Roseburg Shamrocks
The Roseburg Shamrocks represented Roseburg, Oregon, in the 1904 Oregon State League and were 15-25, in last place, when the Class D league folded on July 6. The name came from the ladies of Roseburg: a committee picked it from their suggestions days before the opener, noting that the team's suits were trimmed with green and wishing the club the shamrock's proverbial luck, and the winner, Mrs. James M. Hansbrough, received a season's pass to every home game. The name was only days old when the season opened, and the Salem paper's game stories that week still called the club the Mountaineers. The club's home grounds have not been confirmed.
Roseburg opened at Salem from April 28 to May 1 and lost three times, 4-1, 6-4 and 4-1. In an 8-5 loss to Albany on June 3, Bilyeu, Bradley and manager Morrow all pitched. Left-hander Fred Gregory pitched for Roseburg, for Vancouver and Albany, and for Olympia that summer, and also managed Albany.
The season ended in a single train ride. After playing Eugene at Junction City on July 4, the club took an early train to Salem, where the players teased Morrow (called "Pap" in the Salem paper and "Turkey" in reference sites) on arrival. He went to his room, took the streetcar to the depot and went home to Roseburg. The Salem paper called rumors of a breakup false and said the team would finish under a temporary arrangement; the next day Roseburg and Eugene disbanded, and the league with them.
Hunky Shaw joined the Shamrocks in 1904 straight out of North Yakima High School and enrolled at the University of Washington that fall, later becoming the first UW alumnus to reach the majors. His big league career was one at-bat: on May 16, 1908, he pinch-hit for the Pittsburgh Pirates and struck out. He led the West Coast's top minor league with a .281 average for the 1910 San Francisco Seals and later became a club owner in Yakima, founding the city's professional club in 1937.
The 1904 Oregon State League was a one-season Class D circuit of four clubs: Eugene, Roseburg, Salem and Vancouver, Washington, whose club moved to Albany on May 18. It opened April 28 and collapsed July 6 when Eugene's board withdrew, its president saying the club was losing about $25 a game; four-game weekly series were more than small-town gates could carry.
