Update : 12 October, 2024
So, these are among the reasons why this might go on for another 25 years.
In attempting to update the roster sheet for 1930, I came across an entry for Teddy Colgate who was shown as playing for the Victoria Elks in 1930 and 1932 but with no entry for 1931.
That leads us to a newspaper search to try and determine if he indeed played in 1931. Yes, both in the Victoria Senior League with the Elks and in the Victoria Twilight League.
Then, In going to enter Colgate on the 1931 roster page discovered we had just one lonely team entry for all of Victoria.
Why don't we just see which teams played in the league that season.
Oh, isn't this interesting, the batting statistics for 1931 ! Might as well entry them while we're here - typing each name, their teams, then the data from each of 14 columns. Once finished, double-check.
The check showed up a couple of minor errors, but they did show one player with 21 hits in 16 at bats (should have been 2 hits).
Geez, hardly any first names. Let's check our current players' lists and the Victoria papers to see if we can find a few first names. Not bad, 45 first names out of 63 players.
OK, let's update the stats and rosters with first names.
Now we'll format the data and enter onto the 1931 stats page. There goes Wednesday.
And, now on Thursday, we find a second Victoria League - rosters, names, first names.
In the on-line search of newspapers for first names we come across a photo of the 1932 Penticton team. OK, let's add those too to the rosters, and the photo for sure.
Oh, but is that Emeri or Emery? Back to the newspapers.
All right, finally on to the "F's". Yikes, Forcee/Forcese with seven listings in total. Who's who?
However, by luck in searching for other things we come across of a newspaper photo of Ed Holden of Vancouver Diethers, 1939, and Julian Sawchuk, 1943, Victoria Army. And, there's a little story on Diethers of Vancouver winning the 1939 Labor Day Tournament.
On Facebook, Max Weder, the irrepressible collector, has posted a photo of the team crest for the 1948 Camrose Cubs. I can't find anything about the Cubs that year, but love the crest.
And, about time I did this - a page for the North Saskatchewan River Baseball League, in which my ol' hometown Lloydminster Twins have dominated (11 wins in their 27 seasons and a spot in the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame). Photos on the page of the North Battleford Beavers 2023 and 2024, champions both years.
There are photos of the Lloydminster Twins, on their own page, for 2004, 2011 and 2014, three of the championship seasons.
And, we've managed to update all the roster lists, in decades, from the 1900s to the 1970s.
Not sure we'll ever sort out the Chris Riddell's :
Riddell Chris RHP
Riddell Chris P
Riddell Chris(Sr.) OF
Riddell(Jr) Chris SS
Although I think we have, in the main, sorted out the LaFace players. Above (L-R) - Arthur(Pie) Laface, Jack, Jim, Joe, Donald(Babe), Ricky(Mascot), Rudy and Larry. There also was a Cy Laface and an Al Laface, but we've not yet located photos.
We still need to ID four for whom we have just initials - C, F, H and R. Cy/Si Laface (He might well be the "C" and Rudy might be the "R". Our Southern BC correspondent Lou DeRosa is on it.
11 October, 2024
Sadly, we have lost another good one. George Mahaffy, a stalwart of the talented Sceptre, Saskatchewan teams of the late 1940s and 1950s.
We received word on Thursday that he had passed away. He was 94.
Big (6'4") Mahaffy was the team's first baseman and occasional pitcher. He suited up for Sceptre, Eatonia and Delisle from 1948 through the early 1960s. In interviews, long after his playing days, Mahaffy downplayed his abilities, saying, while one of the imported pitchers might have been paid $450 a month, he played for "meal money, for that's what I was worth".
He was the basis for a play Lords of Sceptre, about the exploits of the town's ball team. It was written by his cousin, Maureen Ulrich.
29 September, 2024
Kaye Kaminishi, the last survivor of the legendary Asahi of Vancouver passed away September 28th.
The Asahi Baseball Association shared the news :
"With great sadness we share the news of our mentor and inspirational leader Kaye Kaminishi's passing this morning. He quietly passed in his home with his son, daughter, and other family members by his side.
The Asahi Baseball Association and our members would like to send our heartfelt condolences to Kaye's entire family and friends.
We have been blessed to have had Kaye near us for the past 10 years from our first Tribute Game to our recent 10th Anniversary Legacy Games. His inspirational advice and motivational speeches will remain in the hearts of all our players and coaches.
Despite harsh the discriminatory treatment by society and the government of 1940s, Kaye carried himself with dignity, poise, and restraint. From the age of 18 to today, he represented and continued the legacy of the orginal Asahi. Kaye always believed in playing with honor, respect, loyalty, and sportsmanship. Virtues that we should all live by.
Thank you Kaye San"
21 September, 2024
Now that the awards and stats are in the books for the Western Canadian Baseball League, we offer a summary of the 2024 season.
It includes the selection, by league coaches, of Cooper Ciesielski of Sylvan Lake as the WCBL's Most Valuable Player.
The Gulls outfielder compiled a .382 average, leading the league in slugging with a .758 mark and was second in on-base percentage at .495. He tied for the lead in homers, 13, and tied for the most doubles, with 21.
The Okotoks Dawgs three-peated as champions for the second time!
Going through issues of the National Baseball Congress Annuals, we found league standings for some Canadian teams in 1951, 1956 and 1959 and those are now displayed.
And, in updating the above, we noticed the NBC books had consistently had an incorrect spelling for Redcliff, Alberta. They had the Australian spelling, Redcliffe. So, that's now changed throughout the site.
And, in digging out more information on the Indian Head Rockets, our Robyn Jensen also included a newspaper photo of the Kamsack Cyclones upon winning the 1954 Indian Head Tournament. It is now added to the two other 1954 photos of Roy Taylor's Cyclones.
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