The Weekend Amateur Diamond
As spring weather returns to Seattle, local amateur baseball clubs open their season with matches held in West Seattle and at the Howell Street grounds.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Seattle amateur baseball season officially opened yesterday with several lively contests. The Seattle Maroons defeated the Rialto club at West Seattle in a game witnessed by several hundred spectators. Despite poor fielding due to a lack of practice, the game featured strong pitching from Bill Simmons and Davis. Meanwhile, the Port Blakeley team achieved a 21-4 victory over the Seattle Teamsters, and the Alerts bested the Howells at the Howell street grounds with a score of 27-17. The Seattle Athletic Club is already scheduling travel games against teams in Tacoma, Victoria, and Portland.
“Most of the players were off in their fielding for want of practice, but handled the stick in good shape.”
Before the professionalization of the game, amateur neighborhood clubs were the bedrock of urban social life. While 'Howell street grounds' has long since disappeared into the urban density of Capitol Hill and Downtown, the passion for weekend amateur sports remains a thread in the city's social fabric.
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