Winnipeg ballgame crowd circa 1913

From our February 2012 issue

By Jim Smyth – Kipling, Sask.

The faint writing on the back of this postcard states, “This is me at the opening ball game in Winnipeg.” The date printed on the front is 1913. We don’t know if this was the first ball game ever in Winnipeg, or merely the first of the season.

We find it noteworthy because of the formal attire of the people in the crowd and the fact that there is not a female to be seen!

The card was sent to my father, Art Smyth, by his cousin, Lyman Van Vliet of Winnipeg. The Smyths came west to Kennedy, Sask., from Ontario in 1902 and when going back there to visit, they would sometimes stop over with the Van Vliets.

Art remembered that as boys they’d often run down to play ball on the vacant property where the Timothy E. Eaton Department Store was later built.

1913 Photo from Baseball game in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
1913 postcard send by Lyman Van Vliet of Winnipeg, Man.


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