Baseball has a long history in Seattle

07/20/2006
SEATTLE -- The history of professional baseball in Seattle is a far-reaching and rich one. Sure, everyone knows about the Mariners and their recent success. But how many people know about Dan Dugdale, a man who has been referred to as the father of Seattle baseball?
Many other people know about the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. What those people may not realize, though, is that the world-renowned research center was named for a man who was named the Minor League Player of the Year by The Sporting News in 1938. Hutchinson, or "Hutch" as he was referred to by many, won 25 games at the age of 19 for the Seattle Rainiers that year.
Just recently, the Mariners on July 9 honored a team of Seattle's past -- the Pilots, a team that spent one ill-fated year in the Major Leagues. But that wasn't the first taste of big-time baseball for Seattle, and Mariners fans know it certainly wasn't the last.
The following is a brief look back at the teams, people and events that have helped to shape the game of baseball in the city of Seattle as it is known today.
Much of the information for this article and all of the historic pictures in the accompanying photo gallery were provided by the David Eskenazi Collection and can be found in a book titled Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest. The photo gallery also includes photos of the current status of the sites of home fields of Seattle's baseball past.
PRE-SEATTLE RAINIERS
To tell the story of professional baseball in Seattle prior to the Seattle Rainiers is to tell the story of Dan Dugdale.
Although pro ball officially entered the city in 1890 with a team called "the Seattles," Dugdale's ties to baseball began six years before that in his hometown of Peoria, Ill. From 1884-95, Dugdale used his above-average talent as a catcher to play for 20 different teams in 13 different states.
In 1898, Dugdale arrived in Seattle seeking fortune from the Klondike Gold Rush. It only makes sense then that the first team he helped to build was the Klondikers. Later called the Rainmakers, Clamdiggers and Chinooks, the Klondikers were one of the pioneering teams in the Pacific Northwest League that became fully functional in 1901.
Keeping a baseball league in business at that time was no small feat, especially when there were other leagues competing for players and popularity. Dugdale was bought out in 1904 by the Seattle Siwashes of the Pacific Coast League and agreed to manage the Portland team in that league.
Then in 1907, Dugdale returned to Seattle and aligned the Siwashes with the Northwestern League. He also built Yesler Way Park on the corner of 12th Avenue and Yesler Way that year. While playing in that facility, the Siwashes were renamed the Turks and won the league pennant in 1909.
After another renaming, this time to the Giants, Dugdale again invested in a new stadium. Dugdale Park was located in Rainier Valley and was the first double-decker stadium built on the West Coast. The ballpark opened its gates in 1914.
In all, Dugdale's teams won five pennants and produced many future Major League players.
Then, in 1919, the Pacific Coast League returned to Seattle and formed a team called the Rainiers. The team was renamed the Indians two years later and won the first PCL championship for the city of Seattle in 1924.
Tragically, Dugdale Park was burned by an arsonist in 1932 on the Fourth of July. The act forced the Indians, who had previously called that park home, to move to Civic Stadium. Located where Memorial Stadium stands today, Civic Stadium was known for its concrete-hard infield and large wooden light poles that were in play if struck by a ball.
The next few years were tough ones for baseball in Seattle. It wasn't until 1937 when a man named Emil Sick came along that things started to turn around again.

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/