Every so often, an old newspaper clipping says more than a box score ever could. Tucked away in the archives is a Christmas-season column by sportswriter Dave Dryburgh, a playful piece built around a simple idea: if Santa Claus were delivering gifts to Saskatchewan's sporting world, what would everyone ask for? The answers range from… Continue reading A Prairie Sportswriter’s Christmas List
Tag: Sports
Luther “Doc” Hughes: Proximity, Power, and Prairie Sport
Photo Credit: attheplate.com When Luther “Doc” Hughes arrived in Saskatchewan in 1911, he entered prairie sport through a role that offered access without equality. Brought to Saskatoon by J. F. Cairns to work with the Saskatoon Quakers, Hughes was initially employed as a groundskeeper and trainer, a masseur by trade, as later profiles would describe… Continue reading Luther “Doc” Hughes: Proximity, Power, and Prairie Sport
Tales from the Dirt Road – Halloween Edition
The Saskatchewan Connection: Letters from Ty Cobb Every October, I like to pull a story that feels a little haunted—not by ghosts exactly, but by questions or unknowns that still echo through time. This year’s mystery begins at the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan with one of the most unlikely connections in local baseball history: a… Continue reading Tales from the Dirt Road – Halloween Edition
A Baseball, a Story, and the Liberty Eagles of 1940
Holding my Baseball. Prologue It began, as many research rabbit holes do, with an object. I thought it would be straightforward, but the moment I began cross-referencing the names on the ball with the 1940 Southern Saskatchewan League (SBBL) champions — the Weyburn Beavers — something didn’t add up. The names didn’t match. What was… Continue reading A Baseball, a Story, and the Liberty Eagles of 1940
Pitch by Pitch: Honouring the Legacy of the Indian Head Rockets
Rockets Logo Design by Malena (Max) Jensen Introduction On June 11, 2025, a packed crowd at Regina’s Currie Field rose to its feet as two nonagenarians, Nat Bates and Willie Reed, stepped onto the diamond. They weren’t just guests of honour; they were history in motion. Seventy-three years earlier, the two had suited up for… Continue reading Pitch by Pitch: Honouring the Legacy of the Indian Head Rockets
More Than Cardboard: Baseball Cards as Storytellers
When wearing my Indian Head Museum Vice-President hat and thinking of ways to celebrate and share the story of The Rockets’ 75th Anniversary in 2025, I asked myself: why? Why even celebrate it at all? What is so important that I need to keep telling their story? The answer, for me, was time. Events connected… Continue reading More Than Cardboard: Baseball Cards as Storytellers
Tales from the Dirt Road (Halloween Edition)—The Ghost of Big Jim Williams
Prologue Last year, for Halloween, I wrote a piece titled "Tales from the Dirt Road (Halloween Edition)—The Ghost of Chet Brewer. " It was about discovering a photograph of Chet playing for the Indian Head Rockets in 1951. Brewer started playing mid-season for them (apparently snatched from Sceptre for a reported $800) and was not… Continue reading Tales from the Dirt Road (Halloween Edition)—The Ghost of Big Jim Williams
Rule Breakers – Farm Girls in Baseball & The Saskatoon Pats
Part I: The Arrogant Teenagers When I was 16, I played on an all-girls baseball team, and at the end of the season, we were supposed to have an exhibition game with our parents. I can’t remember if Dads were invited, but it was just the Moms that came. They were running short to make… Continue reading Rule Breakers – Farm Girls in Baseball & The Saskatoon Pats
Double Take
This past spring, I took on a whirlwind university course that crammed four months of work into just two. Between long hours of reading, writing, and juggling everyday life, I often felt like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, glued to my computer in a dark room, clinging to my assignments as if they… Continue reading Double Take
Home Runs & Dirt Roads 