The 'Shut Up or Shut Up' Baseball Challenge of 1885
After a hard-fought draw on the diamond, the Newcastle Baseball Club issues a pugnacious challenge to the Seattle team for a rematch on the race track.
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 series of games having ended in a draw game on Saturday last, the Newcastle Club hereby challenges the Seattle Nine to play a decisive game on the race track, on or about October 10th, provided it be a fair day, for $50 to the bottom of their pockets. No doubt if the Seattle boys can act as well as they talk, they will accept. 'Put up, or shut up,' is our motto. Isaac P. Risser, Secretary and Manager, Newcastle Baseball Club.
“No doubt if the Seattle boys can act as well as they talk, they will accept. 'Put up, or shut up,' is our motto.”
Long before professional sports became a billion-dollar industry, local rivalries in Washington were settled with community-organized grudge matches. The 'put up or shut up' mentality remains a quintessentially Seattle approach to civic competition, even if our methods of betting and scheduling have since migrated to digital platforms.
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