Royals In Monarchs Duds: July 1, 2007

The Monarchs throwbacks worn by the Royals for the 2007 Salute to the Negro Leagues are a bit of a mystery to me. The Royals claimed the unis were a 1945 Monarchs style, but I’ve never seen uniforms like them for 1945 or any other year. Two styles definitely worn in 1945 looked like these Ebbets Field Flannels reproductions:
The design of the 2007 jerseys matches the classic 1942 Monarchs uniforms, but not the color. It’s entirely possible the 1945 Monarchs wore such uniforms, I just haven’t seen evidence of it. Assumedly the Royals had access to more research material than I.


The 2007 game was the first Salute after Buck O’Neil’s death. The Royals hats all had “Buck O’Neil 22” embroidered on the sides and the entire coaching staff wore #22 in his honor. The jerseys featured a #42 patch on the right sleeves in honor of Jackie Robinson (though Jackie did not wear 42 with the Monarchs).

The Royals opponents this year were the White Sox, representing the 1945 Chicago American Giants. Their unis were dead ringers for those seen in this photo:

John Thomson started for the Royals, Jon Garland for Chicago. The Royals scratched out an unearned run in the bottom of the first, but couldn’t score again, and dropped the game 1-3. You can see some video from the game linked here.

(Interesting aside – Jim Thome appeared in the game for the Sox; his grandfather Chuck Thome faced the real Monarchs in 1936.)