Historic Hood River
Heights Baseball Club, 1912
6-3-2011
Notes
Meet the Hood River Heights Baseball Club of 1912. We have most of the roster:
- 1. Bill Dunn, Manager
- 2. ? Davis
- 3. A.N. Davis
- 4. Fred Tate, Left Field
- 5. Merts Gessling, Short Stop
- 6. ?
- 7. Shorty Bucklin
- 8. Ray (Roy?) Kuntz
- 9. “Bud” Ray Samuels, Second Base
- 10. Charley Hart, Pitcher
- 11. Bill Hall, Catcher
- 12. Joe Carson, Pitcher
- 13. Harry Butterfield, Third Base
This image is very special for another reason. It is “Image #1” of our digital archive, which was born yesterday. Thanks to a grant from the Google Data Center Grants of the Tides Foundation, we’ll be scanning thousands of images which have never before been available for public viewing. “Image #1” was selected by Matt, our intern/ archivist, who will be doing all this work. He’s a huge baseball fan, and I hope you’ll agree this is a fine choice to start our digital collection.
l.e.
What happened to #13? Who is probably First Base with his large mitt.
l.e.
Congratulations to the museum on the grant. Congratulations to Matt, for the opportunity to archive these photos and congratulations to all of us viewers for the opportunity to enjoy.
Now, I would like to know a little personal history about each player and the manager.
Did Bill Dunn know something about baseball or was he just a community volunteer?
Arthur
Good catch– I left out one of the players. Joe Carson now has his proper place in the roster. As for player bios– Several lived their whole lives in Hood River, so I suspect we'll hear from some descendants. If anyone has any interesting bio details, please post. If #1 is in fact Clarence “Bill” Dunn, his obit ids him as a fisherman.
rwf
When did the Heights become a business district? Are there any photos coming up of it's early days?
Arthur
The Heights was a business district by this date. In 1909 it had a general store, dry goods, bakery, confectionery, milliner, butcher, hardware, and more. I'll post a picture soon.
Jay
Possible descendants? The Dalles lawyer Don Dunn passed away this winter, he would have been born in the '30s. His son Steve lives in the HR Valley. I'll ask him about the fisherman.
Elwood “Tweet” Samuels, legendary Crag Rat, died in the 1990s in his 80s I think.
Steve Dunn
Nope, not a Don Dunn or Steve Dunn relative. Nice to know we are known from being in the area for a while though. Great stuff Arthur, thanks for doing this.
Charlott
Ray Samuels could be “Tweets” father. Tweet had a brother Ray who had a meat market on the Heights in Hood River. Am a friend of the family and can possibly find out if this Ray Samuels was good friend “Tweets” father.
Charlott
I am wondering if #11 might now be Percy Bucklin.