The Bozeman Irrigators, based in Bozeman, Montana, may hold the shortest tenure of any team in this collection. The club arrived on July 10, 1909, played its first home game on July 15, and watched its league disband on July 25.
The franchise began the season as the Boise Irrigators of the Class D Inter-Mountain League and had compiled a 13-38 record when it was moved to Bozeman in July. The nickname came with the team from Idaho rather than from Montana, a reference to the irrigation projects that had opened the Boise Valley to farming. The Inter-Mountain League folded two weeks after Bozeman's first home game, ending the season for everyone in it.
This was Bozeman's second brush with professional baseball and its second collapse. The city had been a charter member of the 1892 Montana State League, a six-team Class B circuit that opened on May 30 and ran a split-season schedule. Bozeman folded on July 23 of that year with a 10-8 record under manager B.E. Vaile, disbanding on the same day as the Great Falls Smelter Cities and leaving the league to finish with four clubs. The money explains most of it. The league had set a salary limit of $200 per club per month, and by the second week of the season Bozeman was reported to be paying between $500 and $700, one of several clubs treating the cap as optional.
Between the two attempts, Bozeman's entire history in organized professional baseball amounts to parts of two summers, neither of which reached August. No professional team has represented the city since. In the 1800s and first half of the 1900s, teams existed in thousands of small towns across the United States, as Americans looked for recreational activities and entertainment in the era before TV.
Retro Baseball Revival celebrates historic baseball teams with unique apparel, honoring their legacy and bringing history to one-of-a-kind clothing with our old school retro baseball tees from defunct Minor League Baseball teams. All of our high quality apparel is designed, printed, and shipped within the USA. This collection features 100% original designs based on the history and nicknames of historic minor league teams.
Our premium lightweight shirts are the hugely popular Bella+Canvas brand 3001 tees. They are much lighter and thinner feeling than a traditional heavyweight tee. They also are more form fitting and feel more snug. These are generally 90% to 100% cotton, although please note that heather colors in this item are 52% cotton.
Size Guide: Fit is true to size or a little snug. Considering ordering one size up if you are normally between sizes.
Brand: Bella Canvas | Product ID: 3001
- Made with 100% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton, a lightweight fabric (4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²)) that is easy to layer, breathable. Perfect for active and leisure wear.
- The retail fit that is perfect for casual and semi-formal settings. The crew neckline adds a classic, neat style that's perfect for accessorizing.
- Bella+Canvas manufactures all its products in the US and internationally in humane, no-sweat-shop, sustainable way and is part of the Fair Labor Association as well as Platinum WRAP certified.
- The tear-away label minimizes skin irritations.
- Fabric blends: Ash and Heather Prism colors - 99% cotton, 1% polyester; Heather and Solid Blend colors - 52% cotton, 48% polyester; Athletic Heather and Black Heather - 90% cotton, 10% polyester.
