This year the Cardinals are slated to play the Giants at historic Rickwood Field for a Negro League throwback game. There is no doubt this will be an awesome event at an awesome historic site. I always love when there are Negro League tributes incorporated in, mainly because the NNL at certain points in history outperformed the NL and AL, both in skill of play and in ticket sales! Plus, St. Louis has a storied tradition of producing great Negro League Hall of Famers, some of whom never got the chance to prove their full worth in the National League and American League.
The game is happening on June 20, 2024, and it’s going to look amazing on national television, BUT, it could look better, here’s how.
Dating back to 1997, the Cardinals have periodically worn throwback uniforms honoring the St. Louis Negro League teams. While some of these uniforms look great, we struggle to find the authenticity of any of them. We want to take a glance into those uniforms to show the real authenticity of the St. Louis Negro League teams, so maybe one day, our research here will garner some attention that will lead to accurate throwbacks on national television that truly honors the Negro Leagues.
Before reading on, if you want to see more about the uniforms of the St. Louis Giants and St. Louis Stars, please check out our Negro League section where we have a bunch of authentically drawn uniforms along with historic photographs to corroborate.
The images on the left are going to be the throwback uniforms, the images on the right are going to be our recreations as authentic as we could get based purely on historical photography.
1997 was the first time we saw the Cardinals wore Negro League throwbacks. They wore uniforms inspired by the 1931 Stars. You’ll note many differences, such as pinstripes vs no pinstripes, different jersey lettering, and the absence of patches on the sleeves.
But we want to mainly focus on the cap. The STL on the cap is a contrivance logo. We think this STL logo was created by the Negro League Hall of Fame in the 1990s, but we don’t really know where it came from. It’s actually just some font called Windsor, and we have no photographic record of the Stars wearing any lettering similar to that font. See caps below.
This contrivance logo has now lasted for at least 27 years with no photographic record to support it.
In 1998 the Cardinals wore 1928 Stars throwbacks. Take a look at the comparison below. This time the jersey lettering is a lot closer to the authentic uniform. But there are other elements that don’t match. Again the contrivance STL appears on the cap.
The next uniform was worn in 2003, 2006, and 2007, representing the 1928 Stars again. This 1928 Stars drifts further from the truth from the 1998 example. The familiar contrivance cap is here, and the lettering bloated out with blue letters and red outlines. Along with the contrivance cap, this St. Louis lettering is the next biggest gripe in the authenticity of these Stars throwbacks. In no historical photographs do we see anything close to the St. Louis lettering shown below. The lettering is again likely going to be worn for the Negro League game at Rickwood Field in 2024.
Next up is throwbacks to the 1922 Stars. Despite having zero authenticity, these are my personal favorites of all the Stars throwbacks the Cardinals have worn. The only way the Cardinals could wear better throwbacks than these, is if they were actually accurate.
The 1922 Stars team photo is interesting because we see more than one uniform being worn. Take a look here at that 1922 Stars page. There are a lot of differences between these three uniforms. The contrivance cap is back, but in red lettering, and new contrivance lettering was used on the uniform. Again, I’m not saying these modern recreations look bad (except for the cap which looks like shit), I’m only griping that they are not authentic. They borrow elements from multiple Stars uniforms, mash ’em together, and voila, let’s sell some merchandise.
Next up, worn in 2020 and 2022, a throwback that is being cemented as the unofficial official Negro League uniform, the Cardinals wore 1930 Stars throwbacks. Again, we have no photography to prove any authenticity of these modern recreations. In these two throwbacks on the left, you’ll see many similar elements from past throwbacks. Take a look at the socks, really nice pipings, interesting patterns to look at, very attractive, they fit really well with the uniform, and they’re definitely well designed. They still aren’t accurate.
So where do these contrivances really come from? We think the jersey lettering is inspired by the Cool Papa Bell jersey on display at Cooperstown. Take a look below. It is a beautiful jersey, looks to be from the right period that Cool Papa Bell played in, but there are two main curiosities we have.
One, why is this jersey in such good condition? For a man with lightning fast speed and a great base stealer, you’d think Cool Papa Bell would have a dirty and tore up uniform, but this uniform looks like it was very seldom worn. That, or the BBHoF has done an absurdly amazing job in cleaning, restoring, and maintaining its beauty.
Two, where are the photographs of Cool Papa Bell wearing this uniform? We have a handful of photos of Cool Papa Bell, but none in which he is wearing THIS particular jersey. Again, we are not doubting how good this jersey looks, we are doubting it because we have no sources to corroborate its authenticity.
We have a couple theories about how this jersey came into existence. Perhaps this jersey was created for a old-timers reunion game, or for a reunion event to put former players in classic looking uniforms. We also think maybe it was created for a winter barnstorming tour, and it was worn periodically in a handful of exhibition games, but never saw real game action. But we really don’t know.
Finally, that leads us to the 2024 RICkW0OD Field Game. The Cardinals posted an image on their Instagram recently showing the similar throwbacks they’ve worn for the past 20 years. See image below. It is likely the Cardinals will be wearing those shirts and caps for the Rickwood Field game. We assume the pants will have a solid blue pipe down the sides like previous years, but we don’t yet know what the socks will look like. While these uniforms look nice, and no doubt will this be a beautiful baseball game to look at, they are not authentic to what the St. Louis Stars actually wore in the 1920s and 1930s.
Our goal with this post and this website is to raise awareness about authenticity. We want to see authentic St. Louis Stars Negro League uniforms being worn in a Major League Baseball game.
If you want to see more about the uniforms of the St. Louis Giants and St. Louis Stars, please check out our Negro League section where we have a bunch of authentically drawn uniforms along with historic photographs to corroborate.
If you have any historic photographs or information about the St. Louis Stars, please feel free to get in contact with us.
And as usual, tell us what you think!
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 
Just as long as the swoosh is included all will be well.
LikeLiked by 1 person