And, the curtain fell.
1974 marked the final season for the Southern League and the Northern Saskatchewan League. The Basin League had ended play in 1973 and the Alberta Major Baseball League had just a couple more summers. The two Saskatchewan leagues merged into a six-team Saskatchewan Major Baseball League for the 1975 season.
The Moose Jaw Devons won both the pennant and the playoffs in the final season of the Southern League behind superb pitching as Warren Mertens (left) was named the loop's top hurler with a 6-2 record and 2.80 earned run average and Roy Rowley (right), who finished 4th in the batting race as the Devons' third baseman, went 5-0 during the regular season. Mertens added three wins in the playoffs and Rowley had a pair. Mertens had come to the Devons from Bemidji State University in Minnesota where he was a 1974 All-Star.
The Saskatoon Boston Royals also won both the pennant and the playoffs to highlight the 1974 season in the Northern Saskatchewan League. Royals also had two premier hurlers. Steve Kemp, 5-0, led the league with a spectacular 0.74 earned run average. Teammate Wayne Plummer had an even better won-lost record, 7-0, and was second in ERA, with a 1.47 mark.
Hal Harris of the Unity Cardinals edged out a future major league for the batting title. Harris compiled a .393 mark, Gorman Heimueller of the Eston Ramblers finished at .391.
In the Alberta Major Baseball League, the two second-place finishers, Edmonton Tigers from the North, and Calgary Jimmies, from the South, met in the final with the Jimmies taking the championship.
The Riverside Canucks captured the title in the Manitoba Senior League defeating Neepawa in the playoff final.