A Little Bonner Baseball History

by Kim Briggeman

June 7, 2021

Visit the Bonner Milltown History Center and Museum for a trip down memory lane. The baseball uniform and cap of former player and coach Arnold "Ode" Odegaard are two of the portals leading you back to Bonner's heydays.When the Missoula Paddleheads hosted the Boise Hawks on June 5, 2021, it marked the first Pioneer Baseball League appearance in Missoula by a Boise team since Aug. 31, 1960. The Missoula Timberjacks won that night 3-1 at Campbell Park, on the corner of South Higgins and South avenues. It turned out to be the final league home game ever for the Timberjacks, who folded following the season after five years.

But it wasn’t their last time playing at Campbell Park. After finishing the season on the road, the Timberjacks came back to Missoula one last time for an exhibition “player appreciation night” contest against those other ‘Jacks — the Bonner Lumberjacks, a semi-pro team in the Western Montana League made up mostly of millworkers. Here's Bonner’s lineup that historic (sort of) night, Sept. 6, 1960: