The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame is proud to announce the selection of Laurence Woodard of Weyburn into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, Individual Category, Player and Builder on Aug. 20 in Battleford.
While growing up on the family farm near Colgate, the Woodard family of boys worked all day in the garden, then played baseball, catch or batted fly balls every evening. This was Woodard's favourite thing to do as he loved the game of baseball.
His father had been a very good pitcher and saw his son's potential to follow in his footsteps. At a very young age, Woodard was learning the fundamentals of pitching from his father.
His Uncle Archie also saw the keen interest shown by Woodard in learning as much as possible about developing his pitching skills. He gave Woodard a copy of Sports Illustrated that contained an article on Hoyt Willhelm, a successful knuckleball pitcher in the Major League. Woodard practiced every chance he had with a tennis ball, trying to master this knuckleball pitch. Of course, throwing against the outhouse meant Woodard had to take a break when the outhouse was occupied.
As there was no minor baseball in Colgate, and since he was such a good player at a young age, Woodard played with the high school team. He was instrumental in winning the High School League pennant by pitching a no-hitter against Oungre. At the tender age of 13, Woodard played baseball with the Colgate Senior team, gaining some experience on the field and at bat.
In 1951, Woodard spent several weeks at Notre Dame College, sharing batboy duties with Hugh Huck. He recalls meeting and being in the company of Father Murray and Frank Germann, as well as traveling in the truck equipped with a dog house to ball games, taking turns cooking for everyone.
At 15, he was a starter pitcher on a regular rotation on the Tribune senior team, gaining a great deal of experience. When not pitching, Woodard played infield, as he was a fairly good batter and had good running and speed.
In 1957, Woodard was scouted and received an invitation to attend the St. Louis Cardinals training camp in Tampa Bay, Florida. He was just out of high school and couldn’t put the funds together for the trip. Laurence often wondered, “what if?”
The Tribune Senior team folded in 1958, so Woodard played baseball with Goodwater for the 1959 season, where he batted .378 and pitched a no-hitter in a seven inning game against Torquay. Using his knuckleball he struck out 17 batters and walked one.
Woodard was the player coach of the Colgate team through the 1960’s. 1961 was his best year at the plate as he batted .443 and stole home twice.
The Souris Valley League folded in the late 1960’s, but in 1973 Goodwater started up a baseball team, so Woodard played one more year of baseball with that team, and was also invited to play in tournaments in southeast Saskatchewan, Montana and North Dakota.
A highlight for Woodard was when he was pitching coach for the Weyburn Beavers when they won the 1996 Canadian Senior Championship in Saskatoon, with a 1-0 win over a team from Dartmouth, N.S. He was also the president of the Beavers from 1996 to 1999.
Woodard married Margie, his high school sweetheart, in 1959. They now share their lives with their two boys, four girls and their grandchildren.
