The Spokane Press · Spokane, Washington · 1909

Fine Chance for a Lively Ball Player

Spokane, 1909. An eastern grocer wants one man to run the store, mind the stable, pitch, play first, hit .300 and manage the ball team, all for fifty dollars a month. The Press promises to publish his address the moment it gets one.

Somewhere back east, a grocer sat down and wrote out his idea of one employee.

“Wanted—A first class grocery salesman, capable of driving delivery wagon and taking orders, work in store nights and manage business when owner is away, and take care of the stable. Must also be a good pitcher and first baseman, able to hit .300, so he can manage local ball team, which I own. Will pay $50 a month for a good man. No others need apply. Address, etc.”

Run the ledger. Salesman, wagon driver, order taker, night man, acting proprietor, stable hand. Then the second career: pitcher, first baseman, .300 hitter, manager of the ball club, which the grocer owns, presumably the way he owns the stable.

Fifty dollars a month. “No others need apply,” as though the applicants would otherwise arrive in crowds.

The Press appends one line and it is the correct line: “(When we get the address of this modest grocer, we will publish it.)”

Note the requirement is a good pitcher AND first baseman able to hit .300. The man bats in the middle of the order on his day off from the mound, then opens the store at night. Whoever took that job earned a plaque somewhere, or at least the gingerbread.

Down the same page, the Press was selling its own brand of ball: the Seattle series at Recreation Park, admission 25 cents, no stable duties attached.