Satin Baseball Uniforms

There's been a lot of chatter on sports sites recently about the Los Angeles Dodgers wearing 1940's "satin" throwbacks for six mid-week day games this season. The uniforms will have a similar look, but won't be made of satin; they will in fact be made of a poly/cotton blend.

With all this talk, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at the actual satin jerseys worn by major league clubs. The purpose of wearing the highly reflective satin uniforms was to make for better viewing during night games. 

Along with the Brooklyn Dodgers, satins were worn by the Boston Braves, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals: all National League teams. The book Smithsonian Baseball also refers to the Chicago Cubs having worn satin jerseys. While digging around for information on this subject, I found that the Cubs originally wanted to erect lights at Wrigley Field in 1942. This plan was scrapped because of the United States involvement in World War II and the lights were donated to the government. Another site, cpc baseball trivia, mentions that the Cubs did wear satins in the early 1940's.

I found one other minor league team that wore satins. That was the Brooklyn Dodgers AAA farm team the Montreal Royals. Because all the pictures I have found show Jackie Robinson, I can only assume these were worn in 1946.

The most well known satin jersey-wearing team is the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers debuted their satin uniforms on May 12th, 1944. Many reference spots indicate that the satin look was shelved after the season and came back in 1948. I found one photo from the 1950s on Baseball Fever showing the Dodgers wearing satin (shown below). Long time Dodger announcer, Vin Scully has said that the Dodgers managers and coaches made a habit of wearing them in spring training. In all I have found four different style satins worn by the Dodgers: home white, baby blue, dark blue and the 1950's home white minus satin-sleeve striping. All of the labels from these jerseys show them as being made by Wilson.

The Boston Braves first wore their satins on May 11th, 1946. Below is a Sporting News photo showing the team in the dugout on that historic night. I believe the Braves wore satins for at least one more season, possibly two. This is because three of the jerseys I found listed in auction catalogs belong to players Earl Torgeson, Clyde Shoun and Jim Prendergast. They didn't join the club until 1947 or 1948. The photo of Sibby Sisti wearing satin is dated 1948. The Braves uniforms were manufactured by Horace Partidge, a local sporting goods company.

According to two sources, the Cincinnati Reds were the first team to wear satins in 1935. One of those sources was an issue of Baseball Digest from June 1963 (shown below). It says the Reds worn shinny red bloomers in the first Major League game ever under the lights against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 24th, 1935. I've looked at newspaper photos from that game and don't see any evidence of shinny red bloomers anywhere. I did find the photo below of Joe Cascarella on Getty Images from 1937. I also found a Hunt Auction for Ray Mueller's satin hat from 1947-48.  Even though I haven't seen any labels, the Reds uniforms were apparently manufactured by Goldsmith.

According to baseball historian Marc Okkonen, the St. Louis Cardinals jersey below is from the 1941 season. The only other item I found regarding the St. Louis Cardinals' satin uniforms was also on cpc baseball trivia. Here it says in the spring of 1946, Cardinals management bought red satin uniforms for night games. Cards manager Eddie Dyer thought they were gaudy and he rejected them. They were later sold off to a local sportsman who donated them to a local team.

Below are photos that I found showing the Montreal Royals wearing satins. I also find it interesting in some of the photos how the players are wearing mix and match hats. I haven't been able to find any info about the Royals wearing satins.

Below is Leroy Parmelee's 1940s American Association All-Star satin uniform.

Here are a few pages from a 1943 Post Sporting Goods catalog showing satin hats and jerseys. 

In the end, satin uniforms had a short life in baseball history. Players felt they were too hot and not durable enough for everyday usage. It would be nice to see the Los Angeles Dodgers actually wear throwbacks made of satin.

Jane Russell (1921-2011)

Duke Snider (1926-2011)

Duke Snider, elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980 following an 18-year major league career in which he hit 407 home runs, passed away on Sunday morning from natural causes at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, Calif. He was 84.

Born September 19, 1926 in Los Angeles, Snider made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Once he assumed duties as the club's every day center fielder, Snider totaled 20 home runs in nine straight seasons, from 1949-1957, hitting a league-best 43 in 1956, and finishing as the National League Most Valuable Player runner-up in 1955, helping to lead the Dodgers to their only World Series victory.

A graceful fielder with a picture-perfect swing, Snider anchored six pennant-winning teams and clouted 11 World Series home runs, including four in 1952 and 1955, while driving in 26 runs in the Fall Classic. An eight-time All-Star, Snider led the league in runs scored in three straight seasons, 1953-55.

Snider's Dodgers tenure spanned 11 seasons in Brooklyn (1947-1957), followed by five seasons in Los Angeles (1958-1962) following the team's move West for the 1958 campaign. Snider played one season each with the Mets (1963) and Giants (1964).

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on his 11th ballot in 1980.

 

WWII Homefront Workers

Here's a lot of photos I picked up a while back showing industrial homefront workers during WWII.

Vintage Scovill Demin/Workwear Button Cards

Here's a few vintage Scovill denim/workwear button cards that I picked up a few years back.

Founded in 1802 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Scovill is one of the country's old operating companies.

Along with denim and workwear, the Scovill mark can be found on military garments dating back to the War of 1812. To read more on Scovill's history click here. The company's site can be found here.

Spring Training

Spring is in the air. Today is the first official day of Spring Training.

The annual event is almost as old as baseball itself with accounts of teams traveling south in the spring as early as the 1870s. Back then teams trained all over the south in places like Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

Today teams set up camp in cities throughout Arizona (Cactus League) and Florida (Grapefruit League).

For some more insight on spring training check out Spring Training Online 2011

If you're a true baseball fan, you owe it to yourself to head south in the spring and experience spring training. In 1983 I went with my parents to Florida. We started on the east coast and then looped around and hit the west coast and finished in the middle of the state. I was able to pick up a ton of autographs and meet players in a much more relaxed atmosphere. One of the best experiences was in Winter Haven, where the Red Sox trained. It was here that I got to meet Ted Williams. The team had already left for a road and only a few players and staff stayed behind. Williams was here as a hitting instructor. I got to sit next to him outside the clubhouse and talked to him about his book, The Science of Hitting. It was a trip I'll never forget.