As the Great European War continued to escalate into a third year of hostilities during the summer of 1916, the sports pages of Saskatchewan newspapers had only a scant amount of local content on which to report. With a dwindling number of available athletes to draw upon, the ranks of team participants on the baseball diamonds of western Canada shrank as more and more lists of war casualties and military operations took precedence and filled the print media columns normally devoted to a plethora of athletic endeavors.
Within Regina, where the 195th battalion was stationed, a triad of intra-city baseball leagues in 1915 was reduced to a single circuit in 1916. A snappy, four-team Northside League survived the overall reduction in player personnel and went on to thrive. Returning for a second season were the inaugural season champion Whirlwinds as well as the Rovers. Gone were the Fleetfoots and Young Britons who were quickly replaced by the Y.M.C.A. squad from the Commercial League of 1915 plus a new entry, the East End Red Sox. Play got underway on May 24 and concluded on September 14 when the Whirlwinds, after a slow start, not only repeated as league champions but also captured the provincial amateur crown.
The war effort affected Moose Jaw’s local summer sports scene even more than that in Regina. It wasn’t until mid-June that a meeting was held to organize a 1916 Moose Jaw City Baseball League and, once it got off the ground, it was very low-key with a minimal number of games. No effort was made to challenge for the provincial senior amateur trophy, the Leader Cup. The four teams that made up the circuit were: 1) Robin Hoods (who repeated as champions), 2) Latham’s Hardware, 3) Shell Factory (an ammunition plant), and 4) Sask. Bridge & Iron Company.
The makeup of the four-team 1916 Saskatoon City Baseball League saw the return of the Sutherland and Transportation teams from 1915 with two new entries, the Pilgrims and Langham, replacing the Catholic Club and the defending champion Young Liberals. The 65th Battalion, located in Saskatoon, also put together a team and engaged in the occasional exhibition game with City League clubs. The Transportation team and the Pilgrims tied for top spot in the circuit and then played a best-of-five series for the Hub City crown which saw the Transports triumph in three straight games. A best-of-three playoff for provincial supremacy was then arranged with the Whirlwinds, titleholders of the Regina North Side pennant.