The Day the 'Kittens' Bested the Seattle Nine

The opening game of the season brought out many of the wonderful possibilities of the national game and vied with the Guttenberg horse race in its uncertainty up to the sixth inning, when Tacoma forged ahead and kept increasing her lead to the finish. The defeat was due more than anything else to the harum-scarum pitching of Gilliland. The tall southpaw had speed that was 'out of sight,' but it availed him little with his inability to steer the ball over the plate. No less than ten of the men who faced him trotted down to first on called balls. The play of the entire Seattle team gave unmistakable evidence of its lack of practice, and the score fails to indicate much of its costly misplay. The bright sunshine of a perfect spring day added to the drawing powers of the opening game and the grandstand and bleachers were well filled. Not a few of the spectators were Seattle enthusiasts who made the trip to yell for their champions. They contributed their full share of the noisy applause until the closing innings, when silence crept upon them and stayed until the close. There was a delay of several minutes in starting the game, owing to the absence of an umpire, and the crowd began to show its impatience by howling, 'Play ball.' Ten minutes after the time set to begin, Umpire Knight scurried into the park. Captain Owen Patton of Tacoma and Captain Sam Laroque of Seattle marched to the home plate behind the umpire. The three held a short consultation, explaining the ground rules, while the bleachers grew more and more impetuous. Then came a tap of the gong, the Seattle players trotted to the field, and the season of 1892 was on. Tacoma won by a score of 11 to 6.