Vignette > Boyle Park

Baseball Game in 1910

In 1905, Carmelita Garcia Boyle and her son Hugh A. Boyle II had a 30-acre parcel surveyed for a housing tract. Carmelita hoped to donate two “choicest acres” to Mill Valley for a park. She died a few months later. In 1908, Mill Valley voters passed a bond issue to acquire six  acres for what was named Boyle Park. Baseball was clearly THE sport of early Mill Valley, as it was in towns across America.  The small baseball field on the original two acres was expanded to full size, and spectator stands were added. In the summer, every other Sunday there was a game against a Bay Area town team, a company team or a traveling team. Local merchants sponsored the Mill Valley semi-professional team. Additional money came from “passing the hat” during the game.  In 1929, Mill Valley’s American Legion (under age 17) team won the California state title, then beat teams from Nevada, Phoenix, and Milwaukee before losing to New Orleans in the national semi-finals. In 1938, handball and tennis courts were built. The tennis courts were equipped with a then novel feature; players deposited 10 cents in a meter for 30 minutes of night lighting.

Baseball Team in mid-1930s – click to enlarge