The A’s in Alberta

By JOE McFARLAND

It was a scene all-too-familiar to baseball fans in Alberta.

With a sellout crowd of 46,889 in attendance at Oakland Coliseum, the hometown Athletics waved goodbye to a place they had called home since 1968.

They won four World Series championships and created a lifetime of memories in the Bay Area.

From the likes of Vida Blue, Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers to Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersley, the A’s were often a team associated with winning.

However, things had been tumultuous for a few years, including numerous rumours and a fanbase frustrated by the franchise’s lack of certainty.

It all came to a head in November 2023, when MLB owners unanimously approved the team’s move to Las Vegas.

While a new stadium won’t open until at least 2028, the Athletics will call Sacramento home in the short term.

The end of the A’s in Oakland marks an end of an era, which had a few footnotes here in Alberta.

ONE SUMMER IN THE HAT

After the Lethbridge Expos made their debut in the Pioneer League in 1975, two other Alberta communities saw an opportunity to bring in professional baseball: Medicine Hat and Calgary.

Medicine Hat had a few interested Major League Baseball teams including the A’s, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners.

When the Cardinals chose Calgary, Medicine Hat called Oakland.

“Larry Plante, representative of a group which wishes to bring rookie-league professional baseball to Medicine Hat, contacted Oakland A’s farm director Syd Thrift upon receipt of the Cardinals’ decision and received confirmation that the A’s will place a team here next season,” declared the Medicine Hat News on Oct. 14, 1976.

READ MORE: The Pioneers – Medicine Hat A’s

Unhappy with their previous location in Boise, the A’s made the move north of the border for the 1977 season.

Under manager Orlando Gomez, the Baby A’s went 29-41 to finish fifth in the six-team league.

They were led offensively by future MLB players like Mike Davis and Shooty Babitt, while Dave Beard was the workhorse on the mound with a 4-5 record in 11 starts, leading the team with 71 innings.

After their one season in Medicine Hat, the Athletics were dropped as the affiliate in favour of the Toronto Blue Jays, who called Athletic Park home from 1978-2002.

The A’s returned to the Pioneer League with Idaho Falls (1982-1985) and Pocatello (1985) before leaving the rookie league circuit for good the following season.

NORTH TO THE CAPITAL

However, the Athletics weren’t done with Alberta.

The Pacific Coast League’s Edmonton Trappers were searching for a new affiliate following two challenging seasons with the expansion Florida Marlins.

After the 1994 season, several PCL teams, including the Trappers and Calgary Cannons, found themselves trying to find the right parent club.

The rumour mill started swirling early, as teams were already starting to be more mindful about the money spent on travel, making Canadian teams less than ideal locations.

It was originally thought that the San Diego Padres would be the front-runner to get the Trappers.

By mid-September, it had tightened up with another California team taking the lead: the Oakland Athletics.

“We’re finishing it up now, but yes, we have an affiliation with Edmonton,” said Oakland’s assistant general manager, Billy Beane, to the Edmonton Journal on Sept. 17, 1994. “We’ve had a number of conversations the past week and we will sign.”

Beane told the newspaper that he was more and more impressed with Edmonton as talks proceeded.

Three days later, the deal was officially signed.

“We’re getting exactly what we wanted,” said Trappers president Mel Kowalchuk. “We really hit the lottery.”

Little did he know, Edmonton’s Mr. Baseball couldn’t have been more right.

CHA-CHING

The Athletics’ first season in Edmonton didn’t go exactly as planned, as they finished 68-76 and out of the playoffs under manager Gary Jones.

However, the Trappers’ faithful got a first-hand look at some of the young prospects about to make waves in the big leagues, including former first-round pick John Wasdin and second-rounder Jason Giambi.

They also had the opportunity to see the big-leaguers in action on July 31, 1995 when the Athletics paid a visit to the provincial capital for an exhibition game.

The A’s roster included star slugger Mark McGwire, who was back in a batting cage for the first time after two weeks on the disabled list.

Some of the Trappers parked themselves in the outfield to shag whatever balls didn’t clear the outfield fence.

“He’s just … unnaturally strong,” said Trapper slugger Scott Bryant. “It’s sick. There’s nobody that has that kind of pop.”

The capacity crowd was then treated to more fun during the game as the A’s came away with a 9-7 victory.

Thanks to a bet with McGwire, A’s skipper Tony LaRussa donned a batting helmet and inserted himself into the lineup during the ninth inning to face pitcher Ian Epstein.

“I told him I’d buy him a Jaguar if he hit a home run,” McGwire laughed. “I figured I was pretty safe.”

LaRussa admitted he tried to get Trappers catcher Garrett Beard to understand the severity of the situation.

“I asked the catcher to tell the pitcher that if he ever desired to play for me in this organization, he’d throw me something right down the middle with nothing on it,” he smiled. “That’s about it.”

LaRussa ended up popping out to first.

WINNING IT ALL

A year later, the Trappers claimed their first Pacific Coast League title since 1984 after leading the circuit with an 84-58 record during the season, knocking off the Phoenix Firebirds three-games-to-one in the final.

The team included several future MLBers including Scott Spiezio, Tony Batista, Izzy Molina, Torey Lovullo and Canadian Matt Stairs.

“Honestly, it was the turning point of my career and I’m not just saying that,” Stairs told Alberta Dugout Stories in 2019, citing challenges with his swing and the inability to stay in the majors. “Coming down here was nice because I got to work on things. I got to work on a complete re-structure of my swing.”

Before they claimed the championship, the Athletics and Trappers tried to get the business side of the operations in order.

After signing a two-year deal the first time around, Kowalchuk was hoping for a longer-term contract of four-to-six years.

However, there was one catch: Sacramento was in the running for a PCL franchise in 1998.

If that were the case, Kowalchuk understood the logistics, adding it had nothing to do with how the two sides felt about each other.

“Who knows what will happen with Sacramento? It seems like a matter of time until they’ll have Triple-A,” he told the Edmonton Journal on Aug. 23, 1996. “All other things being equal, it’s logical and understandable for Oakland to want to be closer to home … Why should we try to force Oakland into a situation where they wouldn’t be happy?”

The two sides eventually agreed on another two-year contract.

WINDING DOWN

With just a handful of returning veterans from the 1996 team, the Trappers continued to roll through the PCL.

They finished the 1997 season with an 84-60 record, good enough for second place overall, before sweeping the Vancouver Canadians and once again defeating the Firebirds 3-1 in their best-of-five championship series to claim their second-straight title.

“You take times like this and cherish them as much as you possibly can because you just don’t know what the future holds,” said the Trappers’ Jason Wood.

“You might go down the road, but not one guy here will forget 1997. That stays with you.”

Edmonton baseball fans were also treated to yet another visit from the big-league team that summer.

This time, it was the Trappers coming away with a 7-4 victory.

After three seasons with the team, one person not coming back for the 1998 season was manager Gary Jones, who was promoted to become the A’s third base coach.

Despite a 76-67 record, the Trappers finished in third place in the Pacific Conference and out of the playoff picture.

As soon as the season was over, questions started to swirl around whether the affiliation with the Athletics was coming to an end.

In the early days, Kowalchuk was forbidden from speaking about the situation until processes played out.

On Sept. 10, 1998, it was confirmed that the four-year marriage was coming to an end and Oakland was moving to the Vancouver Canadians, who were set to be sold and relocated to Sacramento.

Kowalchuk had been speaking with a couple of teams and eventually landed on the Anaheim Angels, formerly known as the California Angels, who had the affiliation with Edmonton between 1983 and 1992.

The Trappers went onto become the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins in 2001-2002 and the Montreal Expos in 2003-2004, before being sold and moved to Round Rock, Texas.

Twenty years after Trappers fans bid adieu to their team, Athletics fans are now doing the same.

And as the curtain comes down on Oakland, so too does part of the legacy of minor league baseball in Alberta.