The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame has selected the 1932-36 Regina Nationals for induction into the team category.
Spawned from the ashes of the defunct Regina Balmorals, the Regina Nationals baseball club came to epitomize the best of senior amateur baseball in Saskatchewan. The franchise began in 1932 during the second season of the South Saskatchewan Baseball League. The Nationals dominated the provincial baseball scene from 1932-36 before quietly disbanding and fading away into anonymity as undisputed champions.
During these five years, the Nationals prevailed as champions of the prairie provinces in 1932 and finalists in 1933, the only two seasons in that era when there were inter-provincial playoffs.
In 1932, the Nationals won the Southern League pennant, the league playoffs, the South Saskatchewan title, the provincial championship and the Prairie League Baseball Championship. They won 12 straight playoff games, three each from the Moose Jaw All-stars, Estevan Maple Leafs, Saskatoon Northern Distributors and Alberta champion Nacmine Athletics.
Eleven players from this 1932 team suited up for an exhibition double-header against Earle Mack's touring band of major leaguers. The travelling team featured four all-time greats, Heinie Manusch, Charlie Gehringer, Bill Dickey and Lefty Grove, who would ultimately be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. These big leaguers swept the twin bill.
In 1933, an extremely competitive Southern League prepared the defending champions for the post-season run. The Nationals advanced through the first four playoff rounds, defeating the Moose Jaw All-stars in a league semifinal round, the Regina Army and Navy in the Southern League finals, the Estevan Maple Leafs for the championship for the southern half of the province and the Saskatoon Northern Distributors for provincial laurels. They then dropped the fifth game of the best-of-five prairie provinces championship to the Edmonton Army and Navy Cubs - the only playoff series where the Nationals tasted defeat during their five-year existence. This 1933 Nationals playoff run saw their ace hurler, Hec McLeod, achieve status as a folk hero in western Canadian baseball circles.
The Nationals won both halves of the 1934 regular Southern League schedule, negating the need for a league playoff. They advanced directly into the provincial playdowns against the northern representatives, the Saskatoon All-stars, who defaulted and the Nationals were once again declared Saskatchewan senior baseball champions.
Ten members of this team participated in a post-season double-header against a touring team of American League players managed again by Mack. Both games resulted in lopsided scores for the tourists, but the fans were kept highly entertained.
In the basement of their division within the Southern League for much of the 1935 season, the Nationals battled back to second. In the league semifinals, they knocked off the Regina Windsors before downing the Estevan Elks to win their fourth consecutive Southern League Championship. Next, the Nationals dropped the Neilburg All-Stars 3-1 in the series to claim the Leader Post Cup and the Saskatchewan senior baseball crown for the fourth consecutive year.
The team abandoned the South Saskatchewan Baseball League in 1936 and competed as an independent club, free to arrange their own schedule primarily with touring American opposition. The team experienced mixed results as an unaffiliated ball club, but competed and won their fifth straight Southern Saskatchewan senior baseball crown. They also picked up the J.T.M. Anderson trophy in the process. They went on to win the provincial championship and the Leader Post Cup.
In spite of the short life span of this franchise, the excellence displayed on the diamond by the unique Nationals aggregations has to be considered that of a dynasty.
