Mel Murray was a big part of baseball in Estevan for decades.
He taught the game to kids and helped them find their passion for sport, guided them to provincial titles, and he was inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Now he has earned another recognition.
Cactus Park, which includes several baseball diamonds and youth soccer pitches, has been renamed Mel Murray Cactus Park. Estevan Minor Baseball president Joe Williamson recognized Murray during Friday night’s opening ceremonies for the Saskatchewan U13 AA Baseball Championships, which are happening at the park this weekend.
“I’m very honoured and very humbled,” Murray told the Mercury moments after the ceremony.
But he was quick to point out that it was initially named after the Manalta Coal Co. that was a big part of the community; it eventually went out of business. Tim Jenish, who was the company’s general manager, provided all the equipment needed to build the park.
And while Murray’s name is attached to the park, dozens of volunteers have looked after the park over the years, including some who played a role in the park being named after Murray.
“If it wasn’t for Estevan and the good community it is, I don’t know if this would have ever happened.”
Murray started coaching 33 years ago when his son Brian was six years old. He would guide teams to provincial titles, reached numerous Western Canadian titles, and won a Western Canadian championship.
“I had lots of fun, and I have my baseball wall that I set out in my garage and look at, and I say ‘I remember this,’” said Murray.
Murray retired from coaching minor baseball in 2008. His last game was a memorable one, as the Estevan Murray GM Blazers team that he was coaching won the Western Canadian midget AAA championship that was held in Estevan that year.
It was also his last season as the president of minor baseball.
Once his grandson in Yorkton started getting into the sport, he started watching ball again.
In 2019, he wasn’t happy with the appearance of the ball diamonds at Cactus Park, after watching his grandson play a game, so he volunteered to help out with the maintenance.
“It’s back to normal now. Even other teams are saying ‘You’ve got a heck of a complex here.’ It’s nice. And that’s what you want to hear.”
Now that he’s retired from working at the mines, volunteering at the park has kept him busy. He starts at 6 a.m. each day, and works until 2 p.m.
He was in charge of lining the diamonds for the provincial tournament in Estevan.
“I brought back some of the old guys that I worked with (more than) 10 years ago,” said Murray.
He says he loved every day that he was a coach, because the kids kept him feeling young.
“Sometimes the parents would say ‘You’re just like another kid out there,’ because I just enjoyed it. When they were young, I’d go have Freezies with them and milkshakes, and we just had a good time. They did something wrong on the field, we talked about it, but after the game, we’d go do things together,” said Murray.
To this day, when he sees some of the players he coached, they will call him “coach,” and remember the great times they had together.
