Santa Ana Rats

ClassificationsPhotographs

Photographer Benjamin Franklin Conaway (1848 - 1935)

DateLate 19th to Early 20th Century

Made AtSanta Ana, California, United States, North America

MediumPhotographic Print

DimensionsOverall: 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. William McPherson

Object number8484

DescriptionThis is an early 20th century photograph of the “Rats,” a Santa Ana baseball team, taken by B.F Conaway. At the turn of the century, developments in sporting were taking place around the county. Like-minded enthusiasts banded together and began to organize into social clubs such as the brand-new Santiago Hunt Club in 1903. Other sports requiring more infrastructure also took root. The county’s first golf course was established two miles southwest of Irvine Park. Into the early twenties and thirties, new sporting fads that would become pervasive symbols of American culture joined the fray as well. By this point the county had already developed into an incredibly complicated structure with each city hosting a litany of teams from grade school athletic programs to semi-professional teams. On September 28, 1876, thirteen years before Orange County was formally founded, the very first baseball team in the area was formed. This nameless team wore uniforms stitched by their mothers and mostly played locally, in large part due to the difficulty of travelling in Southern California prior to the invention of automobiles. Their first recorded game took place in 1878 against a Los Angeles club and ended in a tie. By the 1880s a larger club circuit in what would become Orange County had already formed, with teams in most of the major cities. In response to a Westminster team named the Cats, Santa Ana fired back with their own beloved Rats. It would not be until a pivotal 1924 exhibition game in which Babe Ruth faced off against Walter Johnson that sports on a national level really arrived in Orange County.

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