MOLALLA PIONEER 100-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
17
SPORTS
March 24, 1927
The coming of the birds is no more a sign that spring is here than the annual base ball fever
which inflicts Molalla people. It has begun to develop for the season. There is talk of getting in
shape for the coming season’s baseball games, by forming a good local team.
It will be interesting to review the history of the first baseball team in Molalla. We are indebt-
ed to J. V. Harles for the following information.
The first Molalla base ball team was organized in July 1886. Their suits were navy blue with
red, white and blue caps. They had a mask for the catcher and an ordinary leather glove with the
fingers cut off and a little padding slipped in the palm of the glove.
O. P. Miler, was captain and L. Mayer, manager. The diamond was located behind the Oliver
Robbins residence. The first game was played on the home field between Molalla and
Macksburg. The score was 53 to 47 in favor of Molalla.
It became a custom for the home team to treat the visiting team to a chicken dinner. The first
dinner served was to the Macksburg and home teams on the occasion of this historic game by
Mrs. Julia Stubbs.
The team was very successful its first season and won all of its games. The scores made were
such as to delight the fans who enjoyed the clouting of the ball and the running of the players.
The line up of the team was as follows: O. P. Miller pitcher; J. V. Harless, catcher; N. M.
Moody, first base; Scott Carter, second base; L. Mayer, third base; T. G. Husband, short stop; Ben
F. Harless, left field; W. H. Engle, center field; T. J. Adams, right field; John H. Dailey umpired
all but one game.
In August the team fighting force was augmented by the addition of John R. Cole and James
Smith, of Macksburg. Miller and Mayer retiring, Smith and Cole became the battery.
The last game of this exciting season was played at Elliott Prairie. This game attracted wide
attention and much money was bet on the outcome. It was a close battle. Smith and Cole won
for Molalla. The score was 30 to 32. Smith threw three times and put three men out. Two were
pop fowls and were caught by Cole; one was a pop fly and was caught by Smith.
Grandma Stanton furnished the chicken for the players.
The casualties of the season were Engle with a broken little finger and Harless with both
thumbs broken.
The whole team is still living with the exception of Mayers and Engle O. P. Miller and N. M.
Moody are living in Portland and are in the employ of the city. T. G. Husband also lives in
Portland. Scott Carter lives on his farm in the Russellville section south of Molalla; Ben F.
Harless is in Oakland, California; J. R. Cole, is a farmer and saw mill owner and vice president
of the First National Bank of Molalla. Jim Smith is a prosperous farmer and ex county commis-
sioner living at Macksburg. J. V. Harless lives in Molalla and has two sons playing in the high
school team. Frank Adams is a carpenter living in Molalla.
The mode of transportation to the different games was on horseback or in wagons. It was a
real sports and the young people of today going in the speedy auto and covering more territory
have nothing on the old time boys and girls who played in the games or rooted from the side lines
without the convenience of grand stands.
Molalla’s first base ball team
made good start for the sport
Molalla Area Historical Society
The Molalla Stars baseball team, pictured here in 1915, was a community team that played locally: (first
row) Guy Schaefer, Brick Schamel, Cis Grimm, Hoke Moody, and Bill Reynolds; (second row) Grover
Fredrick, an unidentified man hired to pitch, Leonard Vick and Leo Shaver. The team had no substitutes,
so each player had to play the length of each game.
Molalla High Wins
Championship of County
Milwaukee plays poorly.
Grammar School Team Looses to Heavier Boys.
May 20, 1915
Last Saturday both the grammar and high school ball teams played for the county champi-
onship at Gladstone Park.
The Grammar School played Oak Grove. Oak Grove has no high school and all the pupils are
classed as grammar school pupils. They were probably twenty-five pounds difference in the
average weights of the players. Molalla’s team was too light and young to compete with the Oak
Grove bunch. However they were game and played well. The Wells boys as a battery were work-
ing well. There was considerable exception taken by spectators from Molalla to several of the
decisions of the umpire. The rule book did not seem to appeal to him much. Considering that
they boys were outclassed in size and age with some glaring bad decisions, they did well to hold
the score down to four to nine in favor of Oak Grove.
The High School Team played Milwaukie. They had beaten Oregon City team, which is a
strong aggregation. They were prepared to play their best for the championship. The game did
not progress far before it was evident that there would be no contest for the pennant. Milwaukee
made but two runs. Molalla made twenty-three and could have made more. They finally tried
their best to put out so as not to miss their train home. The score could just as easily have been
forty as twenty-three. Engle and Kellis were the battery for Molalla.
April 24, 1913
The opening games of the Clackamas County School League were played at Canby Saturday,
resulting in a 7 to 1 victory for the Molalla Grammar Team and a 6 to 0 defeat for our High
School team. Both games were more closely contested than the scored would indicate as the
loosers in both instances fought until the last man was down in the ninth inning.
The schedule was not received until Friday noon and the High School boys went into the game
with an untried line up and used four men who had just played throughout the Grammar game.
Under the circumstances the showing made by the boys against an older team is creditable.
The Grammar Boys will play Canby on the Molalla grounds Saturday. Attend the game and
boost for the boys. The boys deserve your support.
School League’s Opening Game Saturday
Molalla Wins and Looses
Molalla Grammar
land pennant
May 8, 1913
The Grammar School team
played the final game of the
series in the County School
League last Saturday. in Oregon
City and landed the pennant.
Their opponents were the boys
of the Barclay school.
The Barkley team was never
in the game, as far as possibility
of winning went. The final count
was Molalla 10, Barclay 8. As
this is the fifth consecutive
championship won by the
school, the boys can rightrully
feel pride in their record.
Carl Cline
The Molalla girls’ basketball team from 1915 may have been the first girls’ team. It featured the follow-
ing players, from left to right: (first row) Elsie Dart, Zella Shaver, and Glean Dunton; (second row)
Zelma Fredericks, Goldie Harless, and Naomi Robbins. The coach was Robert Rose. Girls’ basketball
uniforms of the day were modest and featured neck scarves as seen in the picture.
Canby Grammar
Team Plays
Home Team
May 1, 1913
On Saturday the second game
in the School League was
played here between Canby
Grammar and the Molalla
Grammar teams.
The weather was better for
foot ball than anything else. The
players showed grit under the
circumstances. The score was 15
to 4 in favor of the home team.
This settles the leadership for
the south end of the county. The
championship game with the
north end winner will be played
this Saturday.
The Molalla team stands a
good show to win the champi-
onship in the county league
again this year.
Molalla Area Historical Society
Dudley Carson Boyles (center, with dark hat) and W. W. Everhart (with bibbed overalls) engage in a
hunting expedition with horses outside Molalla in the early 1900s. Hunting in those days did not have the
convenience of today. They had to take several days to camp out, then more time to travel back with any
bounty.
Field Meet Well Attended
May 13, 1915
There were a good number attended the field meet at
Gladstone last Saturday. The team here had not been in
practice and considering their opportunities did well. Faust
was the only one landing first. He won first in javelin
throwing, making 120 feet. It was the first time he had ever
seen a javelin. Oregon City won first place, Estacada sec-
ond and Orient third place.
Molalla Grammar
Win Championship
Fifth Time They Land Pennant.
May 8, 1913
The Grammar School Team played the final game of the
series in the County School League last Saturday at Oregon
City. Their opponents were the boys of the Barclay school.
The Barkley team was never in the game as far as possi-
bility of winning went and it was only a matter of how large
the score would be. The final count was Molalla 10, Barclay
3.
This settles the championship for the year in this division
of the School League. As this is the fifth consecutive cham-
pionship won by the school, the boys can rightfully feel
pride in their record.
“AMERICAN PIONEER,” A FRON-
TIER EQUESTRIAN STATUE AT THE
EXPOSITION
August 20, 1914
The “American Pioneer” is an equestrian statue which is
to stand at the entrance to the Court of Palms at the Panama-
Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco in 1915.
The sculptor in Selon H. Borglum, whose studies of west-
ern figures and wild animals of the Rockies have attracted
attention throughout the world.
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