Iowa Hills William "Seattle Bill" James, baseball legend

We have discussed the above photo in a post that can be found here. It shows the Iowa Hill baseball team posing with a couple of children sitting by a tree. All the small mining towns in the foothills fielded baseball teams, and Iowa Hill produced a player that would eventually pitch in the 1914 World Series. William "Seattle Bill" James was the waterboy for the Iowa Hill team and can be seen sitting by the tree holding a watering can! Bill was born in 1892 and looked to be about five or six in the photo, which would make the date of the photo around 1897 or 98.

William “Seattle Bill” James pitching for the Boston Braves.

William Lawrence James was the third of four children of William and Emma James. Bill's father was a gold miner in Iowa Hill, and when Bill was 11, the family moved to Oroville, where his father took a job on a mining dredge. While his parents wanted a mining degree for their son, Bill had other plans. In the three years that Bill attended Oroville high, he matured into a 6'3", 195-pound pitching phenom. When Seattle of the Northwestern League offered him a contract before the 1912 season, he left school for good. More about Bill here at the Society for American Baseball Research.

William James baseball card from 1916.

The above photo shows a baseball card with William pitching for the Boston Braves. Bill moved to the braves after playing for Seattle in 1912, where he was renowned for his fastball and spitball. William led the Seattle team to a pennant and helped guide the Braves to the championship. He was an early baseball superstar.

The photo below features James on a “cigar blanket”. I assume, because of the size of the “blanket”, that this actually sat inside a cigar box.

A “Cigar Blanket” featuring William James.

He attempted a comeback in 1918, but WWI called, so he served in the 63rd Infantry. There, his baseball arm came into use as he taught soldiers how to throw bombs. After the war, Bill played one major league game in 1919. From 1919 to 1925, he was a coach and player in the Pacific Coast League, from which he retired.

During retirement, Bill lived with his wife Harriet in Oroville. There he drove trucks and became an assessor for Butte County. He died on March 10, 1971, just shy of his 79th birthday., He is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Oroville.

Williams's story is fascinating as we can watch his development from a young waterboy in an isolated mountain town, Iowa Hill, to his fame as an early baseball player in the major league.

Iowa Hill baseball team and a surprise.

The Iowa Hill baseball team in the late 1800s. A typical small-town baseball team, with a couple of young kids hiding behind a tree. At one time, Iowa Hill was a prosperous mining town that was producing $100,000 a week in the mid-19th Century. Fielding a baseball team to play the other gold mining towns was the regular practice, as baseball was the pastime sport of choice in those days.

You never know what you're going to find out when we post these photos. We heard from a person who is the keeper of Iowa Hill's memories, and she related this story. "Native son and big-league baseball champion William "Seattle Bill" James was the waterboy--he is the child behind the tree. He returned to his home town for a visit in October 1914 following the World Series win of his Boston Braves against the "unbeatable" Philadelphia Athletics, largely due to Bill's pitching."

Wow, that young boy's fascination with the team grew into a career that took him far away from this old mining town. You never know what you'll find out with these old photographs from a time gone. Above is a photo of William pitching for the Boston Braves.

Photos: Placer County Museums

Iowa Hill Baseball Team

There was a time when baseball was America's favorite pastime, and every town tried to field a team. Iowa Hill, located in an isolated area between Foresthill and Colfax, was no exception. Of course, they didn't necessarily have to travel too far as there were other isolated gold hunting communities in the hills that also had teams.

In the photo above the catcher shows off the tools of his position, a catcher glove, and what looks like a homemade chest protector. The man at far left has a glove that doesn't look much bigger than an oven mitt, while the ball seems to be about softball size.

There are a couple of photo bombers in the above picture. A couple of kids sit in the background near a tree. One has a watering can. All the people in the photograph have identifying numbers, The town, and these people are long gone, but not forgotten.

It’s said that on summer evenings when the air is very still, you can still hear the cry of “Play Ball!” echoing throughout the hills and ghost towns of Placer County.

All photos: Placer County Museums.