Spokane Indians · Spokane, Washington · 1908

Base Ball Today and Tomorrow

Spokane, June 1908: two ball games stacked in one column. The pros play today and tomorrow, Indians against Tigers at Recreation Park, take the Gonzaga traction cars. Sunday belongs to the shop teams at Natatorium Park, Bradley Engineering against Union Iron Works, two games for one 25 cent admission, grandstand included.

The Spokane Press of June 12, 1908 stacked two baseball invitations in a single column, and together they map a city’s whole relationship with the game.

The top ad is the professionals: “Base Ball. TODAY AND TOMORROW. NORTHWESTERN LEAGUE. SPOKANE INDIANS vs. TACOMA TIGERS. RECREATION PARK.” The practical details follow: “Game called at 3:15 p. m. Take E. Broadway or Gonzaga Traction cars.” A 3:15 weekday first pitch assumed a certain flexibility about the workday, and the ad helpfully names the streetcar lines that would get you there before the first inning was gone.

The bottom ad, set in far fancier lettering, belongs to Sunday and the working city: “BASEBALL. Natatorium Park. SUNDAY, JUNE 14. First Game: BRADLEY ENGINEERING CO. vs. UNION IRON WORKS. Second Game: SLATER & SLATER vs. CUBS.” The terms are generous: “Two games, one admission, 25c, including grandstand. First game at 2:15.” Note which games got the ornate display type: not the league club, the shop teams. An engineering company against an iron works, then a firm called Slater & Slater against somebody’s Cubs, a doubleheader for a quarter with the grandstand thrown in.

Natatorium Park was Spokane’s streetcar amusement park, and elsewhere on this same page its owners advertise the circle swing, the scenic railway and “SHOOT THE CHUTES,” with a balloon ascension every day at 5:30. A Sunday out there meant two ball games, a swimming pool and a man going up in a balloon, all reachable by traction car. Company nines like these were the backbone of town-team baseball everywhere, and Spokane’s iron workers clearly took their Sundays seriously.