Seattle Athletic Club's Humiliating Baseball Defeat
The home team suffers a crushing 17-1 loss to Portland, with spectators dwindling as the game devolved into a series of errors.
There was a fair crowd at the Madison Street grounds, which was rather enthusiastic at first, when the S.A.C. nine did some good work, but soon the enthusiasm disappeared, and from the third inning on, the number of spectators dwindled rapidly. The visitors played well, and showed that they were acquainted with each other, while on the Seattle side there was almost no team work at all. The Portland team was first at bat and scored three runs. In the third inning, a wild throw by Bockenfield had a disastrous effect on the S.A.C. nine, for it immediately went to pieces, and let in six runs. They did the same thing in the fourth inning, making the score at that time 15 to 1. After this, the visitors took it easy. Seattle kept plugging away, but there was no intelligent, concerted effort. The game died without a struggle at the end of the ninth inning, and the few left, breathing a sigh of relief, went home and said nothing.
“The game died without a struggle at the end of the ninth inning and the few left, breathing a sigh of relief, went home and said nothing.”
This 1895 account captures the early, often disorganized state of local amateur athletics in Seattle. The 'Madison Street grounds' mentioned were a common site for early sporting events before the city's professional stadium infrastructure matured.
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