The Aug. 20 edition of The Herald ran a headline in the Sports section saying, “In front of biggest crowd ever, Everett wins on hit in ninth.” The article said that the victory came before an all-time record crowd of 4,817 at Everett Memorial Stadium. That may have been the record for Memorial Stadium, but it may not have been the largest crowd ever to watch baseball in Everett.
In 1905, the Everett Smokestackers played in the professional Northwestern League.
On May 13, 1905, The Everett Daily Herald published a picture on page one of the crowd at the opening day game at the old Fairgrounds Stadium at Broadway and Everett Avenue. The caption under the picture said, “It is estimated that there were over 5,000 people on the grounds. It was the greatest crowd that ever assembled at a ball game in Everett. Every business house of special importance in the city closed for the day at 2:30 p.m., and the few that kept open might as well have shut up shop for all the business they did. A number of sawmills shut down at noon and gave their employees a half holiday for this occasion. Practically one fourth of the population of the entire city witnessed the game.”
Everett lost the game to Bellingham, 9 to 3. However, the Smokestackers rebounded from their opening day loss to capture the 1905 Northwestern League championship in a 97-game season.
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