A History of Baseball in Hutchinson, Kansas - (Continued)

            Early day Hutchinson baseball had its share of changes from year to year and through much of the 1890's and the early 1900's the game and its structure of participants varied from year to year. Even when professional baseball came into existence, local teams were often organized to play one another based on a persons' occupation. A team made up soley of printers, bankers, bakers, barbers, or carpenters was the accepted norm. To get a game organized, a challenge was often issued through The Hutchinson News and was written in such a way as to stir heated interest. One such challenge in 1906 stated, “Representing ball players chosen from the employees of the News Company, the undersigned hereby issues a challenge for a contest to the winners of yesterday's game; or in case they have had enough, would take on the barbers nine, the bankers, or any other team that is anxious for a try for amateur championship honors. Game to be played Thursday, August 16. Come soon if you want a game. W.F. Hill, Manager News Company Nine.

            To accommodate crowds that sometimes numbered as many as 1,500-2,000 spectators, a new ball yard was built close to the downtown district on a piece of land west of Adams between the Missouri Pacific and Rock Island Railroad tracks. Named Athletic Park, the field was officially dedicated on June 6, 1905. In later years the park was renamed Gano Park and served as Hutchinson's premier facility until the late 1920's. A series of fees were established for spectators attending games at Athletic Park. To park a carriage on the grounds cost 35 cents. To enter the ball park itself was 25 cents and a ticket to sit in the newly constructed grandstand was an additional 10 cents. Since all games were played during the afternoon and often on weekdays, a running score was periodically posted in the business district to update the progress of the game.

            By 1905, baseball in Kansas was becoming more professionalized. Teams still consisted primarily of local citizens, but were paying salaries for a quality pitcher and catcher. In 1906, with a new park and an eager citizenry, Hutchinson was awarded entry in the professional Western Association and the local entry was give the name Salt Packers.

            On May 29, 1907, national attention was drawn to Athletic Park in Hutchinson, Kansas when wire service reports carried the news that the local nine lost a 23 inning game 2-1 to Oklahoma City. In Hutchinson that late spring day as word spread through the town, the crowd grew in numbers inning by inning. As dusk approached and Oklahoma City scored the go ahead run in the top of the 23 rd the crowd, which now numbered several thousand, groaned in anguish as the trying run was cut down at the plate to end the game.

            In that same year seventeen-year-old Joe Wood from Ness City was contracted to play in Hutchinson for the Salt Packers. Joe had been discovered the previous September when a barnstorming semi-pro team called the “Bloomer Girls” came to Ness City to play the locals. The “Bloomer Girls,” a girls team, had three young men dressed as females playing with them. Joe Wood pitched and beat the “girls” and when they left town Joe went with them being paid $20 to complete the season. Hutchinson manager Dr. Jay Andrews discovered this “kid phenom” and thus began the professional career of Joe Wood. Playing shortstop, second base, third base, left field and right field when he was not pitching, “Little Joe” as he was called while playing in Hutchinson won over twenty games that year and struck out as many as nineteen opponents in a single game. An article in The Hutchinson News noted after watching Joe pitch a one hitter against the Leavenworth Convicts that, “He has all kinds of steam and more beautiful curves than fair Venus ever boasted of.”

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