Accomplishments: Canadian Midget Baseball Champions, 1973.
Between 1968 and 1977 Melville baseball teams won eight Provincial championships and two Western Canadian championships. Their crowning achievement came in 1973, when the Melville Elks won the first ever Canadian Midget Baseball Championships.
Bob Stewart coached the 1973 Melville Elks. He coached some of the boys for more than ten years, and managed to have 12 players returning from the previous season. At the 1973 provincial playoffs the Elks won eight games and lost two, outscoring their opposition 91 runs to 43. They sidelined the Regina Pacers, Regina Highnooners, Regina Steelers and the Viscount Atlases to win the provincial title and the right to represent Saskatchewan at the National championship.
Barrhead, Alberta hosted the first ever Canadian Midget Baseball Championship in 1973. Seven provincial and regional championship teams from across Canada were placed in two pools. In their pool, the Elks won two games and lost one which earned them a spot in the semifinal. They won their semifinal against Niagara Falls, ON and faced Cardale, Manitoba in the final game. Cardale had beaten the Elks 10-6 in the round robin, but the Elks came back in the final to win 14-8 to claim the first ever Canadian Midget Baseball Championship.
Three members of the Elks were named to the first all-star team at that tournament – Ross Mahoney (right field), John Maserek (catcher), and Terry Puhl (right-handed pitcher). Mike Stewart was named to the second all-star team as an outfielder. Mahoney tied as the top hitter in the tournament with an average of .636. Maserek hit three of the five home runs hit in the tournament. Puhl was named championship MVP and top pitcher in the tournament. During the tournament, scout Wayne Morgan had Puhl sign a card of interest for his future major league club, the Houston Astros.
The Melville Elks were known as a team with excellent playing ability and as a team that practiced fair play, making them outstanding representatives of the province of Saskatchewan. The 1973 Melville Elks Baseball Team was inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. Puhl was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
Left to Right:
Front: Rodney Carlson (bat boy).
Front Row: Bob Stewart (coach), Ross Mahoney, Jason Schoffer, Ian Perrin, Terry Puhl, Dale Marchewka, Garnet Keller, John Maserek, Dick Dempster, Greg Jones, Doug Senyk, Frank Puhl (manager).
2nd Row: Lorne Deighton, Brian Polischuk, Terry Graff, Mark Bell, Keith Carlson, Michael Stewart, Barrett Korpany.
