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The
Western Canada Baseball League returned, with Saskatoon back in the loop
to rejoin Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge. Clark
Rex and John Carbray returned to head up league
operations (Rex as league president) and run their clubs in Edmonton and Calgary. Dan
Royer guided the Lethbridge franchise with Howard Lowder as
manager. The Saskatoon franchise was run by the league with
Lyle Olsen back as field manager.
The league decided to
try out some new rules intended to speedup the game.
1)
Pitchers will warm up on the sidelines during an inning, then proceed to
the mound and be ready to start the next inning without throwing
additional warm ups.
2)
With two men out in an inning, a special pinch runner will be allowed to
run for either a pitcher or catcher who is on base. The special
runner, however, must not be one of the other sever players in the game
at that time.
3)
Pitchers will be allowed only 20 seconds between pitches. The base
umpire will time the pitcher.
4)
Teams will not be allowed to throw the ball around the infield after an
out. (Lethbridge Herald, May 25, 1954)
Gene
Graves, the former Saskatoon and Calgary righthander, signed on
to be playing manager of Kindersley of the Northern Saskatchewan League.
 Outfielder
Shaun Fitzmaurice (Notre Dame) of the pennant winning Sturgis
Titans was named the Basin League's Most Valuable Player after a
record-setting season. Fitzmaurice set new standards for hits,
runs batted in, total bases and triples.
Sioux
Falls Packers, third during the regular season, downed Valentine in the
playoff final to capture the league championship.
 Reggie
Cleveland, of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, began to attract
attention as a teenager pitching for his hometown team. After
leading the Swift Current Indians to the Southern League pennant in 1965
he signed with Cardinals and fashioned a 13-year career in the majors
with St. Louis, Texas, Boston and Milwaukee.
Up in the
Prince Albert area of Saskatchewan, 14-year-old Dave Pagan began
his climb to the majors pitching for teams in the Highway 55 League.
He went on to a 10-year career in professional baseball, including five
in the major leagues with the Yankees, Seattle, Baltimore and
Pittsburgh.
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1964 Stats
1964 Rosters
1964 Tournaments
WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE
Edmonton 37 - 23
Calgary 33 - 27 4.0
Saskatoon 29 - 30 7.5
Lethbridge 20 - 39 16.5
1964 Game
reports
1964 Photo Gallery
1964 Snapshots
NORTHERN SASK LEAGUE
N Battleford 21 8
Neiburg
20 9 1.0
Kindersley 15 15
6.5
Unity
15 15 6.5
Saskatoon 11 19
10.5
Biggar
7 23 14.5
SOUTHERN LEAGUE
Melville
18 10
Moose
Jaw 16 11 1.5
Regina
15
12 2.5
Swift Current 13 14 4.5
Fort Qu'Appelle 10 17 7.5
Yorkton
9
17 8.0
1964 Game Reports
NORTHEASTERN SK LEAGUE
NESBL
History
NORTH PEACE LEAGUE
Peace River Stampeders, Falher Leths,
Donnelly Cubs,
1964 Photo Gallery
1964
Snapshots
1964 Peace River
Stampeders
BASIN LEAGUE
Sturgis 31 19
Pierre 27 23 4
Sioux Falls 26 24 5
Valentine 25 25 6
Rapid City 21 28 9.5
Winner 19 30 11.5
Sioux Falls defeated Valentine
in the playoffs to win the Basin
League championship.
1964 Game/Playoff
Reports
1964 Photo Gallery
1964 Snapshots
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Post - 1964
Southern League Happenings :
1965 was the Southern League's thirty-third year of operation, a season
which saw the Swift Current Indians win the best-of-7 final, turning the
tables on the Regina Red Sox who had dethroned them a year earlier. On
the pitching staff of the Indians was, local player and future major
leaguer, Reggie Cleveland.
Moose Jaw
continued to field strong teams in the decade of the sixties. In 1966,
the Regals won the championship, needing a 1 - 0 victory over Regina in
game 5 of a best-of-5 final.
In 1967, Yorkton was back in the Southern League and made quite a
splash, winning the title with several come-from-behind victories. The
Cardinals had finished third in the regular season but then upset Moose
Jaw in the semi-final and the Regina Red Sox in the final.
The following year, Moose Jaw pulled off the same magical type of
finish. Winding up third in the regular season, the Regals upset the
Regina Red Sox in the finals to claim the spoils.
The Red Sox, tired of playing second fiddle, beat out Melville in a
semi-final series and then took care of Moose Jaw to win it all in 1969.
The Moose Jaw Regals started the new decade by winning back-to-back
championships in 1970 and 1971. A team from Saskatoon, the Commodores,
were members of the league in 1971 and 1972. The Swift Current Indians
won the crown in 1972.
In 1973 the Moose Jaw franchise, now known as the Devons, captured the
title by defeating Swift Current. The Devons repeated in 1974, the final
season that this historic circuit was operational. The Regina Red Sox,
Moose Jaw Devons and Swift Current Indians decided to forego the
Southern League and become part of the formation of a new association of
province-wide teams, known as the Saskatchewan Major Baseball League,
and which was set to begin in 1975. The loss of these teams comprising
the backbone of the Southern League sounded its death knell. Sadly, the
Southern League had come to an end but for forty-three years it had
treated fans to some wonderful entertainment and an excellent brand of
baseball.
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