A baseball uniform is clothing that baseball players wear during games. Like other uniforms, it identifies the group in which they are members, in this case their baseball team. Most baseball uniforms have the last names and uniform numbers of players who wear them. The names and numbers are usually on the back to identify each player. Baseball shirts, pants, shoes, socks, caps, and helmets are parts of the uniform. Players also wear gloves, but they are not part of the uniform, because players can choose their own gloves. Most uniforms have different logos and colors to show which team the player is on.
The New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club wore the first baseball uniforms in the 1840s. Their uniforms were blue wool pants, white flannel shirts, and straw hats. Since then, uniforms have changed often. More items, ideas, and many other improvements were done and added to these uniforms over the years. Their style also changed, little by little over time.
History
Creation
On April 4, 1849, the New York Knickerbockers became the first team to use uniforms. In 1882, different colors that showed the different fielding positions of each player were added on uniforms and stockings (clothing covering the foot and lower part of the leg). In 1888 and 1889, the Detroit Wolverines and Washington Nationals of the National League and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms of the American Association added stripes to their uniforms. By 1900, all players in Major League Baseball teams were using uniforms.
Home and road uniforms
By the end of the 19th century, baseball teams started wearing two different uniforms. They wore one uniform when they played in their own baseball stadium (called "home games", "playing at home") and another when they played at another team's baseball stadium ("away or road games", "playing on the road"). It became normal to wear white at home and either gray, solid dark blue, or black colors on the road. In 1907, the Brooklyn Superbas used a blue pattern for their road uniforms. The New York Giants later used a pattern almost the same as to what the Brooklyn Superbas used on their road uniforms.
In 1916, on the Giants' uniforms, many purple lines gave them a tartan-like color. At this time, another kind of road uniform was a solid dark blue or black material with white. In 1963, Charles O. Finley changed his Kansas City Athletics home and road uniforms. They were changed to the colors of gold and green. In the 1970s, some teams used light blue for their road uniforms.
Pinstripes and numbers
Pinstriping (long vertical stripes along uniforms) were created in the 19th century. They were first worn on some major league baseball team's uniforms in 1907. The pinstripes were soon widened in 1912, so that people could see them more easily. Pinstriping was used again when the Brooklyn Bridegrooms started to wear them in 1907, 1916 and 1917. During that time when the striped uniforms were made again, other things for the baseball uniform were added, such as satin. The team that often wore pinstripes was the New York Yankees. They were first used in 1912. But the Yankees' pinstripes (on their home uniforms) have become a symbol of the Yankees. Because of that, books about the Yankees started to be made with pinstriped covers.
Numbers were first added to uniforms by the Cleveland Indians in 1916. In 1929, numbers were first added on the backs of baseball uniforms by the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians baseball teams. By the 1930s, it was normal for baseball uniforms to have numbers on them. The Yankees were one of the first baseball teams to wear uniform numbers. This was because of their normal position in the New York Yankee's batting order (Babe Ruth 3, Lou Gehrig 4, etc.).
By 1932, all major league baseball teams had numbers on their player's baseball uniforms. The numbers were on the backs of the shirts, with the team name or logo on the front. But in 1952, the Brooklyn Dodgers were the first team to put numbers on the fronts of baseball uniforms. As players began to have their own numbers on their uniforms, "retiring" a number of special baseball players started to happen. While testing new ideas to add to baseball uniforms, new designs and ideas were created. For example, the Houston Astros of the 1970s and 1980s, added numbers on the fronts of pockets on pants as well as on the back of their shirts.