Eight Men Out/Chicago Black Sox baseball uniform

*Like I don't have enough crap going already*.....Does anyone here have any references for vintage baseball uniform patterns, circa 1917-1920?

I have flirted with creating a Chicago Black Sox uniform (ala the 1988 John Sayle's movie Eight Men Out), as I have several custom-made vintage baseball bats from Phoenix Bat Company, 3 Akadema repop gloves, and a couple of 1919 White Sox repop wool ball caps from Cooperstown Caps (and an autographed photo of John Cusack/Buck Weaver--). I ran across several yards of nice vintage-looking white/black pinstriped wool locally that might work, but I'd like to find a deadball-era uniform pattern reference, before I spring for the materials....





Any ideas?
Rob

coughcoughcoughMitchell&Nesscoughcough.

*coughcoughtoodarnedexpensiveforajerseyandIwillsti llneedthepantscoughcough*

Thanks for the tip, BB3, but M&N only sells the 1917 jersey (not entirely accurate, either), and not the pants; being a "make-it-myself" kind of guy, I want to use vintage patterns and construct them myself....
Rob

Great idea. I love the "dead ball" era, and hope you decide to go ahead with this project.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of the stuff I do have....

....and yeah, the DE is my favorite historical baseball period...unlike the panty-waisted, overpaid, steroid-pumped cry-babies we have in MLB today, those guys back then knew how to play baseball....Ty Cobb might have been the meanest sonofabitch on the diamond, but he still holds records to this day, and the ballplayers respected his ferocity and skill....they don't make 'em like that any more!
Rob

Ghostsoldier said:

---

*coughcoughtoodarnedexpensiveforajerseyandIwillsti llneedthepantscoughcough*

Thanks for the tip, BB3, but M&N only sells the 1917 jersey (not entirely accurate, either), and not the pants; being a "make-it-myself" kind of guy, I want to use vintage patterns and construct them myself....
Rob

I thought Mitchell & Ness did the jerseys for the movie. I could be wrong though (I know. Hard to imagine!).

Too bad you live in FL. If you lived closer to Philadelphia, you could go to the M&N store. They have a big sale that goes on three days before the Super Bowl. 50% off of everything!

I know that Cynthia Flynt was the costume designer; she also worked on A League of Their Own and Matewan...I'm not sure if she contracted M&N to make them or not.

So far, I've found a couple of websites that deal in repop antique baseball equipment and such:

http://www.baseballamericaspastime.com/
http://www.dugout-memories.com/jersteam.html

I'm still digging 'round the net....
Rob

I leafed through some reference books last night. Would photos help, or do you need actual patterns?

While looking for patterns, look for each piece separately - a shirt pattern and a pants pattern. I doubt you are going to find an exact match for either one, but you can adapt an existing pattern

I turned a dress pattern into an A League of Their Own uniform

Lynn

smoothrat said:

---

I leafed through some reference books last night. Would photos help, or do you need actual patterns?

While I have a collection of photos, a costume researcher (as you know) can always use more...if it's no problem, I'd like to see your photos.

If you have any photos or scans of period patterns, that would be great, also...I'm thinking that I'll have to modify an existing, commercial pattern to make this work, anyway.

Here's one I found on eBay....


It looks to be an older style than what I need (turn-of-the-century, or CW-era).


Thanks for the tip, Lynn....I'll rethink my search criteria!
Rob

Here's a few pics of my stuff (I couldn't find my Akadema gloves--they are around here somewhere)

My hats: The long-bill 1917 WS version on the left, and the short-billed 1919 WS on the right (and an old mitt--I think it's a first baseman's glove, as it's too small for a catcher's mitt)




My bats from Phoenix....



My Cusack signature.....



I was going to post a website pic of my Akadema glove, but it seems they have discontinued the 1920 model (now they have a '29 Ruth and Dazzie Vance models)...I'll dig mine out an post a pic later.
Rob

Hmmm, that pattern is from the same folks who have the http://www.baseballamericaspastime.com/ site. They no longer offer the patterns.

Many, many years ago I made an old-fashioned nightshirt that had the same neck facing as the baseball uniforms. Check pajama patterns too.

Lynn

Speaking of pics, here some from my '06 trip to Cooperstown, of the real uniforms....

Kid Gleason's 1917 jersey, hat and socks....





Shoeless Joe's jersey and glove....






Ray Schalk's hat and Red Faber's glove....


Rob

And a few of the screen-used props from Eight Men Out....











The plaque says the uniform is Ray Liotta's from Field of Dreams, but the 8MO props went straight to the production of Costner's baseball film that premiered in 1989....I believe D.B. Sweeney said he wanted to keep his as a souvenir, but the studio wouldn't allow it (he kept the grey road uniform, instead).

Rob

MaulWalker said:

---

Hmmm, that pattern is from the same folks who have the http://www.baseballamericaspastime.com/ site. They no longer offer the patterns.

Many, many years ago I made an old-fashioned nightshirt that had the same neck facing as the baseball uniforms. Check pajama patterns too.

Lynn

I thought it looked familiar...the guy in the lower right photo on the website ("Soda Jerks") is wearing an ensemble that looks fairly close to the time period I'm shooting for...
Rob