Two uniform buttons from Doc Adams’ Knickerbocker Base Ball Club (ca. 1855). These buttons currently reside in a private collection. They are likely the oldest known surviving piece of baseball uniform with provenance.

These are also locked up in a bank vault. We have two buttons that belonged to Doc that are embossed with KBBC on them that they’re a little bit larger than a quarter and they’re studs. They are not regular sew-on buttons. And I showed very detailed pictures of them to Jim Gates at the Hall of Fame at the Library. He’s one of the head researchers there. Awfully nice man. He and I talked about the buttons. He said they were probably ceremonial, for special occasions, and he said they’re similar to the sort of stud buttons that would go into a collar of a band uniform or a military uniform.

“My Baseball History – Episode 202“, Marjorie Adams