1940 Home Uniform

[Bill Wendt]

Good morning, what great photos on the Browns uniforms recently. Attached are pictures of a what I believe to be a 1940 home uniform. The uniform was worn by my father-in-law who played in the minors on numerous teams in Il and Mo. At one of the stops he was given this to wear...perhaps handed down numerous times by then. (I believe he was first given this at a game in Grandridge Il when the Negro Leagues Generals challenged his local team - but I am still digging to confirm). After sitting in our closet for 35 years I had the uniform framed this year as a Xmas present for my wife. The jersey # 25 has "Spindel" sown on the left tail, the socks are numbered 8 & 32, the pants in the frame have "Haney" stiched in and the loose pants were worn by "Kramer". The smaller frame holds original baseball cards and the famous Crusader logo on the frame was hand painted by a local artist. The framing was done in a manner to protect from light and dust. Thanks to everyone from this site for all the help in identifying the uniform and helping me with my research. Enjoy the pictures and email with any questions or comments....bill

[feldgrau1418]

Congratulations, Bill, what a wonderful keepsake from your father.

The jersey you have shown is in actuality from 1939, worn by Hal Spindel who was issued jersey number 25 upon making the squad following spring training that year as one of the catchers. Spindel appeared in 48 games in '39 but never with the Browns after that year. I do not think he spent all of 1939 with the Browns as two other players also wore 25 that year. In addition to the player attribution (name tag), the jersey has subtle characteristics that make it uniquely from 1939. The most obvious thing is the faded brown satin around the collar and front, and down the sleeves.
This is the same on every 1939 uniform I have seen, a uniform lightening of the satin's color that probably happened in the dry cleaning process. This was changed to a color fast satin in 1940 (see my jersey). Also, the width of the orange braid is a fraction of an inch narrower than on uniforms from following years. The "Kramer" pants are from 1940, I believe, and if you look at these differences comparing the pants to your jersey, it should be apparent. Your jersey also may show evidence of the 1939 Centennial patch on the right sleeve. These patches were all officially removed for use in spring training 1940.
Regards, Bob

[Bill Wendt]

Bob, thank you for the feedback...as you can tell from the frame I was confused...originally I thought I had a 1939 jersey...but then I thought a 1940 since it did not have the patch on the right sleeve....but now you have cleared it up that the 1939 patch was removed...are there any photos of the 1939 centennial patch? Thanks again...bill

[feldgrau1418]

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Bill, I regret that my scanner out been on the DL for a while, so I hope my photos can answer your request.

First one is a photo of an original 1939 Baseball Centennial patch worn for only that season by all major league teams (minor league and certain amateur teams wore a slightly different version, one with the batter facing front), on their left sleeves except for the Browns and Senators who wore them on the right sleeve since they had team emblems on their left.

Next is a photo of a Browns player which shows how the emblem looked positioned on the sleeve. You note the patch has a brown and orange braid border completely around the perimeter of the patch. The Browns were the only team that embellished the patch.

As I said earlier, all teams removed the Centennial patches from the jerseys they kept in their possession, for whatever uses they put the uniforms in future years. A original patch still found on any ML jersey is extremely rare, and as far as I know unheard of for a Browns jersey. Original Centennial patches loose bring very high prices on the collector's market. Reproductions which look fairly good can be had for $20 or so.

Hope this helps, and if you need any other info, let me know.
Bob