The photos and uniform here are from 1916 or 1920. The Giants wore a pinstriped jersey with a Blackletter/Old English letter on the sleeve. The letter is a G for Giants.
These uniforms and logos are best approximations based on a scarce number of photographs. Years, colors, logos, and uniform styles have been approximated. We welcome any additional photography and newspaper accounts that will help bring the authentic St. Louis Negro League baseball uniforms back to life.
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 
Which one is Oscar Charleston?
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i’m not certain if Oscar Charleston is in this photograph or not. Comparing a headshot of Oscar Charleston with the other men in this photo, it doesn’t appear that any of these men are him, but admittedly I’m not the greatest at ID’ing faces. Charleston played for the Giants for only one season in 1921. If this photo is from 1916 or 1920, then Charleston is not in this photo. If he is here, then it would put a definitive date of 1921 on the photo.
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It is from 1916. The ballpark is Federal League Park, owned by Eugene Handlan. Over the off-season, the ballpark was leased out to Phil Ball, owner of the St. Louis Browns. Ball held a lease that expired in April 1917. Before the lease expired, he had every seat in the ballpark removed, so the Giants would not be able to host games. Both the Giants, led by Eddie Brock and Charlie Mills, and Eugene Handlan sued Ball, and the local St. Louis circuit court judge ordered Ball to replace the seats. However, Ball stalled long enough to derail the Giants season. Left without a home park, the Giants played a few games at Polo Park in East St. Louis before disbanding halfway through the year. The following season, two-thirds of their regular lineup was drafted or enlisted into the U.S. Army for the war effort. Third baseman Ted Kimbro died in New Jersey from sickness while stationed there. The team did not reform until the 1919 season. Led by Charlie Mills, the team reformed as a joint-stock company, and built the first-ever Black-owned ballpark, Giants Park. That is where the great Oscar Charleston played for the Giants for one season, in 1921, winning the Negro National League Triple Crown.
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This photograph is the 1916 Giants. The ballpark is Federal League Park. If possible, I would love to have a conversation with you about some of the other photographs on this site. I wrote a book about the Stars and Giants and would love to know more about a couple of the other photos. If you could, would you mind emailing me so we could set up a time to chat? If so, thank you so much!
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