In 1927, the Cardinals made one of the boldest statements in baseball history by incorporating the words WORLD CHAMPIONS into their jersey’s logo. The 1906 New York Giants and 1921 Cleveland Indians are the only two other baseball teams to have pulled this stunt before the ’27 Cardinals did. On the sleeve is the familiar STM logo from 1926, but with the T moved down to the baseline. The team received matching jackets this season, that had a similar designed bird, and also encompassed with the words WORLD CHAMPIONS. The Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum have physical samples of a 1927 home jersey and a 1927 jacket on display.
Newspaper articles from 1927 say the road uniform has green pinstripes as well as green striping on the socks. A private collector owns a full 1927 road uniform, cap, jersey, and pants. The uniform does indeed have green, almost turquoise colored, pinstripes. We do not have permission to show the images from this person’s private collection.
The green stripes on the socks eluded us for a long time. We didn’t look close enough and assumed the socks were solid red. Closer inspection shows three stripes in a similar pattern to the home uniform, but the green hue is in almost an exact opposite hue from the red, making them nearly invisible in black and white photography.
1927 STL sleeve emblem
Newspaper Accounts
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.
Ironwood Daily Globe: May 6, 1927
The most elaborate shirt decoration worn by any major league ball club is that of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League. On the Card shirt is a base ball bat on which perches the figure the Cardinal bird and below the bat in script, is the word St. Louis.
Based on photographic record, the account above from the The Ironwood Daily Globe is completely incorrect.
Team Colors
Cardinals Red – PMS 200
Vintage Yellow – PMS 1225
An odd uniform quirk this season, or rather, before the 1927 season started. Shown below is a jersey in the Cardinals collection. This jersey is actually a 1926 World Series jersey that had a new logo sewn into it. Comparing it close to the 26 Series jersey, without the new Worlds Champions logo, it is a plain white uniform with red piping down the placket, and red piping at the ends of the sleeves, with an identical STL emblem on the sleeve to the ones seen in the photographs from the 1926 Series. This jersey became a sort of prototype to the 1927 uniforms.
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 