A baseball uniform is used to distinguish the role of the wearers in the sport. Most uniforms have a name and number usually located on the back to help identify the player. Shoes, jerseys, socks, caps, pants, and gloves are part of the baseball uniform.
But how did the baseball uniform come about?
Baseball uniforms were first introduced by the New York Knickerbockers in the year 1849. Their pants were made of wool; they wore white flannel shirts and straw hats. The wearing of a uniform soon took root and by 1900 every Major League Baseball team was wearing it.
Prior to that time, stockings that covered the player from foot to knee were also worn by uniform wearers. Different colors and styles were used to show the differences between team members. By the end of the century, each team would wear one of two different uniforms to differentiate between the home team and the away team. It became popular to wear white at home and black, dark blue, or gray on the road.
From this moment on, the uniform began to evolve. Teams began to make their uniforms even more unique by adding purple lines or changing their colors entirely. Some started with the stripes, which over the course of several years were made larger so fans in the stadium could see the difference. Some used to say that pinstripes were added to the New York Yankees uniform to make baseball legend Babe Ruth look slimmer, but since the team had been wearing the same pinstripes several years before he join them, the legend was a myth.
The first numbers added to uniforms were in 1916 by the Cleveland Indians. They had them placed on the left sleeve and it wasn’t until 1929 that the numbers made it to the back of the uniform. All major league baseball teams had numbers for the year 1932. It wasn’t until 1952 that the Brooklyn Dodgers were the first to add numbers to the front.
From the beginning, the logos were used to identify teams. Often times it was an Old English letter worn on the chest. Soon image logos started to be a popular team marketing site. In the 1930s, almost every team had their own logo or team nickname on their home jerseys.
Today, many uniforms sport both the new ideas of the baseball uniform and the old traditional style. Baseball and its uniforms are a big part of American history, and the traditional style is a fantastic part of baseball’s heritage.
