Baseball In Marin

Mount Tamalpais Military Academy Baseball Team, 1901

The Mount Tamalpais Military Academy was founded in 1890 at Fourth and E Streets, and within a year, moved to the location of the Tamalpais Hotel at E and Mission. From the very beginning, the students played football and baseball on their fields. 

This photo of the 1901 baseball team has a small newspaper clipping affixed to the back that reads: "Tamalpais defends Belmont. The Mt. Tamalpais baseball team, yesterday, for the second time, defeated the Belmont nine. The score was 9 to 8. The Tamalpais battery did excellent work."

Photo ID no. 1999.396

San Rafael Baseball Club, 1905

The local newspapers report back as far as 1890 about games played by the San Rafael Baseball Club at the Eastside Grounds, near today's Montecito Shopping Center. In 1902, they were incorporated, and according to the April 24, 1902 Marin Journal, "The object is to promote the American game known} as baseball In the City of San Rafael, to engage players, to own and lease necessary real and personal property."

Pictured, back row, left to right: Pete Pedrotti, "Dimp" Burns, Ed Nelson, Umpire Jim Nealon, Gene Hawkins, Rudy Litchenberg, Team Captain Bill Hunter. Front row: Arthur "Hap" Hogan, "Chief" Frank Esola, Jack Sims, Mascot Esola, Jim Sullivan, Manager Tom Lunny.

Photo ID no. P1999.451

San Rafael Regulars Baseball Team, 1911

The San Rafael Regulars was a semi-pro team that played at Eastside Park, and won the 1912 Marin County League Baseball Championship. The team posted another winning season in 1913 ultimately losing to the Mill Valley "nine" in the championship series.

According to the Marin Tocsin of April 1, 1911, "Quite a thousand base-ball fanatics and critics turned out to see the San Rafael regulars lock horns with a picked tem composed of stars of greater and lesser magnitude."

Photo ID no. P1999.6182

San Rafael Regulars Baseball Team, 1913

The gentleman in uniform on the far left may be the bat boy, based on his height, and the two gentlemen in the suits are (l) Jim Nealon, Umpire, and (r) Alf Barrow, the manager for the team.

This photo was taken the year after the team won the 1912 Marin County Championship. 

To read more about the 1913 San Rafael Regulars, check out this article by Scott Fletcher.

Photo ID no. P1999.6183

Poster For Baseball Game, 1925

In an October 17, 1925 Mill Valley Record article titled "Let's take our hats off to the baseball team," the Mill Valley team "distinguished itself this summer and closed the season last Sunday with a succession of triumphal victories. The record shows eleven scores in favor of Mill Valley, one after the other, including a game with invincible San Anselmo. All honor to San Anselmo, for it has had the reputation of being the one team in the region, which no other team could down. But Mill Valley won the score even with the game at The Stadium, which is San Anselmo's own ground."

Object ID no. 2011.1.186

Baseball Game at San Quentin State Prison, 1920s

Baseball has been a tradition at our local prison for over a century. According to the San Francisco Chronicle of March 13, 1916, "for the first time in the history of the state prison across the bay in Marin County, the convict baseballers were yesterday permitted to play against an outside team, and while they didn't win, they made a respectable showing." 

Today, the three San Quentin baseball teams, the Giants, the A's, and the Hardtimers, play against community college and amateur baseball teams within the prison walls.

Photo ID no. P1999.6600

Sam Chapman, 1940s

A number of Major League players have called Marin County home, but the very first was Sam Chapman, a star center-fielder for the old Philadelphia Athletics. Chapman was born in Tiburon in 1916 and attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, where he was a standout athlete playing five varsity sports.

Read MHM articles about Chapman by Robert Harrison and Scott Fletcher.

Photo ID no. 2024.4.1

People looking at model of Albert Field, ca. 1950

Adults and teens viewing an architectural model of the proposed Albert Field in San Rafael. The land was donated to the City in 1937 by local businessman Jacob Albert (of the Albert Building at 4th and B Streets). He wanted it to be a sports field for the young people of San Rafael. The newly constructed baseball field and stadium opened March 18, 1951.

Photo ID no. 2024.8.10

Baseball Players and Coaches at Albert Park, ca. 1950

A group of players and coaches posing at Albert Field before the construction of the new stadium. The adult players have a mixture of major league baseball team jerseys, as well as those of local teams, such as the Bartenders, the Tiburon Old Timers, and the Mill Valley Locust Merchants.

In the background is a tank for PG&E with the caption "Natural Gas, the Modern Fuel for Marvelous Marin."

Photo ID no. 2025.9.21

Aerial View of Albert Field, 1961

This aerial photograph by Ed Brady shows the area around Albert Field, before the construction of the grocery store in the empty lot to the upper left of the field in 1962.

Photo ID no. 2006.34.06177

Program for the Gallinas Valley Little League, 1963

According to the Marin Independent Journal, the 1963 Gallinas Valley Little Leagues Beavers and Stompers were co-champions of the league and had to "clash for the undisputed title at Castro Field in Santa Venetia." The Stompers would be victorious that night.

Sadly, the Gallinas team lost 10-0 to the Twin City All-Stars in the finals of the Marin County Little League All-Star Tournament on July 27, 1963.

Object ID no. MISC-SPO-004

San Rafael Softball, 1982

Pitcher Nettie Allan of the San Rafael Hot Sox softball team at Albert Field. The photograph appeared in the Sports section of the September 13, 1984 edition of the Marin Independent Journal. According to the article, the San Rafael Recreation Departments softball league had six teams each in two leagues, and was the only fast-pitch league in the county at that time.