Bush League Stories. Let's Hear Them...

The Bush Leagues were filled with odd acts, colorful characters, and absurd behavior. Let's hear some stories....

The Accidental Detonation of Cle Elum Ballpark: In the spring of 1904 the coal mining town of Cle Elum, Washington built a brand new ballpark. Less than brilliant city planners built the grandstand ON TOP of the powder magazine used to store blasting material for the mines.

On July 17, 1908 the inevitable happened; while moving explosives to the magazine a spark ignited more than "eight tons of giant (dynamite)". The explosion "blew the grandstand across town", leveled the fence that surrounded the ballpark, and destroyed a good portion of downtown Cle Elum. The July 19, 1908 Miner/Echo newspaper reported had a game been on "hundreds would have been killed".

Below the 1910 Cle Elum Ball Team practices at their newly renovated ballpark. Image courtesy of CWU archives. Bruce Ashman, professional boxer/wrestler, pictured top row far left.