The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is proud to announce the selection of Garry Anderson of Medicine Hat, Alta., into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, Individual Category. He will be inducted on Saturday, Aug. 19 in Battleford.
Anderson was born on March 25, 1937, in Kindersley. He started playing senior baseball at the young age of 14, as there was no minor baseball in Marengo where he grew up. In 1953 and 1954, Garry played with Flaxcombe in the Wheatbelt League that included Kindersley, Eatonia and Richlea.
Following elementary school, he attended school in North Battleford and Kindersley, before returning to Marengo and graduated in 1955. He joined the Eatonia baseball team as a pitcher and shortstop under Manager Ken Jackson later that year.
Anderson also played for the Eston 44’s Junior team that season and earned two wins as a pitcher, but was unable to play in the final game after being hospitalized following a combine accident.
In 1956, Anderson continued to play for Eatonia but he also played with the Sceptre-Delisle Combines in both the Medicine Hat Optimist and Lacombe tournaments. That year, while playing with Kindersley, he struck out future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Max Bentley three times in one game.
He played for Eatonia until 1969 and competed at the Saskatoon Exhibition tournament on four occasions. Anderson then went on to play with a team in Sibbald, Alta. that played in the East Central Alberta League, where he was an all-star first baseman for many years and won the league batting title in 1971 with a .368 average.
In 1977, the team moved to Alsask and he was able to play with his sons Dean and Darren.
Anderson also played in Twilite baseball for 20 years with the Sask-Alta Twiliters. In addition to winning many provincial titles, he was named the most valuable player in 1976 and won the batting crown in 1982.
While living in Marengo, he helped to build the arena and curling rink in the community and helped coach baseball and hockey teams. Anderson and his wife Dorothy retired to Medicine Hat in 2005 and split their time between there and Yuma, Arizona.
