In 1954, Tom Alston became the first black player to play for the St. Louis Cardinals. We saw almost no uniform change in 1954 other than the belt loops. In the previous season, it appears the team wore pants that had wide-long belt loops at the hips and sides of the pants, and in 1954 it seems there were many skinny belt loops that worked around the pants.
Newspaper Accounts
The Columbus Ledger: Mar 4, 1955
What happens to uniforms at the close of a baseball season in an organization like the St. Louis Cardinals?
All the farm clubs ship their flannels to St. Louis where they are cleaned and repaired. Those beyond repair are discarded and replaced by either new ones or by old ones from some other club in the system which happens to the drawing new uniforms… Not a small item, home and road uniforms for some 16 ball clubs! Each club requires two sets of uniforms and they run from $80 to $85 per man with an average of 19 men to a club! Each club also requires something like $20 in catching equipment and bats for a season, puts the cash outlay into five figures. In other words you’d need something in the neighborhood of $28,000 just to outfit the St Louis organization clubs before a single ticket was sold!
Team Colors
Cardinals Red – PMS 200
Yellow – PMS 1235
Navy Blue – PMS 288
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 