Early baseball in Washington/Game 3
From SABR Encyclopedia
| Spread of baseball: Home -> Washington -> Early baseball in Washington/Game 3 |
| Location | Washington |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876 |
| Month | 8 |
| Note on date | Match game proposed by Newcastle, Seattle team formed to accept challenge |
| City | Seattle |
| State | WA |
| Country | USA |
| Site | Occidental Square, Seattle, WA |
| Modern address | Occidental Square, Seattle, WA |
| Was NY rules baseball | Yes |
| Played by | Locals |
| Team 1 | Seattle Alkis |
| Team 2 | Newcastle Miners |
| Team 1 Score | 51 |
| Team 2 Score | 0 |
| Length | Unknown |
| Found by | Mark Brunke |
The Seattle Times, Sunday, September 7, 1947 Sunday Magazine, page 3
Seattle's First Baseball Games
by Margaret Pitcairn Strachan Seattle Times, September 7, 1947
Photo 1 caption: Jack Wilson, one of the founders of Seattle baseball, photographed recently at his Colville home. - Photo by courtesy Seattle Historical Society
Photo 2 caption: First Baseball Team in Seattle, the Alkis, who pioneered the game here in the years 1876 to 1879. Players shown are: front row (left to right)- Ed Coryell, James Warren, Curry Chase, Jack Wilson (who is quoted in the accompanying article) and Sam Crawford. Back row-Ed Briscoe, George Rudge, Manager Jack Levy, Lote Hastings, George Snow.
BASEBALL became popular in Seattle as far back as 1876, when Samuel Crawford came to town with his baseball and bat. At odd times he'd go out on Occidental Square and pass the ball around. The following year, Jack Wilson, a professional ball player, arrived. Crawford was editor of The Weekly Intelligencer and ran an article stating that the coal miners at Newcastle wanted to play any nine on the Pacific Coast, Seattle preferred. Wilson called on Crawford and the two got a team together and sent word to Newcastle that they were ready. Thus Seattle's first ball team came to life! What happened at that game is well remembered by Seattle's pioneer pitcher, Wilson. He writes from his home at Colville, "The game was played on the old University grounds, that being only piece of ground anywhere to be had. The game ended in the seventh inning by the Newcastle boys throwing down their clubs and quitting, a most disgusted lot! They never made a score. I was sure Curry Chase (the catcher) and I could beat them alone and they knew virtually nothing about baseball."
THE Seattle team was called the Alkis. Wilson says, "We went to Victoria on the Queen's Birthday and played the Victoria Boys on Beacon Hill, beating them nearly as easily as the coal miners. We went on the Steamer North Pacific, with Captain Clancy." When the Alkis returned from that first trip to Victoria, the entire town met them at the landing and Wilson was carried down the plank on someone's shoulders. "Then on July 4," Wilson writes, "Victoria came to Seattle and we played on the fair grounds, up the Duwamish River a few miles from Seattle. A special train was run, and there was a big crowd. "No record was kept of the number of spectators at the early games, but I'm sure most all Seattle was there, either sitting on the University steps or, if they couldn't find a convenient stump, sitting right on the ground. No admissions was asked-we played for the fun of it. "In 1878 we went to Victoria again and Victoria won. Chase had left the country and I had the thumb on my right hand cut off coupling cars, so could not pitch." Wilson left Seattle in the spring of 1879, going to Walla Walla and joining a cattle drive to Wyoming. He returned to New York, and it was not until 20 years later that he came back to Seattle. For a number of years, he owned a hardware store at Kettle Falls. Today, almost 90 years old, he follows Seattle baseball by reading the sports pages at his more at Colville.
In the Daily Pacific Tribune of July 1, 1878, appeared a paragraph headed "Ball Ground," which said, "The county prisoners having no other work on hand, were sent out to D. T. Denny's place, in the northern part of town, last week, and put to work fixing up a baseball ground for the benefit of the boys." The following day the announcement appeared of a game to be played between the University and the Alki Junior clubs on the Fourth of July. The game was played and the Alkis won by the score of 47 to 35. If Seattleites couldn't get their baseball at home, they could do so by taking an excursion on Puget Sound, for a newspaper of August 9, 1882, had this item wedged in among other notes of local interest: "On Sunday the Steamer Nellie took the Snohomish baseball nine over to Seabeck to contest the Port Gamble club." Port Gamble won-28 to 8. A return game was promised for the following Sunday and it was said "The winners will carry off the uniforms of the vanquished as a trophy of success.
Another newspaper, for August 3, 1886, said, "Shoshone Baseball Club arrived from Portland last evening and are quartered at the Arlington Hotel. They are a fine, athletic set of young men. They meet the Seattle Club on the diamond in two games, the first this afternoon and the second tomorrow, and on both of these occasions will present their strongest team, including Mr. Hill, the catcher, injured in Portland, but who has fully recovered, and will support their fine pitcher, Devine. . . .The first train will leave at 3 p. m. Sharp and the next at 3:30 and the game will be called at 4 o'clock." The account of the that game appeared in the next day's paper. The "fine, athletic set of young men" beat Seattle by one point-the score 6 to 5. Both grandstands were overflowing and "The Reds (Seattle) wore their new uniforms, consisting of white shirt and pants, maroon stockings and belt and white cap with band to match belt." The Shoshones also were in red and wore rubber slippers. The following year, a story in The Daily Press told of a forthcoming game between Seattle and the Newcastles, and mentioned their long rivalry for the championship of King County. The Seattle baseball enthusiasts were disappointed when the game turned out to be a walk-away for the Newcastle nine. The score was 16-2 when the game ended at the eighth inning. When 1888 rolled around, the Seattle team had been rechristened The Browns and The Daily Press, June 6, said a purse of $200 had been contributed for the winning team in a three-game match between the San Francisco club and the home team.
Four hundred fans attended the first game and the Browns won, 9 to 5. In the second game, the Browns lost, 10 to 12, and it must have been a sad defeat, for 1,200 to 1,500 fans were there shouting for them. The paper said, "Both pitchers were hit freely and with effect." The third game went only to five innings when the Westerns, as San Francisco was called, "threw up the sponge," not having been able to score, and Seattle having eight runs. By 1890, baseball news rated a column, although it was tucked away on the last page of the paper. The Seattle Telegraph of August 14 of that year tells of the Seattle Club mopping up the diamond with the Spokanes. Four days later, Spokane staged a comeback and beat Seattle, 12 to 5.
Seattle and Spokane were great rivals again in 1910, when The Seattle Times reported on August 1, "Spokane opened here this afternoon for a series of seven games. Spokane is leading the procession while Seattle is resting comfortably in last place, but for all that, these seven games will be fought to a finish. "Northwestern League attendance figures, which were shown for the first time at the meeting of the moguls at Seattle, show Spokane up in a very unfavorable light. Attendance all over the circuit has diminished appreciably, and a bare margin of $15 per game is all that separates Spokane from the lowest notch. Tacoma holds that honor. The worst feature of the whole proceedings, from a Spokane standpoint, is that Vancouver has averaged exactly $115 more per game than that city. Seattle is considerably ahead of Vancouver. This is disagreeable news to the Spokane boosters, who have been touting that city as being next to Seattle as a baseball center." The arrival of D. E. Dugdale in Seattle in 1898 put this city on the baseball map. He organized the old Northwest League and built Dugdale Park, in Rainier Valley. Recent history of baseball is known to most fans. Dugdale sold the Indians to William Klepper in 1920 and Emil Sick and associates took over in January, 1938. Dugdale Park burned to the ground in 1931.
Seattle's population was about 1,150 in 1870 and about 3,500 in 1880.
Sources
Sources: The Seattle Times, Sunday, September 7, 1947. “Seattle's First Baseball Games”. ; The Seattle Times, February 1, 1931. “First Busher Talks”.; The Seattle Times, February 24, 1922. “Do You Remember When-”.; The Seattle Times, Thursday, August 11, 1955. “The First Record”.
Historical Note: Loren Bingham "Lote" Hastings was from Port Townsend, and had played in the game already noted in Port Townsend for May 13, 1871. Sam Crawford's family had moved to Seattle from Olympia, and was originally from Oregon City, where organized baseball was being played in 1866.
The photograph appearing with this article was also published by The Seattle Times on February 1,1931 and prior to that on February 24, 1922.
In this volume, available through the Washington Bios Project, Samuel Crawford talks about the formation of the Seattle Alkis: "Early History of Thurston County, Washington; Together with Biographies and Reminiscences of those Identified with Pioneer Days." Compiled and Edited by Mrs. George E. (Georgiana) Blankenship. Published in Olympia, Washington, 1914, p. 67.
Here are two excerpts, quoted at length. The first indicates that Crawford played baseball in Olympia as a boy. Also of note is that he lived in Oregon City as a child, where the first known organized baseball team played in 1866. The second corroborates other sources which all state baseball in Seattle started when Crawford showed up with his bat and ball.
Excerpt 1: My early youth was spent in Walla Walla, Oregon City and Salem, in all of which towns I attended school. When while quite a young lad, and still living with my parents, I attended school in Olympia. My teacher here was the late Professor L. P. Venen, who. at that time, was conducting a private school in Olympia. Then I went to the public schools of the town, and enjoyed .the companionship of lads and lassies who, many of them, have become among the prominent men and women of the now prosperous State of Washington. Among those whom I am able to recall at this writing are: Levi Shelton, now a prominent citizen of Tacoma; Cynthia Shelton, who afterwards became the wife of P. B. Van Trump, who with Hazard Stevens, made the first, complete ascent of Mt. Rainier in 1870; Clarence W. Coulter, now prominently connected with Seattle business affairs; Bradford W. Davis, now with the railroad mail service; Anna Pullen, afterwards Mrs. Matthew A. Kelly. Mr. Kelly was formerly a prominent druggist of Seattle. George E. Blankenship, who took up the printing business, and has stayed on the old stamping ground; Fannie Yantis, who afterwards married Capt. J. J. Gilbert, prominent in the Coast and Geodetic Survey; Anna Stevens, who afterwards became the wife of the Hon. John F. Gowey, who was connected with the United States land office in Olympia and later was made minister to China, where he was residing at the time of his death, in the early part of the present century; S. C. Woodruff, Superintendent of the Hospital for Defective Youth at Medical Lake; Georgia Percival, now the. widow of the late T. N. Ford, at one time Treasurer of the Territory of Washington; her brother, Samuel M. Percival being until recently connected with the state road bureau and whose wife, Druzie Percival, is well known in all the Sound cities as a musical composer of more than ordinary talent; Francis A. Treen, who afterwards developed a beautiful tenor voice, with which he gave much pleasure to his friends and acquaintances for many years; Emma dark, who afterwards married her teacher, the late L. P. Venen; Josie Clark, afterwards Mrs. Dellie Woodard; Nellie Parker, now Mrs. Herbert McMicken, and many others whose names are now but a dim and cherished memory.
After graduating from marbles in the field of amusements, at which game I
was proficient and kept my pockets well filled with the winnings from the other boys when we played "for keeps," base ball demanded my attention for several years. In our team were Clarence Bagley, L. A. Treen, Cal, Jim and Frank McFadden and many other Olympians.
Excerpt 2:
When I came to Seattle I brought a baseball and bat with me and at odd
times would go out on what was then known as Occidental Square and pass the ball
around. I soon found a number of congenial spirits, but no organization of a
nine was effected for several weeks. One day a challenge appeared in a paper
from an organization in Newcastle, offering to play any nine in King County,
Seattle preferred, on any day in the future on any grounds selected by the
challenged team. I called this to the attention of my friends of Occidental
Square who arranged for some practice games on the old University grounds, and
we found we could play some ball. They authorized me to accept the challenge, on
behalf of the Alki Base Ball Club of Seattle. The game was played two weeks
from the following Saturday. I do not. remember the score, but I do remember
that no one of the challenging team ever got beyond second base. The Alkis at
once sprung into prominence, and for years met all comers from Olympia to
Victoria. In those days amateur ball was played exclusively, and each
community had its team made up of its young citizenship, and took great pride in
their performances and success. It was through baseball that I went from the
mechanical to the news department of the Intelligencer. The Alkis had been to
Victoria on the Queen's birthday of, I think, 1878, and won a great victory over
the famous Amity team of that City. On our return I asked the managing editor if
they had arranged for a report of the game. He said, in apparent great distress,
that the matter had been overlooked and asked me who he could get to write the
story. I told him I didn't know. "Can you do it?" he asked. "I can try," I
answered. So well pleased, apparently, was he with my brief account of the game,
that he sent for me the next morning and requested me to take charge of the local page of the paper. I remained in that department during the remainder of my career on the paper, and its successor, the Post-Intelligencer, extending over a period of about 13 years.
