Long before Sportsnet 960 The Fan radio personalities Pat Steinberg and Will Nault were making waves on the air, they were teenagers in need of summer jobs.
For both of them, their first paycheques came as a result of the innings they put in at Foothills Stadium.
Steinberg was 14 years old when a job fair at the ballpark – which was then called Burns Stadium – landed him a role with the Triple-A Calgary Cannons of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).
Read More Foothills FeedbackFirst baseman McCoy Pearce is doing his part to put the “Bomb” in “Bombers” this season.
Making his way to Brooks by way of Kamloops, Kelowna and – more recently – McPherson College in Kansas, the 6-foot-3 batsman has been a consistent performer at the plate through 22 Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) games, leading the team in runs batted in (RBI) with 24, runs (18), hits (35), and home runs (6).
Pearce was recruited to Brooks by Kyle MacKinnon – the head coach for the Bombers and the hitting coach for the McPherson College Bulldogs – along with several of his college teammates.
Read More 7th Inning Stretch: McCoy PearceSouthern Alberta’s love affair with baseball hit a fever pitch in the 1970’s.
After years of our own circuits and big league players barnstorming through, relationships were built to bring affiliated baseball to the masses.
In the first of our three-part look at the Pioneer League’s days in Alberta, we profile the lead-up to the first game at home for the Lethbridge Expos.
Read More The Pioneers: Lethbridge ExposA lot of players dream of getting called up to The Show.
That call never came for pitcher Joe Sergent, but he was summoned to … a show, of sorts, in 2007.
In typical independent baseball league fashion, it started with the left-handed hurler receiving a phone call from someone who had dialed the wrong number.
Read More Sergent at ArmsNo matter where he pitches – or how he’s throwing – you can always count on Taran Oulton to log a lot of innings.
The Calgary-born lefty, who trained at Prospects Academy in St. Albert, recently wrapped up his senior year at William Woods University (WWU), where he set a new school record for complete games in a season.
Since returning to the Edmonton Prospects of the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) for yet another summer season, Oulton has remained busy.
Read More 7th Inning Stretch: Taran OultonWill Hollis is picking up right where he left off.
After a great 2018 campaign, the Texas-born product’s bat has been on fire, doubling his home run production from 2018 in just 13 games.
We caught up with the Okotoks Dawgs outfielder for another edition of 7th Inning Stretch.
Read More 7th Inning Stretch: Will HollisStanding 6-foot-5, Gary Soroka was always someone that his son could look up to.
As a child, Mike Soroka didn’t have much of a choice.
But the imposing figure that his father was on a physical level – Gary was urged to become an enforcer in his hockey-playing days – clashed with his gentle parenting style. He preferred a guiding hand to a clenched fist.
Read More Parental Guidance