20 years after the Western Canada Baseball League refused to allow a black man to play the game, Calgary's Russ Gideon was a local sports star. He not only played the centre field for the Calgary Dodgers, but he was the playing manager and led the club to the Alberta Senior Championship.
Gideon, whose family had moved to Calgary from Nova Scotia, went on to become a star in track and field, baseball and rugby (football) in high school, one of the best all-around athletes in the city's history.
In a 1929 item, the Calgary Herald noted Gideon was "one of the most popular rugby players in the city" and highlighted his tackling ability, "renowned for always bringing his man down". A few weeks previous, he'd become one the first players to receive a forward pass in Canadian football (until 1929, the Canadian version had been a strictly running game).
Gideon went on to a career as a pharmacist in Seattle and was a business and community leader who received national acclaim for his activism and good works. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he was recognized by Ebony Magazine as one of the 100 most influential black Americans.
There was an operative senior league in Regina for the spring and summer of 1930, known as the Regina Northwest League. The defending provincial champions (1929 vintage), the Regina Balmorals, won both halves of the short 1930 schedule, negating the need of a playoff series. The Regina senior Shamrocks finished dead last in the first half and tied for last in the second half of the schedule and their season was over without any expectations of advancing provincially. With an abbreviated regular season schedule, much of the summer saw exhibition games composed of an aggregation of select players from the loop plying their skills against touring opposition from both Canada and the United States. When it came time for senior amateur provincial playoffs to begin, the Balmorals were simply disinterested in defending their title and packed away the gear for the season. That decision left the door wide open for the junior titlists from the Queen City to get into the fray. The results obviously speak for themselves, as the teenagers were overmatched against a veteran Saskatoon St. Joseph's Athletic Club.
A no-hitter by Saskatoon's Cooney Wood was a highlight of the inter-provincial baseball championship in Edmonton over the September 13-14 weekend. St. Joseph's A.C. of Saskatoon downed the Alberta representatives in three straight games to capture the title. The Saskatchewan entry won the first game 13-1 behind the fine hurling of Pete Therrien. Wood fired his no-hitter in the second game, a 5-1 triumph. He had ten strikeouts. Chuck Syers pitched the final contest, as Saskatoon won, 15-8.
Therrien (W) and Marbin
Wilson (L), Berg, Thompson, Castagner and Smith
Dodge (L) and Smith
Woods (W) and Therrien
Syers (W) and Reeves
Hall (L) and Smith
St. Joe's had won the Saskatchewan title on the Labour Day weekend, downing Regina Shamrocks 10-7 Monday, September 1 in the first game of a twin-bill to take the set in three straight games. Saskatoon had taken both ends of a double-header in Regina on Saturday, 11-4 and 6-1.
Catcher "Curly" Reeves punched out a double and three singles to lead a 16-hit Saskatoon attack in the title clinching contest. Pete Therrien scattered nine hits in taking the pitching win. After Regina had tied the game with a run in the top of the 7th, Saskatoon responded with three in the bottom of the frame for the victory. Shaw had three hits, including a homer for the Shamrocks.
Hoffer, Stirrett (L) (3) and Olson
Therrien (W) and Reeves
Although the series had been decided, the teams played the second game of the double-header Monday and the Shamrocks walked away with a 9-5 win taking the lead in the first inning on Olson's grand slam homer. Hamilton held Saskatoon to seven hits.
Hamilton (W) and Olson
Standen (L), Jones (1) and Reeves
At Regina Saturday, St. Joe's jumped into a 3-0 in the top of the first inning and cruised to the 11-4 triumph. Pete Therrien fired a four-hitter for the win while his teammates pounded out 21 hits.
Therrien (W) Reeves
Stirrett (L) and Sihvon
Cooney Wood held Regina to three-hits as Saskatoon won the second game 6-1. Joe Hofffer allowed just six hits in taking the loss.
Wood (W) and Reeves
Hoffer (L) and Olson