The Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame is proud to announce the 36th Annual Induction, Saturday, August 21, 2021 in Battleford.
Mr. Guillaume will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, Individual Category, for his contribution to baseball in Saskatchewan.
George Guillaume was born February 26, 1933. He grew up in the Marquis, Saskatchewan area, remaining there his entire life, running the family farm. George and his wife Margaret [Pendleton], had seven children.
Baseball started being played in Marquis in the 1920s and continued into the 1980s. It was 1950 when George started playing with the Marquis Cubs in the Moose Jaw and District League. He then played and coached with the Marquis Wheat Kings, playing mostly tournament baseball around the province. In the last half of the 1957 season, George played with the Moose Jaw Lakers in the Southern Saskatchewan Baseball League. This was a successful year for him as a hitter but his pitching performance clinched their playoff berth that season.
In 1952, George suffered a right shoulder injury while curling that prevented him from pitching effectively with that arm so switched over to throwing left-handed and played 2nd base for the season to shorten up the throwing distance to 1st base.
In 1958, George, along with a few others from the Marquis area, decided they would enter a team in the Southern Saskatchewan Baseball League. They attended the Annual General Meeting held in Wilcox. Father Athol Murray gave the Marquis boys an empowering talk in admiration of their passion for the game and the team was allowed to enter the league that consisted of much larger towns as well as cities. These were Swift Current, Estevan, Weyburn, Assiniboia, Regina, Moose Jaw, Belcarres, Rowletta and Marquis. Both George and Dalton Skeoch were both player and coach in their inaugural season in the Southern Saskatchewan Baseball League. The team continued through the 1959 and 1960 season, winning 40 per cent of their games. Given the number of players they had to pick from the Marquis area, that was a reasonable result.
George pitched and played centerfield most of the time for the Wheat Kings and was a steady hitter. In the 1958 Wheat Kings debut George hit a home run and was also the starting pitcher taking a 14-6 loss to the Notre Dame Hounds. He finished 12th in the batting race in the Southern League that season going 33 for 105 at the plate for a .314 batting average, having played all 24 season games. In 1959, George went 36 for 123 at the plate for a .293 batting average. George continued to be an integral part of the Wheat Kings and in the last three years within the league, his hitting was a mainstay for the team. Unfortunately, after the 1960 season the team had to pull out of the Southern Saskatchewan League due to the lack of players.
George was an active member of the community his entire life supporting sports in Marquis by playing and coaching baseball, hockey and curling. He also spent countless hours volunteering and ensuring the facilities were kept in operating condition for all to use and enjoy.
George now resides in Moose Jaw.
