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Visalia Welcomes the Portland Beavers
Visalia Welcomes the Portland Beavers
Words and Photos provided by Terry Ommen
Visalia has been in love with baseball since at least the 1870s. Whether as spectators, players, or both, Visalians couldn’t get enough of America’s favorite pastime. Teams popped up in neighborhoods, among merchants, in schools with names like the Empire Club, the Night Hawks, Cubs, and many others.
Much has been written about Visalia’s amazing baseball history, but there’s one short period of time that rarely gets mentioned—a month in 1913 that forever linked Visalia to the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Portland Beavers.
The Portland team began in the PCL as the Portland Braves. Later they changed their name to the Giants, then in 1906 they became the Beavers. The team had a decent early record, but after their fourth place finish in 1912, Manager Walter McCredie began the search for a new spring training site outside of the rainy Northwest. Preseason
training was critical to the team, so a site with favorable climate, good facilities, and a supportive community was crucial. McCredie turned his attention to California, and then focused on the San Joaquin Valley for a new home.
He sent his representative, W. Metzger, to visit Valley towns including Tulare, Porterville, Bakersfield, Fresno, and Visalia. Each town “rolled out the red carpet” for them. The chosen city would not only get bragging rights and notoriety, but hosting the Beavers for spring training could mean an economic benefit for the community.
The competition among the cities was intense. Visalia pulled out all stops and felt confident it could win the prize. After all, the town had “a first class diamond, excellent training quarters, club rooms, swimming tank and Turkish bath rooms.” In addition, the town offered hotel accommodations, but most important of all, Visalia offered fans that loved baseball. Secretary James Boyer of the Visalia Board of Trade joined in the enticement effort and telegraphed McCredie pledging business support for the team.
On January 22, 1913, Metzger arrived in Visalia on his inspection trip. He was given an escorted tour of the town including Athletic Park. Built in June 1899, the fenced baseball field offered grandstand seating for 1,500. The scout was favorably impressed, and upon leaving, he let it be known that Visalia was the favored city.
Visalia anxiously waited for the official word, and on January 30, 1913, the Tulare County Times newspaper shared the good news: “McCredie Finally Selects Visalia as Training Camp.” The town was thrilled!
On February 28th, the first six players arrived on the afternoon train, and the rest of the 30-man squad and manager McCredie trickled in over the next few days. As they arrived, each team member was picked up by automobile at the train station and in VIP style, escorted to their new home at the Palace Hotel. Reporters from the Portland Oregonian, Portland Journal, and the Portland Telegram arrived as well and quickly began writing stories about the team for the Portland fans back home, keeping Visalia’s Western Union telegraph office very busy.
The Visalia Board of Trade officially welcomed McCredie and his team at a banquet hosted by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First M. E. Church. Although a man of few words, the manager graciously told the crowd how impressed he was with Visalia. A reporter from the Telegram newspaper agreed, saying, “We can’t help but win the pennant this year now that we have come to Visalia to train.”
The first big exhibition game for the Beavers was with St. Mary’s College of Phoenix, Arizona. The two-game series in Visalia showed a powerful Portland team and they swept the series. Next, they played the Chicago American Giants, an AfricanAmerican team organized by Rube Foster, a man who would later be known as the “Father of Black Baseball.” The Giants were powerful and won three out of the four games. One of the standouts for the Giants was a player named William Lindsay, a 21-year-old who was known as the “Kansas Cyclone.” The Visalia Morning Delta reported that the 6’5” pitcher could “heave [a ball] along the path with any of the big men in the business… It is asserted that when Lindsay throws a fast one, his catcher merely steps aside and lets it go as it comes with such force sufficient to pass through a two-inch plank…”
But the baseball game that captured the most attention was with the Chicago White Sox. The Beavers played their first game against Comiskey’s team in front of about 1,200 Visalia fans. It was such a big game that merchants and schools closed early. The Windy City boys beat the Beavers 5-4.
On one occasion while the ballplayers were on the field, their wives were entertained by local dignitaries. Visalia Judge Earl Bagby and Mrs. James Boyer took the ladies on an automobile trip. They drove them through orange groves, and picked poppies, as they toured the countryside near Twin Buttes, Woodlake, Naranjo, Lemon Cove, and Exeter.
On March 21, 1913, the Visalia newspaper announced that Visalia spring training for the Beavers was over and the team was leaving. For nearly a month, the Portland team called Visalia home and for all concerned, their stay was a resounding success. The fans enjoyed it and the Visalia merchants found it profitable as McCredie and his team spent over $4,000 during their stay. This would equal close to $127,000 in today’s currency.
Upon leaving, McCredie said he’d like to come back to Visalia again for training, but on one condition—better accommodations needed to be found. The Palace Hotel just didn’t measure up to his standards.
The Portland Beavers won the Pacific Coast League championship in 1913, but disappointingly, they did not return to Visalia for spring training in 1914.
