The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame had their annual open house Tuesday.
Donations were made from the Elks club, gifts were given to those who have volunteered for an extended period of time, and best of all, there was baseball memorabilia to be looked at.
Across the walls there are old, beat-up gloves from the mid 1900’s, to 1992 Blue Jays World Series posters. There are pictures of Satchel Paige, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, and, of course, pictures of those from Saskatchewan who have made it to Major League Baseball. There are these among thousands of things that every baseball lover would admire.
Dave Shury founded the Museum in 1983. Now it’s his wife, Jane, who takes over the duties. But how did it all begin?
“My husband worked on it for a number of years. It came to fruition when we registered as a non-profit organization Jan. 1983. We didn’t have a physical museum at that time. A lot of it was in our home. My husband was a lawyer by profession. He managed doing his work as well as baseball. His life was baseball, he loved it. He loved history, he loved fact,” Jane said.
Many pieces of memorabilia were at the Shury household, and then at a local church just down the road from where they set up now.
“We couldn’t do anything on the walls so we made portable walls, it was great. Then it came to a point where we had a building fund, then this building came up for sale. We didn’t have enough money, but we wanted it.” Jane said. “Senator Herbert Sparrow negotiated the deal and he paid the building. We paid him back in one year, every cent back. This is our place and nobody else’s.”
No matter what angle you turned in my conversation with Jane, the love for baseball was always at the centre of it.
“I learned to play baseball before I played softball and I was a good player. We had a softball team, just us nurses, and we took the championship. I was a darn good second baseman.”
Not only can she play and manage a baseball museum, but she is a die-hard Blue Jays fan. She also takes pride in being one of two baseball museums in the west. Jane’s came first and then Manitoba built one. They followed the blue print of induction ceremonies that the Saskatchewan baseball Hall of Fame puts on.
“In August of next year, it will be our 32nd annual induction. For that weekend, we bring in an average of 400 people from across Canada and the United States.”
The first members into the Hall were inducted in 1985. They have had induction events every year since, with a total of 248 individuals, 11 teams, three communities and one family team as of 1999.
Outside of the museum you will find yourself trying to pick up and swing “Canada’s largest bat,” but Jane isn’t done with trying to attract more people to her well-kept building.
“We are going to turn it into our field of dreams. On our fence we are going to have a little place for people to sit down, and then under that, we are going to try and get a small wheat field that sways back and forth.”
Shury also said that they are working on expanding, seeing as they have so many items to fit into a small building.
The Museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and is fully wheelchair accessible.
Look for more pictures in your Regional Optimist.
