Play Ball! Carlsbad’s Baseball History

The history of baseball in Carlsbad does not begin with boyhood games in the springtime that we are all familiar with. The first team organized in 1922 was a men’s team. Their captain was Roy Carpenter. The name of this first team may be lost to history. Another early team was the Carlsbad Goofs.

Throughout our city’s association with men’s baseball, there weren’t teams every year. The seasons appear to initially have run from May through September.

The first game of the 1930 season was an “indoor baseball” game played on an “electric lighted diamond at Oceanside” (Carlsbad Journal). The 1930 Carlsbad battery featured Robert Baird as catcher and Tony Sousa as pitcher. Frank Dutcher acted as manager for the team.

The teams they played included: Coast Truck, DeMolay, J.C.Penny, So. Gas Company, Union Oil, 20-30 Club, Oceanside Firemen, American Legion, and San Diego Con. Gas & Electric Co. In September 1930, the Carlsbad team won the pennant against the Oceanside Elks. More than 500 people turned out for the game, played in Oceanside.

In 1931, a baseball benefit dance was held to kick off the season. The team roster: Del Brown, catcher; “Fat” Borden, pitcher; George Thompson, 1st base; Fred Ortega, 2nd base; Robert Baird & Roy Boyer, 3rd base; Glen Thompson, right field; George Ortega, center field; Shadel (probably “Shorty” Shadel), right field.

Occasionally, the battery included Sousa as the pitcher. Third base was also played by Carroll Kelly. The Carlsbad team was part of the Coast League, but also played games against teams from the Oceanside City League. Some of the other teams for the year were the Cardiff Putters, the Vista Calavo Growers, and the Nelson Motors.

In 1931, we were the only team in the league without our own ballpark. Instead, the team used the Oceanside field. The cry in the Carlsbad Journal for a local park acknowledged that “night baseball without a doubt is a sport that has come to stay and local enterprise demands that steps be taken to provide a park. It is one of the obligations that is owed to youth.” (July 17, 1931)

In 1932, the men’s teams were Kentner’s Spaniards, Denny’s Prune Peddlers, Coffins Colts, and Harrington’s Hot Shots. By this time, the Coast League included teams from Oceanside, Escondido, Vista, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar, La Jolla, and the Naval Training station. The Spaniards actually consisted entirely of Spanish and Mexican players.

The game schedules and results were written up in the Journal in a lively writing style characteristic of early sports writing. A perfect example is the following baseball related article from June 24, 1932:

 “Alles’ Antiques. Chet. Alles, venerable patriarch of Carlsbad, smarting under the disadvantage of passing years, has decided to attempt to stage a comeback by organizing a baseball among his aging associates. Mr. Alles may be seen every night at the baseball park perched high on the west bleachers, sneering and scoffing at the youthful Lotharios glistening under the floodlights. With these young athletes attracting the admiring glances of the clinging vines who beam with adoration on the fleet-footed, muscle-snapping players, Mr. Alles gave birth to the idea of showing the ladies that those lads were not so hot, that he was still something to be desired himself. And hence his ball club. Just how he happened to be able to trick the members of his team into the trap is unknown, except that Chet. is a nice old fellow and the boys want to give him a final thrill. Among those who will assist Mr. Alles in the display of his youthful grace and figure are the following: Geo. Thompson, Dan Wethern, Cal Young, Geo. Dawson, Eddie Kentner, Bob Carpenter, Bill Shadel, Pliny Arnold, Jim Moffat, Charlie Black, Darrell Welch and Bob Baird. The public is now awaiting their appearance, and when it happens, keep your eye on Chet. Give the old boy a hand.”

By the way, Lind Chesley Alles, better known as Chet, was 51 when this article was published.

A Carlsbad nighttime ballpark was finally unveiled on June 3, 1932. It contained “comfortable wired in bleachers” for spectators to view the “evening’s entertainment at depression prices” (CJ). The bleachers were fenced in to accommodate paying fans. The Tuesday- and Friday-night games started at 7:45 pm and the cost: “Only a dime is collected for the entertainment” (CJ).

Attendance on opening night for the season indicated to the Carlsbad Journal sports writer that “Carlsbad will be a good baseball town.” The writer also anticipated that the new ballpark would be the “scene of many a hard fought battle this year.”

Carlsbad had the good fortune to have a couple of former major league players living in Carlsbad in the 1930s who played on our teams.

“The season was opened by two old time major league baseball stars who reside in Carlsbad, A.D. Reid pitching the first ball which was received by Henry Parcel behind the bat. These veterans were stars in the ranks years ago in professional baseball” (CJ).

By 1932, there was a Carlsbad Baseball Association to manage the Carlsbad City League. The president of the association was Mark Coffin, owner of a local feed store.  

In the ’30s, women who enjoyed the sport would choose up sides after the men’s games and play a few innings. By 1932, there was an organized women’s team sponsored by the Twin Inns called the Twin Inns’ Chickens. They played against women’s teams in surrounding cities and their scores were also recorded in the Carlsbad Journal. The players on the women’s team were: Esme Brown, Sue Bates, Adelaide Olinghouse, Ruth Anderson, Vivian Michael, Amelia Tyler, Louise Carpenter and Mary Gastelum.

Our biggest rivals were the Oceanside teams as noted by a local sports writer: “Games with other communities usually are limited to playing baseball, but when Oceanside and Carlsbad meet on the field of battle, the result immediately becomes a question of honor.”

The men’s teams continued under various league and team names into the 1950s. From the late ’40s and through at least 1949, the Carlsbad team was called the Carlsbad Merchants. They played teams from all over San Diego County. In 1950, the men’s team was the Riff Raffs. Mr. Alles appears to have been ahead of his time, as the Riff Raffs were part of the Rocking Chair League.

Attendance to these later games was reportedly much lower than during the early “glory” days of Carlsbad baseball, though admission to the games was free. It would seem that the “young Lotharios” lost out to even younger males with the formation of Little League baseball.