Larry James English, of Medicine Hat, Alta., will be inducted into the individual category of the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, as a player/builder August 17.
English was born Sept. 14, 1948 in Gull Lake. He spent his childhood, his adolescence, and most of his adult years in the small farming community of Hazlet, which was also inducted last week.
English attended elementary school and high school in Hazlet and began playing baseball at the age of 11. Baseball games were played at recess, lunch hour and after school for hours. When he was 12 he played in the under-12 Saskatchewan Provincial play-downs. His idol was Mickey Mantle and his favourite team was the New York Yankees. His favorite positions to play were catcher and pitcher.
At age 15, English began playing senior baseball in the South River Baseball League that included Hazlet, Gull Lake, Abbey, Stewart Valley, Cabri, Shaunavon, Tompkins, Eastend and Frontier. He also played for other teams in Saskatchewan including Leader, Maple Creek, Eston, and Swift Current. Some of his baseball accolades included pitching a no-hitter, hitting 7 home runs in a 3 game tournament, being named batting champion for 5 years in a row and leading the league in home runs for many years. Larry was a popular recruit for teams heading to tournaments and play-downs.
As the years went by, English continued to play baseball, but wanted to further his development and connections within the baseball community so he began coaching, managing and attending coach's conventions in Canada and the United States. He had the privilege to manage Team Saskatchewan in St. John's, N.L. in the Canadian Senior Championships. He also managed Team Saskatchewan in the Canadian Junior Championships in Winnipeg, Man.
After three consecutive South River Baseball League Championships, 1979-1981, the Hazlet Elks joined the Saskatchewan Major Baseball League. Larry continued to play and manage the team for 12 years, making the playoffs 10 out of the 12 years, winning three consecutive championships, from 1987-1989.
Because of Hazlet's small population, the Elks were allowed to recruit up to 4 imports to play for them. English, as General Manager, put a great deal of energy into scouting for the team. He made many phone calls and trips in both Canada and the United States to recruit players and was successful in his negotiations to get American college players to spend the summer in the Saskatchewan community of less than 200 people. Several Canadian players ended up with scholarships to American universities as a result. Many of the players who spent the summer in Hazlet would go on to be recruited by Major League teams when they returned south of the border after the summer.
In 1986, while scouting in Las Vegas for the Hazlet Elks, English was offered and accepted a position with the Major League team as an associate scout. He worked for the Twins for five years and scouted players all over the United States and Canada. English has a World Series gold watch from the Twins' 1987 championship season.
English isn't the only inductee this week, Larry R. Tollefson, of Parksville, B.C., has been inducted in the Individual Category of the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame as a player/builder.
Tollefson began his career with the Moose Jaw Regals when he was selected to catch for the junior team in 1962. He immediately began to show his potential and at the midway point of the season, was called up to the Senior Regals who played in the Southern League. Tollefson played with the Regals organization from 1962 until his retirement in 1974.
On one occasion in Moose Jaw, he hit three consecutive home runs at Ross Wells Park.
Tollefson also maintained a .300 batting average throughout most of his career.
As a catcher, he became known in the league as someone who was tough to run on, because if you tried to steal second base, you were likely to get thrown out by Tollefson.
In a league known for high quality catchers, Tollefson stood out among the rest, he won the Gus Ridler Trophy a number of times and was selected as the league's all-star catcher four times. He was the catcher for some of the most successful pitchers ever in the Southern League.
During his time with the Regals, the team won a prestigious tournament in Lacombe, Alta., three times. They are the only team in the history of the tournament to do so.
At the national level, Tollefson was named to Canada's National Baseball team in 1967 and joined the Regina Red Sox and North Battleford Beavers to compete in National championships.
Over his playing career, Tollefson hit more than 40 home runs during the "wooden bat" era, before aluminum bats became standard.
After retiring as a player, Tollefson took over as head coach of the Regals in 1974. They won the league championship that year and later in the decade, Tollefson led them to a Saskatchewan Senior Championship.
