The Town of Leader, Saskatchewan, will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, Community Category, Saturday, August 18, 2018, in Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Senior baseball history on Leader from 1918 to 1960 developed on through several name changes to become the Leader Barons. The early years saw two teams from Leader, with one team made up of all local business men in the town. Some of the 1931 players continued into 1935. In 1936, the local newspaper, “The Happyland Spokesman”, indicated that the Leader Huskies at the Leader Sports Day, were defeated by Fox Valley in the final game. They had won their first game 5-4 over Burstall. Records from here into the early 1950’s are not too clear, but several players continued through to 1959. Some of the early players stayed on as managers in later years.
Leader always had a good ball team, with a very good pitcher imported each year joining the very talented local baseball players. They hosted an annual baseball tournament as well as travelling to many towns for tournaments and exhibition games including Sceptre, Kindersley, Cabri and Maple Creek.
On June 1, 1955, Leader won first prize of $200.00 at the Prelate Sports Day with wins over Fox Valley, Prelate and Richlea.
Throughout the years, Leader teams changed names and leagues several times. The Leader Tigers of the early 1950’s did not appear to play in a league but played in tournaments and at Sports Days in Eatonia, Kindersley, Eston, Mendham and many other towns in the area.
In 1955, the team changed their name to the Leader Flyers, they joined the Grain Belt Baseball League with Prelate, Mendham, Empress and Burstall, finishing with a 5 win, 6 loss record, then defeated by Empress in the finals of the playoffs. They remained in that league through 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959, without winning a league championship. In 1958, the Flyers helped initiate the new Ball Park at Cypress Hills, but lost 4-1 to the home team, Maple Creek.
In 1960, when the team was in need of equipment and uniforms, they found a sponsor in Bill Baron and therefore, changed the name of the team to the Leader Barons. When Bill Baron moved, sponsorship of the team was taken over by Stephen and Ella Baron, thereby keeping the Leader Barons Baseball Team intact.
