The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-12-30
Four Champs
Are Crowned


and nations, gave the Pacific
Northwest a noteworthy sports
record.
The resurgence Of the dear
and almost dead game of base
ball. coupled with at least four
national champions, marked a
year of banner attendance fig
ures in nearly all branches Of
athletic endeavor.
Heading the baseball come
back was the national attendance
record for minor leagues set by
the Seattle Rainiers of the Pa
cafic Coast league. In winning
the Coast title, Seattle attracted
a total of 541, 05s admissions.
lettering the previous years
mark by over 10000.
Baseball men the nation over
found the Seattle record inter-
esting. Only two years before
the Rainiers were struggling
along with little success on the
field or at the gate.
After Emil Sick, the brewer,
stepped in he built a new field,
changed managers and saw that
baseball fans went away happy.
The Western International
Baseball league, a class B loop,
ended its third year intact with
the exception of Bellingham,
whose 1910 franchise went to
Salem, Ore.
TIGERS WIN PLAYOFF
Wenatchee won the title dur
ing the regular season, losing
in the playoffs to Tacoma. A
league attendance record was
set by the Spokane Indians, who
drew 100000 at their home field.
Tacoma drew better than 1885,
900. Wenatchee, a comparative
ly small town, drew $1,000, and
Vancouver, B. c., $4,000.
The Salem entry raised the
problem of additional mileage,
but George Waters, owner of
the Oregon club, confidently
predicted a 1910 attendance of
100000 at Salem, league Of
ficials said. A new ball park
will be built there.
One WI player-slugging Neil
Clifford, Tacoma catcher-went
to the major leagues. He will
join the Cincinnati Reds.
Total attendance for all league
teams was eight per cent above
1888.
In other sports, attendance
figures were highlighted by
record year at Longacres horse
racing plant at Renton and con-
tinued improvement in basket
ball attendance.
The University of Oregon won
the NCAA basketball title this
year, and the Webfoots attract
ed 10000 spectators in 16 home
games - probably an all-time
high in the Pacific Northwest.
INCREASE IN HOOP CROWDS
A so per cent increase in hoop
turnouts was reported at the
University of Washington; the
University of Idaho drew 1000
in eight home games, a new
record for that institution. Ore
gon State college, additionally
a basketball stronghold, drew
only 1886 in ID home games.
There were no sensational
gains I'm football, and the woes
Of the University of Washing
ton and Gonzaga overshadowed
added receipts at the two Ore
gon institutions.
At one time the situation at
Gonzaga looked so serious the
Bulldogs threatened TO give up
football. Incidentally, the Spo-
kane team had one of its best
seasons, defeating University of
Oregon and Texas Tech, among
others.
The Huskies checked up at
the end of a poor season and
found their 1899 total of $4,000
fer six home games was $4,000
below the 1888 figure for five
games.
Individual achievements saw
Marvin (Bud) Ward of Spokane,
curly-haired former statehouse
employe of Olympia, fulfill earlier
promise by winning the national
amateur golf title, defeating
Ray Billows of Poughkeepsie.
n. Y, in the 36-hole final at
Oak Park, Ill.
Ward was termed by eastern
critics one of the outstanding
young players to emerge since
the Incompatible Bobby Jones.
HOSTAK COMES BACK
Young Al Hostak OF Seattle.
who lost his National Boxing
association middleweight title in
1888 to Solly Kreiger of Brook
Ign, regained it here last June
with fourth-round knockout.
Despite efforts to match him
first with Freddy Apostol and
then with Ceferino Garcia-rec-
ogniZed in New York and Cali
fornia-Hostak was idle for a
number Of months.
He went east i'm December
and in a charity bout at Cleve-
land tipped over Eric Seelig.
German-born fighter, In the first
round. That convinced some of
his critics. but others still de-
mand a Hostak-Garcia fight.
Promoter Nate Druxman, Sc
attic. repeatedly at odds with
Mike Jacobs Of New York, holds
a mortgage on Hostak's services.
The same goes for Jacobs and
] Garcia.
A 1s-year-old Portland, Ore.
girl, who fought her way over
the obstacles raised by a siege
Of infantile paralysis provided