The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Snow Lake's McGillvray Avenue is tiny street in small town. There are 19 homes on the avenue, which runs for no more than 500 meters. Yet on this street, within a radius of 200 meters, sit the homes of two Hall of Famers. Ken Baird, a former Winnipeg Jet and inductee into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, lives at 193 McGillvray and just across the street and down from him lives Roger Wiesner, a former Elmwood Giant and Manitoba Baseball Sports Hall of Fame member. Both men received their honours during ceremonies that took place over the past year. Baird was honoured on November 5, 2005 at the 26th Annual Induction Ceremony for the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in Winnipeg's Canad Inn, Polo Park. Wiesner received his due in a ceremony at the Manitoba Baseball Sports Hall of Fame in Morden on the weekend of June 3, 2006. Although Baird is a bit of a living legend in Snow Lake, not much is known of Wiesners's exploits on the ball field. Sure, his prowess on the ice and golf course have been noted, as was his ability to play ball, however, many chalked these things up to the man's natural athletic ability. Like Baird, he was never the type to sing his own praises, but unlike Baird, not much, if any news of his sports career ever filtered back to his hometown. Nevertheless, once the word was out about his induction, Wiesner did avail himself to fill in the blanks. Starting as a 17-year-old, he played Junior Hard Ball with The Elmwood Giants from 1978-80. The team won the city and provincial championships all three years. That feat was recognized by the Hall of Fame and was the reason the team was inducted on that fine early June weekend. Wiesner states that in the three years that he played for the Giants, he played both outfield and second base. "I guess my batting average was around .300," Wiesner stated unassumingly. "The first year I played, I didn't see the field as much as in the last two." Regardless, in that first year, 1978, he had 17 hits, 12 runs, and 12 RBI's in 55 games for a .309 average. "In our third year we won the Bison Tournament, which was held in Morden," he explained. "We also went out to the Canadian Championships in Surrey B.C. and played in Barhead, Alberta one year. The following year we went to the Canadian Championships in Sherwood Park Alberta, and the last year I played, we went to Kindersley, Saskatchewan. We lost in the final that year." Recalling the induction ceremony, Wiesner said, "It was a dinner and the place was full. All of the individual inductees spoke and beforehand the presenters gave an overview of their careers. There were several team inductees; along with the Giants there was a team from Brandon that played in the '50s and one other team that I don't recall. I found it really interesting." When it came time for the Giant's induction, all team members were given individual Hall of Fame trophies and introduced before each trophy was presented. "They had something brief to say about each one of us," said Wiesner. "So that was special and nice to hear. Oh ya, and my Dad bought me a Hall of Fame hat," Roger joked. "Twenty-six years, a lot of things change, but it was great seeing all the guys again," he continued. "Those years were great experience for a young man. And I have to admit, I loved playing baseball more than hockey."
