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The college connection, especially with California
schools, was strong throughout the short history of the Western
Canada League and Fresno State University was the leading
contributor.
So many FSU products
played on Western diamonds (more than 80 identified so far) it's
a wonder we didn't call the prairies San Joaquin North.
 Pete Beiden, a legend in college
coaching ranks, got his first taste of the prairies with the
barnstorming California
Mohawks of 1949 and 1950. At Fresno, he never had a
losing season in coaching the Bulldogs from 1948 to 1966, and 1968-69.
Overall, he had 601 wins and just 268 losses. In 1972, he was
inducted into the Hall of Fame by the American Baseball Coaches
Association.
Beiden was a regular on the prairies, first
with the touring Mohawks, then Medicine Hat , Saskatoon and parts of
four summers in Regina. He died in March, 2000 at age 92. In 2002
a statue of Beiden was unveiled at the Fresno stadium which bears his
name. (Above right
- Pete Beiden, at Fresno State in 1952 with catcher Bob
Bennett and sports writers Sid Hosking and Bruce Farris) (Fresno Bee, March
20, 2000)
 Roy Taylor,
a former Fresno star and Beiden partner on the barnstorming
California Mohawks, took over the baseball program at the
College of the Sequoias in Visalia and sent more than 40 of his
COS players to suit up with teams on the prairies.
Taylor spent nine summers in Western Canada
as playing-coach in Kamsack, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw.
 Bob
Bennett was among the Beiden's 1952 contingent to play in Western
Canada and he returned the following year to catch for Taylor's Kamsack
team. He suited up with Saskatoon in 1954 and made a brief return
in 1959.
Bennett was Beiden's successor at Fresno and, in 1992, followed
his mentor into the Coaches Hall of Fame. He stepped down after
the 2002 season as one of only seven coaches in NCAA history to
reach 1,300 wins and closed out an outstanding career with 26
consecutive winning seasons. In his 34 years with the club,
Bennett compiled a 1,302-759-4 record. His record included 17
conference championships, 21 NCAA Tournament berths, 32
All-Americans, nine first-round draft picks and two College World
Series appearances.
Bennett, coach of Team USA in
1986, was a catcher on the Fresno State teams from 1952-1955. In
February, 2000 Bennett received one of college baseball's most
prestigious honours -- the Lefty Gomez Award. Not bad. An
all-star catcher (he set a school record for fielding percentage
by a catcher in 1953 when he went errorless in 224 total chances) and a Hall of Fame coach!
Below, and on the pages which follow, Fresno State
players who spent some time with teams on the Canadian prairies.
Clicking many of the photos will bring up a larger (and sometimes
different) version of the picture.
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