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Artifact of the Month, #98.7.1
Prune Packers’ Baseball Team decal
This unusual artifact is a decal
transfer made by the Angelus Pacific Company in Los Angeles. The
artifact is a souvenir from Healdsburg’s baseball heyday, which is
commemorated in the current Healdsburg Museum exhibit, “Elysian
Fields: a History of Baseball in Healdsburg.”
The colorful decal transfer
features a baseball player in motion with the words “Healdsburg
Prune Packers” festooned in red lettering bordered in black. The
baseball player has dropped his bat after getting a hit and is
poised over a giant prune. The prune has been depicted as “home
plate,” but the dried fruit has been drawn about 12 times bigger
than the baseball player’s head! |
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This artifact, which dates to the late 1950s-early
1960s, measures 5 5/8 inches x 5 inches. On
the back are directions for applying the decal
transfer to a glass windshield. The decal is
in fair condition. The artifact was donated to
the Healdsburg Museum in 1998 by Darla Williams
Budworth. Local painter Charlie Keith designed the
artwork for the decal.
The original Healdsburg Prune Packers
baseball team was formed before 1920 and consisted
of local players and several ex-Coast League players
who came to Healdsburg to play each Sunday. The
name was chosen because of the importance of prunes
to the local economy: virtually all of the players
grew, picked and/or packed prunes. Through the
1920s, the team played semi-pro teams from the Bay
Area, drawing large crowds of 800 or more, to
Healdsburg’s Recreation Park. The Prune Packers
came to life again after World War II, with Dan
Modena serving as manager. Longtime locals fondly
recall the good games and great times of summers
past at Recreation Park. We invite you to connect
with Healdsburg’s baseball history at the Museum
over the next few months. You might also like to
pick up a smart (new) Prune Packers’ baseball hat or
T-shirt, specially produced for sale during the
exhibit.
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