Hoquiam Perfect Gentlemen

The Hoquiam Perfect Gentlemen of Hoquiam, Washington, played the first two seasons of the Southwest Washington League, a Class D circuit that began in 1903 with Hoquiam, Aberdeen, Olympia and Centralia. The league had an unusual rule: only weekend games between league clubs counted in the standings. The Perfect Gentlemen name appears in period papers, but its origin has not been documented; Olympia historian Emmett O'Connell has suggested it was meant with some sarcasm.

Manager Ralph "Chub" Philbrick's 1903 club was largely made up of amateurs who worked in the mills during the week. Hoquiam led the league in August, and after league president John P. Fink ruled against its protest of a game with Olympia, the club threatened to disband. It stayed, and finished tied with Aberdeen at 11-7. Hoquiam declined to play a deciding series, and the pennant was awarded to Aberdeen. Record books credit pitcher Morris with a league-leading 12 wins and 106 strikeouts, one more win than the club's 11 in the official standings.

In March 1904 the Hoquiam club, divided over how gate receipts would be split, voted to drop out of the league and schedule games with Aberdeen alone, and brought Philbrick back as manager. Hoquiam ended up playing the league season after all and won the 1904 pennant at 14-4 (one account gives 13-4), four games ahead of Aberdeen. That September the two harbor rivals met again in a series for a $50 purse.

The club became the Hoquiam Loggers in 1905 and fell to last place at 9-27; the league's documented history ends in 1906. Later Hoquiam clubs, the 1910 Loggers and 1912 Cougars of the Washington State League, each lasted a single season.