The Late Rupert Earl Talbot, from Canwood, will be inducted posthumously into the individual category of the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame as a player Aug. 17.
He was born March 17, 1898 in Quebec. He moved to Saskatoon when he was 14.
Talbot attended school in Saskatoon and in 1924 began his baseball career as a catcher and umpire, gaining a position as head of the CPR Sluggers.
He was the recipient of the gold medal for batting honours that year.
Talbot excelled at throwing out runners trying to steal second base.
In 1924, he had the opportunity to go professional but declined.
While in British Columbia for a short time, Talbot was thrilled to catch for the Campbell River Loggers.
He played his last tournament when he was 50 years old.
For many years he umpired in the Canwood area as well as in Saskatoon. Baseball was the love of his life, but he also enjoyed curling and bowling.
In 1928, Rupert became a member of the Canwood Elks Lodge No. 183. He held many lodge offices, driving horses 20 miles in summer and winter in the 1930s and 40s to do so.
He died in September of 1997.
Along with Talbot, the hall of fame will also be inducting Hazlet into the community category.
Baseball has been part of the Hazlet and surrounding community since the early 1920s. Great senior teams included the Hazlet Blackhawks of the 1930s and '40s, and the Hazlet Elks in the later 1900s.
The earliest record of an organized team is in 1935, but baseball was played in and around Hazlet much earlier than that.
In 1938, the team won 57 of 64 games plus ninr tournaments, including their own.
That year six players had batting averages over .400. With the development of players through minor baseball, Hazlet was able to dominate the South River Baseball League in the 1970s and '80s, winning several league championships.
The achievements of this team were more notable by the fact the population of Hazlet was around 125. It was truly a community effort to make the team viable. This meant executives, volunteers and others working together to compete against larger communities.
In the 1990s, it became too difficult financially for Hazlet to continue playing competitively, so the team folded after the 1993 season.
The Hazlet baseball team has left behind many fond memories, helped establish the reputation of Hazlet as a very determined community, and reserved their place in history as the Saskatchewan Major Baseball League Champions in 1987, 1988 and 1989. In total, the team played 12 seasons in the SMBL and made it to the finals six times.
Hazlet attracted fans from all over southwest Saskatchewan to see the highest level of baseball being played in the province.
After the loss of the senior team, minor baseball still flourished in the community, and baseball remains part of the recreational activities in Hazlet, but will never again reach the status it has seen in the past.
Baseball was a major social activity for the community, a great athletic opportunity for the players, and led several kids to want to play baseball when they got older.
