04/02/1981
It’s trivia time baseball fans. What is the name of El Paso’s first baseball team?
a. El Paso Sun Kings.
b. El Paso Browns.
c. El Paso Diablos.
d. D. El Paso-Juarez Sol
Any old, old timer could answer this question. The Browns were the golden boys of yesteryear, swapping their shotguns in the storage shed for baseball bats and gloves. The baseballs weren’t exactly made of cowhide, but they worked in the pinch.
In the 1880s, El Paso was a first-class sporting town, especially when it came to baseball. The townspeople sometimes became fanatical when it came to sending nine men out of saloons and onto the diamond. Winning teams really brought out the great enthusiasm in El Pasoans, a tradition which has carried on throughout the years.
On May 16, 1884, an organization meeting was called to form a local baseball team. Apparently, the men drank more than they talked baseball in George speck’s saloon. The men went home with hangovers and interest seemed to wither somewhat.
Not until moths later in Mayor Joseph Magoffin’s office were two teams formed. The tow teams planned to play each other every Sunday afternoon and, if organizers arranged a contest with an out-of-town team, the two El Paso groups would combine into one.
After a couple of weeks of hard practice, El Paso met a team from Fort Bliss and escaped with an exciting 18-17 victory. From that moment on, the popularity of baseball increased.
The ballpark became a popular weekend retreat and, since it rested at the end of the San Antonio Street car line, transportation to and from the diamond was readily available. For two bits, a person got seating space in the grandstand.
The El Paso Browns, as they were called, whipped up on so many opponents that by the spring of 1885, they had a hard time finding anyone to play against hem. The Browns were not unbeatable – as they soon found out. In a three-game series with Albuquerque during the Fourth of July celebration, the Browns went winless.
Local baseball fans moaned for days about the loss.
The baseball fever rose to new heights in 1888. Every Sunday, hundreds of spectators lined the foul lines. Talk began of building a new ballpark.
L.B. Freudenthal announced a meeting to form a stock company capitalized by $25 shares. A committee decided to build a diamond at Kansas and Seventh. The ribbon on the new grounds was cut July 21, 1888.
El Paso played Las Vegas – considered a top team in the region and possibly the country – a team that had just shut out Albuquerque 4-0. The betting line was 3-to-1 on Las Vegas. Smart gamblers bet on El Paso as the Browns rolled lucky dice against Las Vegas 8-3.
Talk soon grew of organizing a baseball league. Interest kept up during the seasons from 1891-93 but interest began to decline late in the decade. The league idea never materialized.
By the turn of the century, baseball still flourished although it took a backseat to boxing, bullfighting and cockfighting.
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