Pcl’s Rich History On Stage In Seattle
Today, Fred Hutchinson’s name calls to mind Seattle’s leading role in cancer research. But before his tragic death at age 45, Hutchinson’s life was baseball.
The Franklin High School graduate went all the way - pitching 95 wins for the Detroit Tigers over 11 seasons, in two stints between 1939 and 1953, and serving as manager for Detroit, St. Louis and Cincinnati, taking the Reds to the 1961 World Series.
In these parts, he’s also remembered as a young star of the Pacific Coast League Rainiers in 1938 and as manager of the Seattle team in 1955 and 1959. He died in 1964 and his brother, surgeon Bill Hutchinson, helped establish the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in his memory.
Hutchinson’s stellar career and other early West Coast baseball lore are celebrated in “Runs, Hits and an Era: The Pacific Coast League, 1903-1958,” a traveling exhibit now at the Museum of History and Industry near the University of Washington.
Hutchinson was not the only western baseball great to launch his career in the PCL. The San Francisco Seals produced Joe DiMaggio and the first-round version of the San Diego Padres gave Ted Williams his big break.
PCL baseball was the biggest game west of the Rockies for decades until 1958, when the Major Leagues made it across the Rockies with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants.
“People who grew up here have a lot of fond memories and we are basically serving as a venue for them to come out and relive their days growing up at the ballpark. There’s some wonderful stories to tell,” said the museum’s marketing manager, Neil Neroutsos.
Turnout has been good, Neroutsos said. Serious collectors were the first to show up, followed by families, community and school groups, and retirees.
“I wanted my son to see some old regional baseball history,” said Seattle native Lynne Ross, visiting from Maui, Hawaii, with her 14-year-old, Ross Lovemark. Hawaii’s PCL Islanders became the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 1988.
The exhibit was created by Mark Medeiros, a baseball enthusiast at the Oakland Museum of California, in cooperation with the Chevron Companies and the California Council for the Humanities. Seattle is the last stop for the exhibit, which opened in Oakland in April 1994 and has since been displayed in Anaheim, San Diego and Portland.
The Seattle museum picked up the exhibit and expanded it “to remind people that baseball’s been here long before the Mariners,” said deputy director and chief curator Sheryl Stiefel.
“The M’s have just helped raise the enthusiasm level.”
The Seattle version was a year in the making. Local collectors Dave Eskenazi of Seattle and Charles Kapner of Redmond contributed, donating memorabilia from the Seattle Indians, Pilots and Rainiers and Sick’s Stadium. The Mariners also helped bring Seattle’s baseball history up to date.
The careful preparation shows. There is something for everyone. The nearly 800 items on display include original uniforms, autographed baseballs, bats, collector’s trading cards, rare photographs and film footage, as well as an actual pitchers mound and a miniature diamond, grandstand and scoreboard.
There are colorful interactive displays that let visitors participate - an old-time radio announcer’s booth complete with old scripts and sound effects, classic baseball gear to suit up in, a pitching cage with equipment to clock fastballs and a computer crammed with PCL statistics, images of old ballparks and games.
“I like how everything is put together,” said Iesha Laurencil, 11, of Seattle who came with a group from the neighborhood Rainier Community Center. “I can tell my baseball team how the game was and later on I’ll be able to tell my kids.”
One highlight of the exhibit is a wall entitled “My favorite memory of baseball,” which invites comments from visitors.
“My favorite was when Ken Griffey Jr. hit a grand slam on my birthday,” wrote one Seattle fan.
“I remember summer evenings in the 1950s, hearing the crowds roar from Sick’s Stadium, a mile from my house,” said another.
The regional league began with six teams, including the Seattle Indians. The PCL now has 10 teams, with Washington represented by the Tacoma Rainiers. The Tacoma Rainiers under various names and Spokane’s PCL Indians, now a Northwest League team, are featured as part of Washington’s history with the league.
Oregon is represented by the Webfooters, the Lucky Beavers and, finally, the Beavers. Portland’s PCL affiliation ended in 1993 and the club now plays in the Northwest League as the Portland Rockies - an A-league farm team for the Colorado Rockies.
“Runs, Hits and an Era: The Pacific Coast League, 1903-1958” will run through Oct. 27 at the Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave. E., Seattle. Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: $5.50 adults, $3 seniors over 55 and children 6-12, $1 children 2-5. For more information, call (206) 324-1126.
xxxx PCL in Washington SEATTLE Here’s how and where the Pacific Coast League has played in Washington state over the years. Originally independent, PCL teams now serve as farm clubs for major league teams. Shifts in affiliation often result in name changes.
Seattle The PCL club was called the Indians 1903-1937; the Rainiers 1938-1964 and the Angels 1965-68. The 1969 Seattle Pilots were not a PCL team. Sick’s Stadium, home of the city’s PCL club, was closed in 1975 and torn down in 1979.
Spokane The Indians were a PCL team from 1958 until 1982. Since then, the team has been part of the Northwest League. The Spokane Indians have always played at the same site. The stadium opened as Fairgrounds Recreational Park, more commonly known as Indians Stadium. The name was changed to Seafirst Stadium in 1994.
Tacoma Tacoma’s 36-year-old PCL club represents the longest continuing relationship with the league of any western city. Its history with the league began in 1904 with the Tacoma Tigers, who had a two-year run. In 1960, action resumed with the Giants, the team name until 1965. After that the team was called the Cubs till 1971, the Twins until 1977, the Yankees in 1978, the Tugs in 1979, the Tigers (with Cleveland) in 1980, the Tigers (Oakland) until 1994 and, finally, the Rainiers, affiliated with the American League Seattle Mariners. The early Tigers played at Tacoma Athletic Park. Since 1960, the team has played at Cheney Stadium.