1918 was full of uniform firsts for the Cardinals. For the first time in their history, the team would wear the word Cardinals across the chest. For the first time the letters weren’t block letters; instead the letters were italic or oblique style serif letters. For the first time, the lettering wasn’t in all capitals; every letter except for the C is shown in lowercase. For the first time the Cardinals donned pinstriped uniforms, and not red stripes either. For the first time since becoming the Cardinals, the team wore solid blue or black caps instead of red or white. The team introduced a new SL emblem for the cap. We also observed players wearing another cap with red seams. We do not know in what capacity this cap was worn.
A newspaper article we discovered from 1918 claims the team wore black caps, with green pinstriped uniforms, and a black stripe on their socks. We do not know if this newspaper writer is mistaking black for a very dark blue. We have the uniform models below represented with a Pantone 289 Dark Navy Blue. The only physical sample we have from 1918 or 1919 is the Branch Rickey road jersey in the Cardinals Museum collection. That particular jersey has blue pinstripes, and either a black or very dark blue pipe on the sun collar. Based on this jersey, we can not fully corroborate the green pinstripes, but we can not rule out they may have existed on the home uniforms. We have no physical samples of the 1918 or 1919 caps to find out what color they were.
In 1918, all teams around the league wore an American flag patch on their left sleeve recognizing the country’s involvement in World War I.
A uniform quirk, in 1918, the “i” in Cardinals is set right in the middle of the placket, with the “d” slightly tucked underneath the jersey fold. In the following season, the “d” would be placed right in the middle of the placket. We have used this difference to help identify photographs from these two seasons.
The Branch Rickey jersey shown above is the oldest known Cardinals jersey in existence.
Newspaper Accounts
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.
Team Colors
Cardinals Red – PMS 200
Cardinals Navy – PMS 289
Off-White Fabric – CMYK: 1/2/3/0
Gray Fabric – CMYK: 0/0/0/20
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 