Update : 16 September, 2024
As a joke I thought I ought to write the editors of the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix newspaper and ask them to make a correction on an item they posted 70 years ago.
Based on that article in the 1954 paper, we had posted that Jose "Hippy" Hernandez (left) was returning as the playing manager of the Indian Head Rockets for 1954.
Turns out we now know that was incorrect. Not only wasn't Hippy the 1954 manager, he wasn't the manager in 1953 either. The manager was catcher Gilberto Yzquierdo (right) and we have made corrections to the Rockets roster.
In the process we also figured out what the former Rockets' manager, Jim Williams, was doing in an Indian Head uniform late that season.
Williams had brought up another team, the Florida Eagles, to play some tournaments and exhibitions in Saskatchewan and late in the season, when the Rockets ran into some financial difficulties and released several players, they called upon the Eagles for replacements.
In that light we have added some tournaments into the 1954 Tournament page for the Shaunavon and Kamsack events and more detail on the Indian Head tourney.
The Rockets' story led us to the Texas Jasper Steers who had trekked up to Saskatchewan from East Texas to compete in the Indian Head Tournament. Unfortunately, they were knocked out of further play when beaten 1-0 by Saskatoon in their only game in the event. Southpaw Alvin Jackson, (right) just 17 and a star high school athlete, who would later pitch in the major leagues, lost a heart-breaker.
They ended up playing a couple more games, one standing in for the Rockets when Indian Head could not field enough players. The team intrigued us, and we searched for some more information. Turns out a half-dozen of the Steers played in Saskatchewan and the club was the Negro champions in Texas in 1953 and 1955 (not competing in '54 because of the trip to Canada) and then won the Negro All-Dixie championship of the National Baseball Congress in 1956 and 1957 before challenging in the NBC tournament at Wichita both those years.
Part of the intrigue was a single while player on the "coloured" team. Our Rich Necker talked to him years ago. More on the Steers, including photos of the 1956 and 1957 teams & C.C. Risenhoover through that link above.
Searching the old National Baseball Congress (the organization for semi-pro ball) annuals for information on the Jasper Steers led us to some old photos of Canadian teams. Not the best quality, but as we've said before, at least they are placeholders for when we track down better ones. In those photos at least a couple of guys who we had been in contact with over the years, Dusty Rhodes and Ernie Porkka.
1954 Picture Butte Indians, Champions of the Alberta Big Six League
1956 Vauxhall Jets, Champions of the Alberta Big Six League
1956 Bow Island Combines, Champions of the Southern Irrigation League
1959 Bow Island Combines, Champions of the Southern Irrigation League
Tony Robello was a major league baseball scout who signed, among others, Hall of Famer Johnny Bench! In 1949, while a scout for the St. Louis Browns, he held a try out camp at Butler Park. in Trail, BC. Lou DeRosa has sent along a couple of photos from the Trail Museum & Archives.
03 September, 2024
Look at those crests !
The Lloydminster Meridians ! So pleased to have Robyn & Kris Jensen visit from Indian head, Saskatchewan.
Robyn brought along these special t-shirts with the Meridians crest she had made from the original from 1954. What a neat surprise.
She's working on another surprise; the revelation though will have to wait for another day.
We are pleased to present Robyn's delightful story on the famous Lacombe Tournament, 1950-1988. At the time, it was THE tournament in Canada.
And, we've also finally put together a list of the tournament winners from the key events from 1945 to 2024. They include Indian Head, Lloydminster, Saskatoon Optimist, Camrose, Lethbridge Rotary, Lacombe, Kamloops Labour Day, Kamloops International, Saskatoon Exhibition and the lone tournament to continue to this day, the Grand Forks Invitational.
Previous entries on this page moved to News Archive 28