We’ve become familiar these days with teams putting on green caps, green shirts, green green, etc, for St. Patrick’s day during Spring Training. This post is not about St. Paddy’s day uniforms. This post is about way back when, from 1918 through 1927, when the Cardinals incorporated green into some of their uniforms. And it had nothing to do with St. Patrick! Let’s take a look.
1918 and 1919, the Cardinals allegedly wore green pinstripes for their home uniforms. We had mistaken the colors of these uniforms for many years, but a newspaper article gave us some descriptions that explain more.
The newspaper article states the following…
St. Louis Star and Times: April 8, 1918
The uniform of the Cardinals has been changed. The body is of gray instead of the 1917 drab, with a fine green stripe running through. On the left sleeve is a United States flag, while “Cardinals,” in that color, appears on the breast of the shirts. The caps are black and the upper half of the stocking black with the lower half white.
The Cardinals have a Branch Rickey jersey in their collection from 1918. The curious part about the Rickey jersey is that the sleeves were cut short so it has no American Flag patch. It is clearly a gray road jersey, and the pinstripes are dark blue, not green. We believe that perhaps the writer is mistaken, and the home uniforms have the green pinstripes running through them, not the road uniforms.
And in 1919, besides the addition of a new pillbox cap, the uniforms seemingly were unchanged. We are making that estimation based on photographs, and that leads us to believe that the green pinstripes continued through the 1919 regular season. In 1920, the Cardinals went a different direction with their uniforms, and green would not return until 1925.
In 1925 the Cardinals brought back green, this time incorporating it into the stripes on their socks, and maybe into the pinstripes on the road uniforms. Similar to previous assumptions about 1918 and 1919, we didn’t know there was green in these uniforms for many years. Using newspaper accounts helps us decipher black and white photography.
The 1925 newspaper article we have says the following..
St. Louis Post Dispatch: April 6, 1925
Uniforms which will be worn this season by members of the St. Louis Cardinals are on display at a downtown sporting goods house. As for the pat few seasons, the Cardinal uniforms are artistically decorated. The “at home” uniform is much the same as that last year, white with red trimming. The two Cardinals of the feathered variety are perched on a black baseball bat running diagonally across the chest of the shirt. The traveling uniform is of a gray striped material with the same decoration across the front of the shirt as the white uniforms. On the left sleeve is displayed a gold circle enclosing a baseball on which inscribed in purple letters “National League Golden Jubilee, 1876-1925.” Stockings worn with the traveling uniforms are gray with a broad red stripe around the calf and two narrow dark green stripes running parallel to it.
This article only describes green in the road uniform. So yes, we are making some assumptions here. We think that the home uniform had semi-matching socks that also had green stripes. And we think the road uniform, while not explicitly stated, had green pinstripes similar to 1918-1919. We are also basing our green pinstripe estimation from years that succeed 1925. Let’s take a look at the following year.
In 1926 the Cardinals went through a number of different uniform designs, and this includes new designs worn in the World Series. The uniform with green was worn as a road uniform in the 1926 Series.
St. Louis Globe Democrat: October 3, 1926
Gardner Starts Cards’ Uniforms to New York
…The uniforms are the same as the road uniforms made by Leacock for the St. Louis National League during the past year. They are steel gray with dark green stripes. Two cardinal birds and a baseball bat are embroidered in silk on the shirt. The cap has a cardinal visor. The stockings are gray with a center stripe of cardinal and two green stripes. The belts are cardinal in color. The shipment consisted of thirty-one complete road uniforms, including the 15 year-old size for the “Good Luck Sullivan”, the Cardinals bat boy. The at-home uniforms are of white with cardinal trimmings, cardinal belt. the monogram St. L on the left sleeve, and the white stockings with three narrow cardinal stripes.
This newspaper article from 1926 is much more explicit, stating exactly that the road uniform had both green pinstripes and green sock stripes. A physical sample of this uniform does exist, and we debate today whether or not the pinstripes were actually green, or if the sample has faded. Take a look at a few photos.
We can’t be certain if they were green or not, but based on newspaper accounts from the era, we believe they were a more vibrant turquoise color when in production.
Our last example comes from 1927. The year after winning the World Series, the Cardinals donned uniforms that said World Champions on the chest. That’s what we all remember, but the more interesting detail in our opinion is the road uniforms incorporating green into the pinstripes and sock stripes again. For many years we believed the team wore solid red socks on the road. But take a closer look and zoom in on the Bottomley photo at his socks. The green is almost invisible, likely because the hue of green is nearly a perfect opposite from the red hue, making them appear almost the same color in black and white.
And in 1927, we have more than one newspaper article that corroborates the green colors.
St. Louis Globe Democrat: April 3, 1927
Cards’ New Uniforms Are Displayed This Week at Spaldings
The new uniforms for the Cardinals and Browns are being displayed this week in the windows of Spalding’s, 823 Locust street. While the suits to be worn by the Brownies are identical to those worn by them last year, considerable differences will be noticed in those of the Cards. The home uniforms are white with a small navy stripe, and the bat and birds that once covered the front are now smaller and surrounded by the words “World Champions,” in a circle. The road suits hear the same Insignia, and are slate gray with small green stripes. Frank Snyder, catcher on the champs, ordered the largest suit for either club, a size 45, but Manager Dan Howley of the American Leaguers was not far behind in this respect.
St. Louis Post Dispatch: April 4, 1927
New baseball uniforms of the Cardinals and Browns are on display at 823 Locust Street. The Cardinals’ new home uniforms are white with navy blue stripes. There is a small cardinals bird surrounded by the words “World Champions” in a circle. The road suits are gray with a green stripe, with the same insignia as on the home uniform.
St. Louis Globe Democrat: April 11, 1927
The Cardinals have a riot of color in their traveling uniforms. They are of gray cloth with a green stripe. The cap vizors are flaming red and so are the sox with three wide green stripes. There is one red bird on the left shirt front, circled with the words “world champions.” The Browns’ home uniforms are cream white with brown trimmings.
There you have it. The Cardinals used to wear green, and it wasn’t for the purpose of marketing and selling merchandise.
Honorable mention! 1931 had a hidden green element. On the front tail of shirt hidden when tucked into the pants was a green clover for good luck in the 1931 World Series.
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 