The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame announced the selection of Laurence Woodard, Weyburn, who will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, Individual Category, Player and Builder.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is Saturday, August 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, or just played catch and batted fly balls, every evening. This was Laurence’s favourite thing to do. He loved the game of baseball.
His father had been a very good pitcher and saw Laurence’s potential to follow in his footsteps, so 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.
Uncle Archie gave Woodard a copy of Sports Illustrated that contained an article on Hoyt Willhelm, a successful knuckle ball pitcher in the Major League. Woodard practiced every chance he had with a tennis ball, trying to master this knuckle ball 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 he was such a good player, he played with the high school team. He was instrumental in winning the high school league pennant by pitching a no-hitter against Oungre, winning 3-0.
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 travelling 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 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, Florida. He was just out of high school and couldn’t put the funds together for the trip.
The Tribune Senior team folded in 1958, so Woodard played baseball with Goodwater for the 1959 season, batting .378 and pitching a no-hitter in a seven inning game against Torquay. Using his knuckle ball he struck out 17 batters, walked one that never left first base and winning the game 7-0.
Woodard was the player coach of the Colgate team through the 1960’s. 1961 was his best year at the plate; batted with an average of .443, stealing 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, beating Dartmouth, Nova Scotia 1-0. Woodard was president of the Beavers baseball team for the 1996 to 1999 seasons.
Woodard married Margie, his high school sweetheart, in 1959. They now share their lives with their two boys and four girls and the grandchildren.
