The Western Canada Baseball League

aka Saskatchewan Baseball League
aka Canadian-American Baseball League
aka Northern Saskatchewan Baseball League
aka Western Baseball League
aka Saskatoon & District Baseball League
  
 

Semi-pro baseball on the prairies, 1948-1964

Hard to believe. 

There was a time before television, before Elvis (the Beatles and the Rolling Stones), Nintendo, "One giant leap for mankind", personal computers, disposable diapers, pantyhose, Pokemon and Harry Potter.  

A time when Brooklyn had a major league team and California had none. A movie cost a dime. In fact, you could buy useful things with coins. A pack of baseball cards, for example, cost a nickel (five cards AND bubble gum).  "Slick Willie" was the megastar centrefielder for the New York Giants, not the President of the United States.  A cell phone was likely what prison inmates used. The Rocket was a hockey player.  To be cool, meant something about the temperature not your attitude. Sports writers wore hats.  Not caps. Fedoras. A 4 x 4 was a sturdy piece of wood. The top stars might have received a fabulous salary of $100,000 for a season. Only two teams made the baseball playoffs.  There was just one round -- the World Series!  

Oh they were tough times.  Walking barefoot to school through the snow drifts.  Minus thirty.  And, in those days it was Fahrenheit.  20 miles to school, 20 miles home.  Uphill both ways.  And, did I mention I also had to carry the horse AND pull the plow? 

Outside of Lloydminister (inside, not much seemed to happen) they were tumultuous times (from the beginning of space exploration to the start of rock 'n rock).

At R.H. Phillips Co. Ltd. you could pick up a pair of faded blue jeans for $2.95.  At the Co-op, a Davey Crockett hat "made with simulated fur in the authentic style" sold for 89-cents. 

Lloydminster, a tiny farming / oil community, might have had four or five thousand residents at the time. The provincial boundary, astride the 4th meridian,  split the town -- Alberta on one side, Saskatchewan on the other.  Thus, the team name of "Meridians".  

The town had a history of tournament ball but, with the 1954 entry into the Saskatchewan Baseball League, we finally had a team we could call our own.  We likely called it a lot of things that first year as the Meridians finished dead last.  But, it was the beginning, for me, of a lifelong attraction to baseball. It didn't hurt that most of the players hung out at dad's restaurant (that's my dad, Jimmy Mah, on the right with1955 first baseman Bob Bayless). I signed up for a couple of stints as batboy for the club. Then, a progression to baseball reporter for the local paper. Statistician. PR guy. Now, nearly 50 years later, it's time to begin leafing through boxes of newspaper clippings, scrapbooks and odds and ends and searching the microfilm to honour some special people who made a lasting impression on a kid from the prairies.

This might always be a work in progress.  One of the main attractions of the web presentation is flexibility -- as more material becomes available it's relatively easy to fit it in.  It may have begun with a narrow focus on Lloydminster and its leagues but, as you will note, it has expanded to include teams from across the west.  

If you have any material, or leads on the whereabouts of material, I'd be grateful if you would drop me a line or two .

(Harvey) Jay-Dell Mah                                                       

Box #952
909 4th Street NW
Nakusp, BC
V0G 1R0
   

   
There Used to Be a Ballpark Right Here

And there used to be a ballpark
Where the field was warm and green
And the people played their crazy game
With a joy I'd never seen.
And the air was such a wonder
From the hot dogs and the beer
Yes, there used a ballpark, right here.
. . .
Now the children try to find it
And they can't believe their eyes
`Cause the old team just isn't playing
And the new team hardly tries
And the sky has got so cloudy
When it used to be so clear
And the summer went so quickly this year.

Yes, there used to be a ballpark, right here.

Frank Sinatra, written by Joe Raposo

"I had heard some great stories about the fields, so we had expected to find some pretty primitive playing fields, which we did.  I broke a foot playing, not knowing how I did it ... stepped in a hole or on a rock ... In the outfield there would be clumps of grass some as high as your knees, and bare spots ... not always level. In Vulcan at the second ballpark, in the rightfield corner you were looking up over a hill and couldn't see the whole batter, just the upper part of his body. It was interesting."  Greg Seastrom on playing in Vulcan in the 50s.

The ol' ballyard (Saskatchewan side of town, east of the high school grounds, make a left and follow the dust) and the team itself have long disappeared. But, little did they know.  Those ball teams that camped out at Legion Sportsman's Park in the '50s would, nearly a half century later, still spark  memories of good times.  

The semi-pro circuit was a training ground for many who went on to successful careers in the majors -- Ron Fairly, Ron Perranoski, Pat Gillick, Tom Haller, Don Buford, Jerry Adair.  All-Americans there were many.  Lots of California college kids (see the College Connection).  It seemed Edmonton and/or Williston imported the whole USC team (one year when Edmonton met Williston thirteen USC players suited up). 

But, by large measure, Lloydminster's stars, at least in the early years, were not college kids on the way to the majors. Sportsman's Park was home to memorable summer guests as Willie "Curly" Williams, Modie Risher and Benjamin Lott. Thwarted by baseball's colour barrier, then left with dwindling opportunities with the decline of the Negro Leagues they found a home across the border. After a taste of the minors, hopes for something better.  A little summer fun.  Some cash. Perhaps, some respect.  

Johnny Ford and Cliff Pemberton, two of the league's enduring stars, each spent time with the Meridians and while Roy Taylor wasn't a Meridian, he was a pioneer in the influx of college players to the prairies, first with the California Mohawks barnstorming college kids, then in Kamsack, Moose Jaw and Saskatoon.

Overall, there were some outstanding success stories from the Western Canada Baseball League -- such as Modie Risher, a hero in his hometown, Pete Beiden, Bob Bennett, and Al Endriss,  who became Hall of Fame college coaches, Jim Garrett, Jim Hansen and Mike Noakes who became celebrated high school mentors, and Steve Schott who went on to become the owner of the major league Oakland A's. Along with the mountains, some deep valleys -- the tragedy of Bruce Gardner.

Pitchers Pat Gillick (on the left) and Bruce Gardner, again from USC, arrive in Edmonton for the start of the 1958 season.  Gillick would have arm trouble and leave the team early in the season.  Gardner, who played with Edmonton in 1958 and Regina in 1959, would go on to an All-American career at USC. In June, 1958 he pitched USC to the US College baseball title. He was 40-5 over his college career (still holds the record for most wins in a season -- 18),  but never achieved his dream to be a major leaguer.  In 1971, his body was found near the mound at the USC baseball field.  A Smith & Wesson .38 was in his hand. A suicide note was nearby. The Gardner story is told in "An American Tragedy" by Ira Berkow and Murray Olderman. Gillick would pitch for a couple of years with Vulcan and Granum in Southern Alberta before success in the minor leagues and, subsequently, a long and successful career in the head office. Currently the General Manager of the Seattle Mariners. (Photo, The Rajah of Renfrew, Brant E. Ducey)

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