-chicago/