Old photo, circa 1930s, white border.

Price:  $10.00

Yes, the focus is not great, we’ll agree with whoever it was that wrote the description on the back. There are a few commercial photos (a good thing, for sure!) that we found online, that are much better, and actually show the rest of the poles that were standing to our left as we gaze into the shot. But there’s always something about an image from someone’s personal camera, well for one thing, because they’re unique (excepting the person made duplicates, of course) and probably also because we get a sense of being with that one individual as they took the photo, so it seems more personal.

Screen shot below right, from a Google search shows one such commercial photo, for sale on eBay, as of our post going up today. The photographer’s surname was Schallerer.

But the curious thing (to anyone who may not know the history of the city) is that there was a baseball field at the park that was comprised of part of the beach, which was underwater when the tide was in. We’re not sure where the ball field was in relation to the totems, but apparently the tide flats were the best place (at the time) to host games, due to the topography of the area.

Below, a January 1932 clipping from a Bristol, Tennessee newspaper regarding the end of the tide-flats ball field. And we appreciate the unknown journalist’s turn of a phrase, conjuring images of ballplayers that had been……

Cavorting in water up to their knees

Sources:  Google.com screen shot result for search under “old photos by Schallerer of Ketchikan.” March 1, 2020.

“Alaska ‘Tide’ Ball Park to Wet No More Players.”  The Bristol Herald Courier. (Bristol, TN). January 2, 1932. Saturday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).

Allen, June. “100 Years of Baseball in Ketchikan!” Stories in the News. April 26, 2003, Saturday 12:30 a.m. http://www.sitnews.net/JuneAllen/Baseball/042603_100_years.html. Accessed March 1, 2020.

http://www.sitnews.net/JuneAllen/Baseball/042603_100_years.html