By Brady Lang

Carlyle Cardinals heading into the HOF

Jul 3, 2018 | 5:00 PM

There may be only 1,500 people in the town of Carlyle, but it’s a place with roots engrained in Saskatchewan’s sporting history.

The town’s baseball team, the Carlyle Cardinals will be honoured by being inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in August. As reported in the Carlyle Herald in 1902, the first recorded baseball games were played in the south-eastern Saskatchewan town.

Then, the team’s name was a little different, as they were the Lakers rather than the Cardinals, but the team participated in various leagues including the Moose Mountain League during the 1930s. Baseball paused over the two world wars, but continued to provide entertainment to the fans in the town and area afterward.

In 1959, Carlyle hosted an International Baseball Tournament. Just four years after that; Carlyle hosted a game between Satchel Paige and his All Stars. The town then in 1981 entered the South East Saskatchewan League as the Carlyle Astros. It wasn’t until 1993 where the name was changed to the Cardinals.

They currently play in the Saskaota Baseball League, and since 1997 have won 12 league championships in those 21 years. The organization also won six provincial titles in the past 12 years, and in 2016 were awarded as the Saskatchewan Senior Baseball Team of the Year Award.

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David Lemieux was a long-time Cardinal, having played or coached with the club for the past 20 years. He was the coach on that 2016 team, and has some fond memories of that season.

“We went to provincials after winning our league,” he said. “We were fairly strong and went to provincials with 11 guys. We had some ups and downs through that tournament and ended up on top. They had lots of fight.”

Lemieux told battlefordsNOW that he still has a surreal feeling about the induction.

“It’s exciting, but shocking,” he said. “When I was first approached about it, I doubted that it would happen but I knew it was an honour to be considered. When I got the phone call, it didn’t really register. As I started putting things together this spring, it really hit home and we’re getting more and more excited moving up to the induction.”

Lemieux was extremely thankful of the induction, and had extremely kind words for the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, and what they continue to do to build the game and grow the game in the province.

“They’re a selfless organization that continues to build the game behind the scenes. Being a part of history and part of keeping the game going is exciting.”

brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangCJNB