Carnie's Comments
It ain't what it used to be but it's still high-caliber, entertaining baseball.
The Western Canadian Baseball League season is underway for another summer with 12 teams in the loop, including 5 based in Saskatchewan.
The league's roots can be traced back to 1931 when the Southern Baseball League was founded.
I became a fan as a boy back in the 70s when I'd attend games at Ross Wells Park in Moose Jaw. Our team was called the Devons back then. Several years later they'd become the Astros and after a sponsorship agreement with the local Houston Pizza outlet, they became Moose Jaw's "Houston" Astros.
As I recall, the teams in the Saskatchewan Major Baseball League were made up with mostly local players with each team allowed a certain number of imports.
If you go back in time and look around the world wide web, you'll find the Moose Jaw Canucks won the first championship in the Southern League in 1931. Other champions over the years included the Broadview Buffalos, Regina Caps, Regina Clippers, Estevan Maple Leafs and the Southey Red Sox.
Baseball in Saskatchewan has a rich and storied history and we're about to see some more recorded with another Western Canadian Baseball League season underway.