Red Deer’s Peter Duncan to be inducted into Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame

His love for baseball began with playing minor baseball in Victoria until he earned a scholarship to play college baseball in the U.S.

The Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants showed an interest in the youngster, and a scout offered him a partial scholarship at Columbia Basin Junior College in Washington. He went there straight from high school.

“I went there as a Canadian, and they levelled with me right off the bat and said, ‘ You’re from Canada, and you don’t have all the coaching and don’t have the experience, you may not get to play much here.’ But I did, and I led the team in all kinds of different categories,” he said.

The next season, he moved to join another junior college in Spokane that offered him a full scholarship.

After his junior college career was over, he took a step up to play at Washington State University, where he finished his post-secondary playing days in 1970.

During his post-secondary career, he also played baseball in North Battleford in the summer in the Northern Saskatchewan League, where they won the championship. His pitching and hitting were an important part of the team’s success.

He was then signed by the Kansas City Royals, a professional baseball team in the MLB, and played many seasons in the minor league system.

He never did make it to Major League Baseball, but came close, making it just a tier below the majors at the AAA level.

In professional baseball, there are four main tiers before making it to the MLB, including Low-A. High-A, AA, and finally AAA.

“I ended up playing for five or six years in the Kansas City system but never did make it to the big leagues,” he added.

The infielder, who also played pitcher, began developing some arm problems and retired from professional baseball in 1975.

He moved back to North Battleford, where his wife is from, before moving to Red Deer in 1977 for work.

He was also recruited to play for a professional softball team in Red Deer, and after a few seasons, he was approached by Dwayne Lalor and Gord Hamill to see if he’d be interested in starting a senior-AAA baseball team in the city.

He agreed, and they formed the Red Deer Riggers in 1981. The team continues to thrive to this day, winning the senior AAA provincial title last season.

This year, they’ll look to defend the championship as well as compete in the Men’s National Championship in New Brunswick this August.

“I ended up coaching them, I think, for four or five years… We had a lot of success back in the day. We went to nationals a couple of times, and it was a good group of young kids,” he said.

“There’s been some good people there over the years, and there are still good people there. It feels good to see that they were able to sustain it.”

by Ian Gustafson

Red Deer’s Peter Duncan to be inducted into Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame

What's Trending