On this day in 1918, Mid-Pacific warmed up for the baseball season with a 15-13 win over Honolulu Military Academy.
The Owls finished their preseason slate unbeaten with the win, slamming three home runs against the Cadets in a brisk 1 hour, 25 minute affair.
The game was to be the last on what was known as Castle Field, as the facility was to be rededicated Damon Field two days later.
The field was founded in 1916 by George P. Castle as a gift for the school, and in turn the institution named the grounds after him. Two years later, Castle asked to have his name taken off it and trustees accepted his request after some discussion. Castle was scheduled to throw out the first pitch at the renaming.
They decided to name it after Francis Williams Damon, who founded the school before the turn of the century. Damon was principal of Mills School for about 10 years and took the position of President at Mid-Pacific Institute when Mills merged with Kawaiahao Seminary.
Damon died in 1915, so he was not around to humbly object to the renaming of the field.
A new flagpole was the feature of the new field, standing twice as tall as the previous one and part of it from the German schooner Hermes taken as a prize of the war. New concrete bleachers were erected to seat 700 spectators on the baseball portion of the complex.
When the baseball team finally opened the season, it lost a 9-8 heartbreaker to McKinley but rallied to win the City title with Star-Bulletin sports editor Banty Given as coach. A majority of his players also played for Asahi and the newspaper’s team.
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