Sawdust League & Brownie Kehele

Originally written by Shana Smith, Curator, Port Gamble Historic Museum. Published in the August 2000 issue of the Port Ludlow Voice.

Baseball was the game of chief interest during the entire summer in the mill towns, and scarcely a summer passed without a game (it wasn’t just for the Fourth of July)! Teams from Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, Blakely, Hadlock, and Seabeck made up the Sawdust League. A good pitcher could get a job at any of the mills; if he turned in a good performance on Sunday, he was not expected to work very hard during the week!

One of the Puget Mill’s star performers was Brownie Kehele. Brownie, who had royal Hawaiian blood, arrived at Port Gamble in 1902 aboard a sailing vessel. While his ship was loading, twelve-year-old Brownie played baseball with his classmates at Port Gamble. It became apparent that Brownie had ability for the sport and the mill crew began to teach him the fine points of the game.

Brownie decided that he wanted to stay in Port Gamble, but he had already signed on for the trip. Mill hands hid him a few miles from Port Gamble; his vessel sailed without a cabin boy, and Brownie went to work at the mill.

Brownie worked at the mill over 47 years, except for a few years during which he played semi-professional baseball. With Brownie at the bat, Port Gamble was league champ for many years, and as one of the head sawyers said, “No one could touch us.”

Kehele Park is located on Pioneer Drive in Port Ludlow.