Aberdeen Black Cats

The Aberdeen Black Cats of Aberdeen, Washington, played the 1910 and 1912 seasons of the Washington State League, a Class D circuit built around southwest Washington towns such as Raymond, Chehalis, Centralia and Hoquiam. The name was already known on Grays Harbor: Aberdeen's 1907 club, managed by Bob Brown, had won the Class B Northwestern League pennant as the Black Cats at 85-51. No contemporary explanation of the name has been found.

Manager Dick Boettiger's 1910 Black Cats finished third at 24-29 in a season that saw Hoquiam and Tacoma drop out in mid-July. The roster included Jack Fournier, an Aberdeen High School product, who is credited with 48 games and a .232 average for the club. Fournier went on to 15 major league seasons, a .313 career average and the 1924 National League home run title with Brooklyn.

Aberdeen sat out 1911, when the league shrank to four teams, and came back in 1912 under manager Thomas Kelly. The Black Cats were 16-21 when they disbanded on July 10. With three clubs left, the Washington State League folded on July 14 and never returned. L.A. Giddings of Aberdeen finished tied for the league lead in hits, with 23 in the shortened season.

The name outlasted the league. Aberdeen fielded Black Cats in the Northwestern League in 1915, a club that folded on August 1, and in the Class B Pacific Coast International League in 1918. The pro clubs played at Electric Park, at Myrtle and Oak Streets on the Aberdeen-Hoquiam line. The name then carried into semipro ball; a 1925 newsreel in the University of Washington's collection shows the Black Cats clinching the Timber League pennant.