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Photo courtesy of Liberty Lake Historical Society

A crowd attends a 1921 baseball game at Liberty Lake Park. The Legend Tree can be seen on the hilltop on the right side of photo.

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History: LL fields celebrated America's pastime
9/29/2014 11:49:40 AM

By Ross Schneidmiller
Liberty Lake Historical Society

Unlike Cooperstown, when you think of the resort era of Liberty Lake you probably do not associate it with baseball. However, when you consider the multitude of games played here over the years, maybe you should.

The competitive cornerstone of almost every company or organization picnic held at Liberty Lake Park was the baseball game. The picnic organizer would come up with different ways to pick teams. The Crescent, Spokane's popular department store, held a game rivaling the Riverside and Main Avenue Stores in some years; in others, it pitted Selling versus Non-Selling employees. The two teams of the Association of Optometrists game of 1917 were the Convexes versus the Concaves. In a less politically-correct time, the Odd Fellows game in 1910 featured the Fats versus the Leans. It was conceded that the drivers should win the ball game at the picnic of the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks and Express Handlers at Liberty Lake in 1925 for they were "husky" and hardened by their outdoor life. However, an audit of the runs showed the office men in the lead 25 to 20. The headline in The Spokesman-Review on June 29, 1925 (a day after the game) proclaimed, "Pen Pushers Trim Huskies."

Often the ballgames, where the team members were selected for the events, were more about fun rather than serious competition. Large crowds would attend the games and many dressed in elaborate costumes for the day's activities. They were usually quite boisterous chanting cheers and rooting on their teams. The umpire who oversaw the rules might modify them favoring one team over another if the bribe (usually food from one of the park's concessions) was high enough. This could lead to the umpire's peril, however, as the crowd could determine that a dunking in the lake might affect the game's outcome.

If the team members were members of an established team, the games were highly competitive. This was the case with the Butchers and Grocers picnic. Each year two amateur teams from businesses that were part of that association were chosen for the feature ball game. In 1915, the baseball game was between Welch's Market and Tru Blu Biscuit Co. The teams were two of the fastest amateur squads in the city. Welch's won the game 8 to 5, snapping Tru Blu's 20-game local win streak.

The Liberty Lake Park baseball field, one of the nicest in the area, saw other action too. Gonzaga College played a number of games there over the years. Both amateur and semi-pro league games were played on the field as well.

In 1911, Lew Hurtig, Liberty Lake Park's newly hired manager, organized The Liberty League made up of semi-pro teams including the Liberty Lake Nine, Liberty Lake Specials and Kalez Park. Area towns were represented with squads from Dishman, Veradale, Greenacres and Post Falls. Several ball clubs from Spokane businesses and associations entered the league too.

The Liberty Lake Nine was one of the strongest teams in the league. This was due in large part to the team's kid pitcher, 18-year-old Ted Welch. By Aug. 16 of that year, the star pitcher had won 17 of 20 games and struck out 337 batters at an average of 16 per game. He was a versatile player, pitching both right- and left-handed and had an effective drop ball. At the end of the season he signed a contract with the Spokane Indians playing in one game in the fall of 1911. Although he played well in his debut, the Indians sold his contract the following winter to a team in Wichita, Kansas. The Liberty League did not appear to continue beyond its inaugural season.

Baseball at Liberty Lake was not just for the men. There were plenty of battles between women's teams and kids of all ages, and the concession stands had plenty of peanuts and Cracker Jacks to supply the spectators. Baseball was a big part of Liberty Lake's past, and with the new fields the city of Liberty Lake has installed, it appears it will continue to be.

Ross Schneidmiller is president of the Liberty Lake Historical Society and a lifetime resident of Liberty Lake.

• • •

Did you know?
• Each member of the winning team in the ballgame between Blodgett Mercantile Co. and Tru-Blu Biscuit Co at the Butchers and Grocers Picnic of 1914 received a 49-lb. sack of Rex Flour.

• At the same picnic, first and second place finishers of the "Fat Man's Race" received a box of cigars and a gallon of maple syrup respectively.

• Ted Welch of the Liberty Lake Nine went on to have a short-lived career as a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Terriers of the Federation League.

• A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source.

• Kalez Park and Sandy Beach also had baseball fields.

• The chorus for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was adapted for one local ball team to the following:
"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks,
I don't care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the Liberty Lake Nine,
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game!"

• • •

Events, Competitions and Activities
From the Liberty Lake Historical Society, a 2014 monthly series

January - Ice Skating
February - Parade of Mermaid Competitions 
March - Opening Day of Fishing 
April - Dancing 
May - Water Competitions
June - Liberty Lake Amateur
July - All Valley Picnics 
August - Dutch Jake Picnics
September - Hydroplane Races 
October - Baseball Games
November - Liberty Lake and Football
December - A.R.T.'s Christmas in July

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