In 1882, baseball uniforms took on a whole different meaning in a sense that the colors worn designated what position the player held.

This is what players had to wear:

Position           Color Worn
————– ———–
Pitcher             blue
Catcher            scarlet
Shortstop        maroon
Left-fielder     white
Right-fielder   gray
All other          Combination of 2 colors

Opposing teams were identified only by their socks! This went on until someone pointed out the obvious, that you can tell a player’s position from where he stands!

Nowadays, Baseball has many utility players, so say we move New York Yankees Derek Jeter from Shortstop to 3rd base in the same game… back then, he would’ve had to change his uniform!