On June 20, 2024 the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The Cardinals wore throwbacks of the St. Louis Stars while the Giants wore the uniform of the 1946 San Francisco Sea Lions. The mystery of the bear cub appearing on their uniforms was solved years ago—the team obtained their uniforms from a nearby semipro club called the San Francisco Cubs—but did you know that this was not the only uniform that the Sea Lions wore?
1946
The Sea Lions were formed in time to join the new West Coast Negro Baseball Association, a league that was meant to be the Black baseball answer to the Pacific Coast League, which was still maintaining a color barrier. The Sea Lions wore at least two sets: the “Cubs” uniform, and a lesser known solid color uniform with a simple “SF” on the right chest with matching light colored cap.
One-armed outfielder Jesse Alexander was photographed in action wearing the latter set. Due to the graininess of this old newspaper clipping from the San Francisco Chronicle, it is hard to determine if this set had pinstripes. The established Seals of the Pacific Coast League wore similar simple uniforms in the 1940s. Given how often Negro League teams acquired uniforms from their white counterparts, it is a possibility that the solid white set is a modified version of old Seals threads.
1947-49
The league folded before the end of the 1946 season, and the Sea Lions took to the barnstorming circuit. Rarely playing in San Francisco, advertisements show the club in a darker colored set with colored sleeves, the city name across the chest, and blank hats with dark bills.
However, in 1948, the Sea Lions were photographed in spring training wearing blank uniforms with what appears to be the “Health” patch from World War II. The truth may lie in the fact that the Sea Lions at this point were one of several teams either booked or operated outright by Abe Saperstein. The Sea Lions, Seattle Steelheads, and Oakland Larks all barnstormed east during this time period. Given their common ties, sharing uniforms and resources does not seem unlikely.
1949 Buchanan Sea Lions
The team met its demise in 1949. Female infielder Toni Stone left the team before they barnstormed north to Canada, but by the time owner Harold “Yellowhorse” Morris made it to Canada to join the tour, he found that the rest of the team was gone. The bulk of the roster joined a ballclub in Buchanan, Saskatchewan, becoming the Buchanan Sea Lions for the rest of the summer. The team wore a combination of the old dark “San Francisco” set and white uniforms with “Buchanan” spelled out on the chest.
Those are the known uniforms (so far) of the San Francisco Sea Lions. As is often the case, actual colors are unknown and number fonts nearly impossible to determine. If you have questions, corrections, or recommendations, please don't hesitate to contact me.