Hollywood Stars

Hollywood Stars (1926–1935)

The first incarnation of the Hollywood Stars began as the Sacramento Solons, a charter member of the Pacific Coast League in 1903. The team moved to Tacoma in 1904, winning the pennant as the Tacoma Tigers, then returned to Sacramento in 1905, moved to Fresno in 1906 as the Fresno Raisin Eaters, and left the PCL. The Sacramento Solons rejoined in 1909, moved to San Francisco during 1914 as the San Francisco Missions, and were sold to Bill "Hardpan" Lane, moving to Salt Lake City for 1915 as the Salt Lake City Bees.

Lane moved the team to Los Angeles for 1926, initially as the Hollywood Bees, soon renamed the Hollywood Stars. They played at Wrigley Field in South Los Angeles, miles from Hollywood, winning pennants in 1929 and 1930. Attendance was good in 1926 but declined, worsened by the Great Depression. After the 1935 season, the Angels doubled the Stars' rent, and Lane moved the team to San Diego for 1936 as the San Diego Padres.

Hollywood Stars (1938–1957)

The second incarnation of the Hollywood Stars began as the Vernon Tigers, joining the PCL in 1909. The Tigers won two PCL pennants before moving to San Francisco for 1926 as the Mission Reds (or Missions), failing to rival the San Francisco Seals. In 1938, owner Herbert Fleishhacker moved the team back to Los Angeles, taking the name Hollywood Stars. After one season, the team was sold in early December 1938 to attorney Victor Ford Collins and Robert H. Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurants.

They formed the Hollywood Baseball Association, enlisting celebrity stockholders including Lloyd Bacon, Gary Cooper, William Powell, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, George Raft, Charles Rogers, Raoul Walsh, Roscoe Karns, William LeBaron, Gene Autry, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Bing Crosby, Cecil B. DeMille, William Frawley, Gail Patrick, and Harry Warner. The club was promoted as "the Hollywood Stars baseball team, owned by the Hollywood stars."

The team played in the Hollywood area; Gilmore Field, a $200,000 ballpark seating 12,500, opened in May 1939, with part of the 1939 season played at Gilmore Stadium after using Wrigley Field in 1938.

Cultural references

The Hollywood Stars were featured on the 1957 jazz album Double Play! by André Previn and Russ Freeman, whose cover shows a topless model wearing a Stars cap. The team was mentioned on an episode of I Love Lucy and on the radio program Dragnet. The 1952 film The Atomic City depicts Gilmore Field as the site of a Russian atomic secrets drop during a televised Stars game.