The Chicago Cubs arrived at the Arizona Eastern railroad station 100 years ago, on Tuesday, March 27, 1917. The headline from the Arizona Silver Belt, the official Gila County newspaper, read, “Cubs Win By Score of 5 to 3” after the Cubs played a game with our Miami team at the baseball park.

According to the front page articles, a capacity crowd of 3,000 local residents attended the game, led manager Fred Mitchell of the Cubs. The players arrived at 11:30 a.m. and were loaded in cars and driven to the Modern Café, where they rejected “the sumptuous repast of turkey and everything” in favor of ham and eggs, because they had not “set their eyes upon sustenance for 18 hours.” Their planned breakfast at Bowie miscarried and “the ball players were well nigh famished when they found themselves without anything to eat until noon today.”

The ball players were escorted to the Miami Copper Mills, through the concentrator and the smelter. The party was lucky enough to arrive in time to see the copper poured at the smelter, and to be taken down on the elevator at the mine, where they were shown the interior workings of the plant.

Later, they were taken to the power house, where arrangements had been made to accommodate them. In the absence of a regular dressing room, towels and other supplies necessary for their accommodations were provided.

According to the newspaper account, “Miami Looks at Cream of Cub Players. Mitchell Brings With Him What Will Be the Regular 1917 Chicago Nationals Club – Aggregation is the Same as Will Oppose Pittsburgh Pirates in Opening Game.”

A copy of the entire front page of this 1917 local newspaper is framed and available to read at the Batting Range located at 201 W. Cottonwood St. in Globe.