The Carlyle Cardinals, formed in 1993, have an impressive list of wins but also a history dating back even further to the 1900’s. One former name of the local team was the Carlyle Astros while another was the Lakers. Now despite a number of challenges finding older documents and with a few years interrupted by World Wars and a lack of males from the area able to play at the time, this modern day 25 year old version of the team has found their own place in the Provincial Hall of Fame. The presentation is scheduled for Saturday, August 18 in Regina.
Dave Lemieux, played on the Cardinals team for ten years then acted as the coach for another ten years. “This is the first year I haven’t played in the regular season, but I signed on for the Provincial games to play.” Lemieux’s history with the team made him the perfect guy to write a submission letter to the Hall of Fame board after Laurence Woodard, also in the Hall of Fame for player and builder, approached him with an interest in the team.
“He said I’ve heard you guys have had a lot of wins,” said Lemieux. “And he sat me down and talked about it. After that he decided to nominate us, and helped me get the submission letter together. It was easy to find stuff after the 1990’s but before then was tough. I had to go around and talk to some older players and was able to piece things together. I looked in the old history book of Carlyle, Black Top Trails, and found a few things.” He found a story from 1915 of how the dedicated team struggled to travel through muddy and wet conditions through the night to make it to a game starting at 10 a.m. in Wawota. Woodard delivered the letter on Lemieux’s behalf, and the rest is “as they say” is history as news came out about the honour bestowed upon the team.
Since 1997, the Cardinals have won the Saskota League Baseball tournament twelve times and the Provincial League tournament a total of six times over the same period of time. “I think everyone is getting pretty pumped to go. They will give us a tour of the Hall of Fame first, that should be pretty interesting. Then in the evening, they do the induction. I think most guys are going out there (Regina) to spend a few days,” said Lemieux.
