Los Gatos Novices Work on the Baseball Field

In March of 1886, after an exhaustive search, the Jesuits from Mission Santa Clara purchased 39 acres of land located just south of Los Gatos on which to build the Novitiate of the Sacred Heart, today the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center at 300 College Ave.

In 1892, the property was expanded to include a hill at the back of the novitiate where the novices built a baseball field. 

The boys wore clothing similar to that of the Spanish missionaries; long coats and broad-brimmed hats which protected their eyes and faces from the sun.

In later years this style of hat became a popular women's fashion accessory appropriately called the "padre."

Source: Hooked on Los Gatos, the Library and Museum History Project