Buffalo Bill Schuster enjoyed one of the greatest careers by a shortstop in PCL history, but is best remembered for his zany antics with the L.A. Angels and Seattle Rainiers.
Author: David Eskenazi
David Eskenazi
Many of the historic images on Sports Press Northwest are provided by resident Northwest sports history aficionado, David Eskenazi. A Seattle native, David has amassed an extensive archive of Seattle, Northwest, and West Coast historic sports photographs, artifacts and ephemera. We draw from this archive to illustrate stories in The Vault, and our weekly Rotation feature, The Wayback Machine. Youll see many unique and evocative representations of our sporting past, many of which have never been seen publicly. You are in for a treat! David enjoys sharing his collection and zeal for Northwest sports history. His historical showcase activities have included displays at numerous museums, historical societies, and community events, including an annual Northwest baseball history display at Mariners FanFest, and working on baseball-themed fund raising events for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Since the early 1990s, The Seattle Mariners have enlisted David to help recognize and illustrate Seattle and the Northwests 120-year baseball legacy. This collaboration has produced historical displays at Safeco Field, including seven 35-foot long historical storyboards surrounding the Safeco Field main concourse, Fred Hutchinson seat end stanchions, and classic early photographs on the suite level, all created for the opening of Safeco Field in 1999. From its opening in 2007 to the present day, David has provided thematic ideas, design elements, images, and scores of original historic Northwest baseball artifacts for the Baseball Museum of the Pacific Northwest at Safeco Field. David also contributed visual materials, historical consultation and on-screen interviews for documentaries on The Seattle Rainiers, The Spokane Indians, and the Seattle Pilots, and provided images and other inputs for a multitude of books, magazines, web-sites and other media focusing on Seattle, Northwest and West Coast sports history. Recent books he contributed to extensively include SABRs Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest, and Dan Raleys Pitchers of Beer: The Seattle Rainiers Story. David has a keen ongoing interest in sharing stories, expanding and enhancing his collection, and broadening his knowledge and archive of Northwest sports history and memorabilia. If you have questions, memories to share, stories to suggest, or would like to talk to him about selling or trading Seattle and Northwest sports artifacts, please contact him at (206) 441-1900, or at seattlesportshistory@gmail.com
Long before Ken Griffey Jr. began his career with the Seattle Mariners, William Henry “Bill” Lawrence was considered the top center fielder in Seattle’s professional baseball history.
Hillis Layne was to the minor leagues what Edgar Martinez was to the Mariners — a high-average hitter with great ability to get on base and score runs.
William Haskel Klepper might have gone down as one of the Northwest’s most celebrated baseball figures if he hadn’t owned the Seattle Indians during the Depression.
Paul Gregory never was the ace of the Rainiers’ rotation, but between 1936-41 was an effective right hander in a rotation that included Dick Barrett and Farmer Hal Turpin.
Eddie Basinski, a native of Buffalo, NY., received a degree in mechanical engineering, was a violin virtuoso and good enough in baseball to make the PCL Hall of Fame.
Of the 10 Seattle Rainiers Roll of Honor members, only two, Fred Hutchinson and Jim Rivera, played fewer seasons with the club than Alan Strange.
Born in the Green River Valley, Red Badgro was widely viewed in the 1930s as the greatest athlete produced in the state. He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.
Arnie Weinmeister played in only 71 NFL games, but was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1984. That speaks to how dominant he was when he starred for the Giants.
The Seattle Steelheads, originally Abe Saperstein’s Harlem Globetrotters, played their home games in 1946 at Sicks’ Stadium while the PCL’s Rainiers were on the road.