Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGAR BEET LEAGUE

Date

1949

Materials

FELT, COTTON

No. Pieces

1

Length

18

Width

11

Description

FELT PATCH WITH COTTON EMBROIDERY; FRONT OF PATCH SHOWS MAN IN BLUE CAP ON A RED BACKGROUND WEARING A GREY AND RED SHIRT HOLDING A YELLOW BAT; IN FRONT OF MAN’S TORSO IS WHITE BASEBALL ON GREY BASE WITH BLUE AND RED TEXT “SO ALTA SUGAR BEET LEAGUE, 1949, LETHBRIDGE, J.C.C.A., ATHLETIC CLUB”. BASEBALL ON FRONT HAS BLACK TRIM AND DETAILING. BACK OF PATCH HAS WHITE COTTON BACKING. BACKING IS DISCOLOURED WITH RED BLEED FROM FRONT FELT; THREADS AT EDGE OF PATCH BACK ARE FRAYED; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

PERSONAL SYMBOL

Historical Association

SPORTS

History

ON AUGUST 25, 2018, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN PURCHASED A SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGAR BEET LEAGUE PATCH FOR THE GALT MUSEUM. THE PATCH WAS WORN IN 1949 BY A PLAYER FOR THE LETHBRIDGE TEAM WITHIN THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGAR BEET LEAGUE. THE LEAGUE WAS ACTIVE THROUGH THE LATE 1940S TO THE MID-1950S. THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGAR BEET PATCH WAS FROM THE LETHBRIDGE TEAM AND WAS WORN AS PART OF A PLAYER’S UNIFORM. A LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLE FROM JUNE 7, 1949 DESCRIBES THE LETHBRIDGE TEAM MAKING AN “INAUSPICIOUS DEBUT” AT A SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGAR BEETS GAME AGAINST THE MAGRATH EVACS, WHERE THE EVACS WON 6-3. A LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLE FROM JUNE 30, 1949 ADVERTISES GAMES AT HENDERSON PARK FOR JULY 1, 1949 IN WHICH THE LETHBRIDGE TEAM WOULD PLAY AS PART OF THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGAR BEET LEAGUE [DESCRIBED IN THE ARTICLE AS THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA JAPANESE LEAGUE]. ON NOVERMBER 7, 2011, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED SHIG NAKAGAWA AND ROY SASSA REGARDING ROY’S DONATION OF A BASEBALL UNIFORM [P20110030000-GA] FROM THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGARBEET LEAGUE, AND SPOKE WITH SASSA AND NAKAGAWA ABOUT THEIR TIME IN THE LEAGUE. SASSA SPOKE ABOUT HIS BACKGROUND WITH THE SUGARBEET LEAGUE, NOTING, “I WAS FIVE, SIX YEARS OLD WHEN WE WERE EVACUATED OUT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND I STARTED MY BALL HERE IN RAYMOND. WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN, I PLAYED WITH THE SENIOR GENTLEMEN IN…THE [RAYMOND] BUSSEI-–THE SUGAR BEET LEAGUE…IN THE EARLY FIFTIES TO MID-FIFTIES.” NAKAGAWA DISCUSSED HIS BACKGROUND WITH THE LEAGUE, “MY FATHER GOT INVOLVED WITH THE PARENTS OF THESE BASEBALL PLAYERS AND I WASN’T INTO BASEBALL, BUT HE DID URGE ME TO GET INTO IT…I GOT INVOLVED WITH THIS RAYMOND BUSSEI TEAM. BUT PRIOR TO THIS, I WAS AT INVOLVED WITH MAGRATH. THEIR TEAM WAS CALLED THE EVACS AND THE NAME [CAME] FROM BEING EVACUEES. I WAS WITH THIS TEAM FOR THREE YEARS BEFORE COMING TO THE BUSSEI TEAM.” ON THE HISTORY OF THE TEAM AND HIS INVOLVEMENT, SASSA ELABORATED, “THERE WERE NO LITTLE LEAGUES IN THOSE DAYS; ALL WE DID WAS PLAY IN THE BACKYARDS. A BUNCH OF US GOT TOGETHER AND THEN, LATER ON, THE [HIGH SCHOOL] SCHOOL KIDS WOULD PLAY IN THE BALL DIAMOND. I [SAW] THEM PLAYING AROUND SO I ASKED THEM IF THEY WOULD LIKE TO GET SOMETHING ORGANIZED. WE GOT MAGRATH AND A FEW OF THE TOWN’S SURROUNDING AREAS TO PLAY AGAINST [US] AND THAT’S HOW I GOT STARTED. I DON’T KNOW IF I PUSHED MY WAY INTO THIS TEAM OR…IF THEY ASKED ME…BUT I WAS ABLE TO PLAY WITH THIS TEAM, AND WE TRAVELLED ALL OVER SOUTHERN ALBERTA IN THIS SUGAR BEET LEAGUE.” “IT [WAS] ALL THE SUGAR BEET WORKERS THAT WERE EVACUATED FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA. WE WERE PUT OUT INTO THE SUGAR BEET FIELDS…TABER-BARNWELL WAS ONE TEAM. MAGRATH WAS ONE TEAM. PICTURE BUTTE. RAYMOND. LETHBRIDGE…AND COALDALE.” “[THE TEAMS WERE] ALL VOLUNTEER.” NAKAGAWA CONTINUED, “[IF THERE WERE COSTS TO DO THINGS] WE HAD TO GO AND WORK IN THE SUGAR BEETS.” “[FOR THE TEAM NAME] RAYMOND…TOOK THE SHORTENED VERSION OF THE YOUNG BUDDHIST ASSOCATION AND CALLED IT BUSSEI. [THE OTHER TEAM NAMES WERE] COALDALE CUBS, MAGRATH EVACS, RAYMOND BUSSEIS, PICTURE BUTTE…TABER, BARNWELL.” “I THINK THE DRIVING FORCE [FOR CREATING THE LEAGUE] WAS MOST OF THESE PLAYERS WERE A PART OF THE B.C…ASAHIS…[MOST]PARENTS WERE AFFILIATED WITH THIS ASAHI TEAM FROM VANCOUVER. THEY GOT TOGETHER AND… STARTED FORMING THIS SUGAR BEET LEAGUE.” “MOST OF THEM HAD THE DESIRE TO PLAY SO… THEY WANTED TO PLAY SO THERE [WERE] NO REQUIREMENTS [TO PLAY].” “THE LAST YEAR WAS EITHER ‘55 OR ’56. I [WAS] TWENTY-THREE [WHEN I STARTED]. I WENT ‘TIL THE YEAR OF ‘55.” “UP TO FIFTY-TWO OR -THREE, I WOULD SAY RAYMOND WAS [AT] THE TOP [OF THE LEAGUE].” SASSA ELABORATED, “THERE [WERE] NO FIGHTS. IT WAS ALWAYS COMPETITIVE. EVEN IN HIGH SCHOOL BALLS, OR HOCKEY, BETWEEN LETHBRIDGE AND MEDICINE HAT [THERE] WAS A REAL RIVALRY. [THAT] IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN ALL THE SURROUNDING TOWNS. THERE’S ALWAYS COMPETITION. WHEN THERE’S A SPORT, THERE’S ALWAYS COMPETITION, EVEN IN GOLFING.” “IT WAS ONLY ON SUNDAYS THAT WE PLAYED, AND IF WE HAD TO GO OUT OF TOWN, YOU’D HAVE TO LEAVE QUITE EARLY. YOU WOULD DO A FEW ROWS OF BEETS BEFORE YOU LEFT, AND QUICKLY EAT, AND THEN GET CHANGED, AND MEET AT THE CHURCH AND AWAY WE’D GO.” ON JULY 2, 2013, MACLEAN INTERVIEWED ROY ASATO REGARDING HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA SUGAR BEET LEAGUE [SEE P20130011000-GA]. ASATO’S FAMILY BEGAN FARMING IN HARDIEVILLE PRIOR TO WORLD WAR 2, AND ASATO PLAYED FOR THE COALDALE CUBS IN THE 1950S. ON HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE LEAGUE, ASATO ELABORATED, “WHEN [MY DAD] FIRST CAME HE WAS A DRY LAND FARMER AND HE GOT DRIED OUT, SO HE MANAGED TO GO TO JAPAN AND GET MARRIED, HAD KIDS. HE [SAID] FROM NOW ON I AM GOING TO HAVE IRRIGATION, NO DRY LAND SO HE WAS GROWING POTATOES. EVERY COUPLE OF YEARS WE HAD TO MOVE AND BUILD A ROOT CELLAR EVERY TWO YEARS. WE MOVED AROUND QUITE A BIT. WHEN [I WAS] ABOUT FOURTEEN WE STARTED GOING TO BASEBALL GAMES AND AROUND SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE [I] STARTED PLAYING BASEBALL FOR THE COALDALE CUBS IN THE SUGAR BEET LEAGUE.” “DAD PLAYED BASEBALL SO HE USED TAKE US TO THOSE GAMES. WE STARTED PLAYING BASEBALL EVERY SUNDAY AFTER WORKING ALL WEEK. [THERE WERE] SIX TEAMS, I THINK.” “[OUR FAMILY FARM WAS BY] HARDIEVILLE…MOST OF THE PARENTS HAD THREE TON TRUCKS SO WE PUT A BENCH IN THERE, AND WE JUMPED IN THE TRUCK WE WOULD GO TO VARIOUS PLACES WITH THE TRUCK…IT WAS NO BIG DEAL; HE WOULD TAKE US TO COALDALE. WE WERE PLAYING BARNWELL AGAINST TABER AND THEN THERE WAS PICTURE BUTTE, AND THE COALDALE BUSSEI. THEY WERE MOSTLY EVACUEES [AND] THEY WERE GOOD PLAYERS. “[THE TEAMS] WERE ENTIRELY JAPANESE-CANADIAN… COALDALE HAD TWO TEAMS…THE BUSSEI AND CUBS… THE BUSSEI ALWAYS SEEMED TO BEAT US.” MACLEAN INTERVIEWED HIROSHI “SPUD” KITAGAWA ON JUNE 28, 2013 [SEE P20130010001-GA]. KITAGAWA PLAYED FOR THE RAYMOND BUSSEI UNTIL 1954. KITAGAWA RECALLED HIS TIME LIVING IN RAYMOND AND PLAYING FOR THE BUSSEI’S, NOTING, “[OUR FAMILY] DIDN’T COME ON THEIR OWN. THEY HAD TO PAY. THIS WAS BEFORE THE COMMISSIONERS MEET. AT THAT TIME THEY TOLD IF YOU WANT TO GO AS A FAMILY, GET OUT RIGHT NOW. MY MOTHER DIDN’T [SPEAK] GOOD ENGLISH, SHE COULDN’T WORK SO MY FATHER COULD. MY UNCLE KNEW ONE FAMILY IN RAYMOND FROM JAPAN, I DON’T KNOW HOW, SO THEY WROTE A LETTER ASKING IF THEY COULD COME OVER. HE SAID YEAH COME ON OVER, SO WE [CAME] AS A FAMILY…TEN OF US, MY FAMILY AND MY UNCLE’S FAMILY IN ‘42. IT WAS QUITE A HARDSHIP. MY PARENTS HAD TO GET EVERYTHING PACKED IN A COUPLE OF DAYS AND JUST TAKE OFF. WE GOT ON THE TRAIN AND GOT TO CALGARY AND [THEN] TO LETHBRIDGE. MR. KOSAKA PICKED US UP IN LETHBRIDGE AND [TOOK US] TO RAYMOND.” “[I WAS] ELEVEN…[MR. KOSAKA] WAS OUR SPONSOR… WE WERE [LIVING ON HIS FARM] AND IN A COUPLE OF DAYS, WE MOVED INTO TOWN. HE FOUND US A PLACE TO RENT, A HOUSE IN THE TOWN OF RAYMOND. WE STAYED THERE A COUPLE OF MONTHS, THEN WE WENT OUT TO THE SUGAR BEET FARM.” “[WE WENT TO] ZOBELL’S [FARM], ABOUT THREE MILES OUT OF TOWN.” “IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL WE STARTED PLAYING [IN THE LEAGUE], WE GOT TO PLAY ON THE TEAM ANYWAY. MOST OF US WERE STILL IN SCHOOL PLAYING BALL…I KNOW RAYMOND HAD TWO TEAMS AND PICTURE BUTTE AND COALDALE. PICTURE BUTTE STARTED IT, I THINK.” “IT MUST HAVE BEEN ABOUT ‘48 OR ’49 WHEN I GOT TO PLAY…IT WAS PRETTY HARD TO GET NINE PEOPLE TO COME OUT IN THOSE DAYS. EVERYBODY HAD TO STAY HOME AND WORK THE BEETS. IT WASN’T THAT EASY TO GET [TIME] OFF. EVERYBODY WORKED SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, LONG HOURS. I JUST GOT THERE AND THEY SAID COME ON AND PLAY, SO WE STARTED PLAYING BALL AND OTHER PEOPLE JOINED US, AROUND RAYMOND. RAYMOND HAD SOME PEOPLE WHO USED TO LIVE THERE BEFORE THE WAR, OLD TIMERS. THEY HELPED US A LOT, FIXED THE GROUND UP. WE HAD A CHURCH, A YOUNG BUDDHIST SOCIETY THERE AND WE GOT TO PLAY BALL. I NEVER GOT TO GO TO MEETINGS SO I DON’T KNOW HOW THE LEAGUE GOT STARTED.” “PICTURE BUTTE, COALDALE, HAD STRONG [TEAMS], A LOT OF VETERANS THAT HAD PLAYED BEFORE AND MOST WERE STILL PLAYING THERE. THEY HAD A GOOD TEAM. RAYMOND WE STARTED GETTING BETTER IN THE ‘50S. IT GOT INTERESTING. WE WON THREE YEARS IN A ROW. THOSE YEARS WERE PRETTY GOOD.” “MR. YOSH SENDA WAS COACHING FOR US WHEN I JOINED UP…AS THE YEARS WENT BY AND WE STARTED GETTING BETTER, WE USED TO GO THE SUGAR BEETS AND [WORKED] THE BEETS FIRST THING IN THE MORNING AND GO PLAY BALL IN THE AFTERNOON. BY MONDAY MORNING WE WERE ALL TIRED AND COULDN’T DO MUCH WORK. WE USED TO PLAY A DOUBLE HEADER ON SUNDAY WHEN THE [LEAGUE] WAS GOING GOOD. WE’D STOP IN LETHBRIDGE AND IN CHINATOWN, HAVE SUPPER AND GO HOME. MONDAY MORNING WE WERE PRETTY TIRED. OUR PARENTS WONDERED WHAT THE HECK WAS GOING ON, WE COULDN’T DO BEETS TOO GOOD.” “I PLAYED ONE MORE YEAR AFTER THAT, ‘54, [FOR A TOTAL OF] ABOUT SIX OR SEVEN YEARS. THE LEAGUE FADED OFF, [WE] COULDN’T GET THE PLAYERS TO COME OUT OF TOWN. MOST OF THEM MOVED OUT OF TOWN AND WENT TO BIG CITIES.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING COPIES OF THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20180024000-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20180024000

Acquisition Date

2018-08

Collection

Museum

Less detail