1936 'Wests' baseball team
1936An A4 copy of a black and white photograph of the 1936 'Wests' baseball team. Twenty-two people are depicted, 18 of whom are wearing the Wests Baseball Club playing uniform. Printed above the image is the name of the team and the year date. Below the image are details of who the original photograph was presented to and on what occasion, as well as the names of those depicted in the photograph. The date of the image is printed in the bottom left-hand corner.
The original of this photograph was presented to Mr J. Thorn, general manager of the Lake View and Star mining company, to commemorate the visit of the first baseball team to the Goldfields.
In 1936 baseball had come to the Western Australian Goldfields and promised to become one of the most popular winter pastimes. The introduction of the sport was due to the enthusiasm of officials of the Lake View and Star mining company, notably Messrs J.F. Thorn (general manager) and C.G. Thielicke (assistant general manager). They had purchased the necessary equipment and donated the uniforms to half a dozen teams formed among the company's employees. The old Ivanhoe tailings dump in Boulder made an excellent field and, under the coaching of Mr. Thielicke, who played amateur baseball in the United States, the teams made rapid progress.
In order to expand the playing opportunities for Goldfields teams, Perth and interstate teams were invited to visit Kalgoorlie. The first Perth team to do so was the 1936 Wests Baseball Team, who contested two games against the Lake View and Star company on the Boulder Oval on 29th and 30th August. The first game went to the Perth team 24-15 and the second to the Goldfields team 10-2 over five innings.
National Library of Australia
[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/50061401]
[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/40954631]
Details
Details
'Wests Baseball Team, 1936.'
'Presented to Mr. J. Thorn, by Wests Baseball Team, to commemorate the visit of the first baseball team to the Goldfields.'
'From Left: R.J. Reid, F.H. Crookes, G. Randell, W.J. Dawson, D.H. Carr, G.S. Day, C.P. Smith, K.E. Coughlan, H.J. Kortlang, N.S. Fowler, R.H. Christian, E.N. Garrett, K. Jeffreys, H.G. Lee, W.C. Bruce, E. Garrett, A.E. Thomas, L. Ireland, G.A. Day.'
'Front: G.H. Dunstan, W.J. Lynch, C.S. Gordon.'
'August 29, 1936.'
This historic image was provided to the Baseball WA Museum and Archives as a scan of the original, courtesy of the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society. It commemorates the first time a Perth-based team travelled to the Goldfields to play baseball and heralded the beginning of competition between city and country-based teams in Western Australia.
This photograph is of historical and social significance as it commemorates the first interaction between a city-based and country-based baseball team, at a time when both leagues were in their infancy in Western Australia. The rare image is accompanied by much detail and comes with fine provenance.
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Photograph courtesy of Eastern Goldfields Historical Society.
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