Seattle Series: Base Ball Tomorrow
The Spokane Press, 1909. View the original
Spokane, 1909. Base Ball in letters two inches tall, Spokane vs. Seattle at Recreation Park, and the quiet arithmetic of a quarter at the gate plus a quarter for the grandstand.
Two words carry this ad, and they are both Base Ball.
The rest is logistics: SEATTLE SERIES, TOMORROW, Northwestern League, Recreation Park, Spokane vs. Seattle, game called at 3:15. No player names, no standings, no persuasion. The product sells itself in display type.
Then read the small print twice: “Admission 25c and admission to grandstand 25c.” The first quarter gets you inside the fence. The second quarter gets you off your feet. A quarter was real money in 1909, and the club collected it in two installments, which is the oldest trick in the business and still working today under different names.
This establishment would pay the first quarter and stand. The sunny side is free once you are through the gate.
The Press ran ball ads with the same confidence a summer earlier at Natatorium Park, and on this very page it was chuckling at a grocer’s idea of a fair wage for a .300 hitter. Spokane in July: everything is base ball or adjacent to it.
| Place | Spokane, Washington |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909 |
| Newspaper | The Spokane Press |
| Posted | |
| Tags |