show your 19th century cards

[Leon]

Our friendly board member Jo.ann Kli.ne sent over these pics....and here is a bit of commentary on them-

"The team is the Red Apron Nine from 1886, or at least that's what's indicated on the back. I tend to believe that's true. I believe that this photo was taken with the women dressed as they played. Part of the reason I think this is because there is some baseball equipment and they are wearing similar hats. Mostly, though, it's because you can see, if you look closely, that they are all wearing aprons - their front skirt is a slightly different color than the rest of their dresses. Given that no one was plowing money into uniforms for female teams at this time, one of the cheapest ways to accomplish a uniform look would have been to wear aprons. Like, red aprons.

So I think they are wearing red aprons in this photo, along with hats and some equipment. And because of that, I think that the photo shows them as they played. And THAT makes this one of the very very few images I've seen that shows women in full long-skirt uniforms. The 1866 Vassar photos (fairly well-known) also shows long skirts. But that's about it. Even by 1890, the Franklin Young Ladies Base Ball Club cabinet shows them in shorter skirts and leggings/stockings.

I think this is very cool for that reason - playing in long skirts!"