Coal may have been King in Roslyn, but baseball was certainly part of the royal court. In its heyday - the first three decades of the twentieth century - nearly every able bodied male in town played on one of several local teams. There were dozens of amateur teams including the Main Stemmers that played mostly for fun and pitted businesses on the north side of Pennsylvania Ave. against businesses on the south side. Each mine fielded its own team and the high school had a team as well.

But Roslyn's semi-pro baseball team was the town's pride and joy and fans turned out in record numbers to watch their games. The Roslyn Yippers later became the Roslyn  Miners and later again, the Roslyn Indians. Regardless of name, for nearly 20 years Roslyn ball players battled against teams in Western and Central Washington during the heyday of Bush League baseball.

which included the town's annual trip to Ellensburg for a baseball game followed by a play presented by a Roslyn theatrical troupe. The May 1902 Ellensburg Dawn  reported Mr. Bush, the N.W.I. Co. Mine Superintendent, closed the mines for the event and local businesses followed suit. Five hundred Roslynites boarded train cars and were greeted by Ellensburg citizens at their depot.

donated to the city by the N.W.I.Co. (on 3rd Street between Washington and Arizona Avenues). The two-story school building in the background dates the photo sometime before 1900 when a second school was built on adjoining property. The baseball park was on one of the few level pieces of ground in Roslyn. Spectators above the park on Town Hill get a view of the action below.

that fielded several notable brother combos including "Fuzzy" and "Biscuit" or Alex and Peter Hendry (pictured left). Other brother powerhouses on the field included the five Chapettas - John, Floyd, Joe, Tony and Carl. 

The Popovich's - John,Tony and Mike - all played for the Roslyn Miners along with "Iron" Mike and his brother George Radonovich.

after forming the Roslyn Athletic association, organizing a semi-pro baseball team and   joining the Yakima Valley League. Roslyn won their season opener against Cle Elum and played their first game in the newly completed stadium on the Fourth of July, according to the Miner-Echo.

Stadium dedication ceremonies included a mile-long parade of over 1,000 Roslyn children led by town dignitaries. Following a lengthy program of musical numbers and speeches,  the Roslyn Yippers squared off against the Roslyn Police Department in a non-league game.

acquired their name from one of their most devoted fans, an African American business woman named Artie Woods who owned the Dew Drop In. She would sit in the grandstand and yell "Yip, Yip, Yip - Let's hit a home run - Yip, Yip, Yip, Yip." The Yippers took the league championship in 1923 after a see-saw battle for first against Ellensburg and Yakima.

The Yippers, however, were shut out in their second game of the season until Artie Woods, a.k.a. "fan de luxe," called on her Massa to help them get a run. "Massa," was on the job, claimed Cle Elum's April 1923 Miner Echo, and the team scored three runs to win the game. The score caused Artie to "double up with joy."

played for the Yippers after a brief stint with the Oakland Oaks in 1916. When the Oaks discovered Claxton's true ethnicity, he was released from the team and played on various Negro Leagues around the United States. In the later part of the 1920s, however, Claxton pitched for his hometown team and was famous for striking out 18 players in one game.

noted the Roslyn Athletic Association in their 1935 baseball program. They were also proud of their 1934 King County League Championship and second place in the 1934 Western Washington Invitation Tournament held in Seattle.

Seattle area teams and Roslyn, but Roslyn played six of its nine games at home. Fortunately, Highway 10 over Snoqualmie Pass had been paved in 1934, which made traveling to away games more feasible. In the late 1930s, Roslyn also played in the Cascade League which included teams such as the Snoqualmie Loggers and the Kittitas County League.

Over the years, however, minor league popularity began to decline. It coincided with the closing of the mines in Roslyn as the demand for coal evaporated. In 1963, the last mine was shut down and Roslyn's population dropped below 1,000 with projections that it would soon be a ghost town. The stadium, once a proud monument to Roslyn's athletic prowess, was torn down in the late 1960s, marking the end of an era.