If there was a Mount Rushmore of Negro League baseball players, Leon Day would like be among the four faces you would see.
Not only was he an excellent pitcher, but he was a great hitter and could play almost every position.
Near the end of his baseball career, Day became a popular addition to the new Edmonton Eskimos of the Western International League.
But he was gone before the season came to an end.
Read More Day At RenfrewLeroy Paige easily could have adopted the nickname “Satchel” for the amount of travel he did over a pitching career that spanned five decades.
The lanky right-hander made a name for himself in the Negro Leagues long before he put his stamp on Major League Baseball (MLB), but he also played in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Barnstorming tours took him across North America, too, including some memorable trips through Western Canada.
Read More Tall Times in the WestThey went from big league ball players to big name barnstormers overnight, but not even a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball could keep them off the field.
The eight men ousted from the American League by the Black Sox Scandal were made unemployed by baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis when he issued the permanent MLB ban in early August of 1921, nearly two years after they were suspected of playing key roles in fixing the World Series.
No longer able to suit up for the Chicago White Sox, the disgraced players sought the refuge of whatever teams would take them.
Read More Black Sox BanishmentCan you imagine one of your favourite athletes in a uniform other than the one they became famous in?
Over the years, many have been able to play with one team. But in the free agency era, they have become fewer and further between.
As we found out with author Larry Stone, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Edgar Martinez almost didn’t stick around Seattle after not seeing a clear path out from the Calgary Cannons.
Read More Edgar: Almost A Dodger or Yankee?When the Pioneer League looked at expansion in 1975, they began looking at Medicine Hat.
It wouldn’t happen until 1977, but the love affair ended up lasting 25 years.
In the second of our three-part series, we look back at the Medicine Hat A’s and Blue Jays with a man familiar with sports in the city: Bob Ridley.
Read More The Pioneers: Medicine Hat A’sThere is a little confusion over where T.J. Bennett is really from.
As it turns out, he was born in Lethbridge but didn’t spend a whole lot of time here.
The reason: his father was a baseball coach for a new Pioneer League team in 1992. That background gave us context on how the 26-year-old has lived his baseball life.
Read More The Baseball BratIt was a contingent of Hall-of-Fame baseball talent that Western Canada had never seen before and hasn’t seen since.
When Major League Baseball (MLB) stars descended upon Alberta in October of 1934 on their way to Vancouver to board a ship for Japan, the group of legendary players included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Gomez, and Moe Berg.
The only thing more compelling than the celebrity aura they brought to each stop was the newspaper ink they generated on their 19-game barnstorming tour of North America, which included 12 contests in Canada, in the lead up to their Asian tour.
Read More Tokyo Fan ClubWith the Christmas season upon us, we have just the gifts for the baseball fans in your life! Introducing the Alberta Dugout Stories Silent Auction!
Read More Online Silent Auction: Nov. 23-30Erik Kratz represents the end of an Alberta era. He is the last active player in Major League Baseball who spent time with the Medicine Hat Blue Jays.
He was part of the last Pioneer League team to come through Athletic Park in 2002.
We caught up with his old manager Rolando Pino to talk about Kratz and his improbable journey to baseball folk hero.
Read More Last Of The Baby JaysFor William Steele, the Kevin Costner baseball movie Field of Dreams offered an introduction to the world of Alberta author William Patrick Kinsella. It was a common entry point for many fans of the Order of Canada recipient. What Steele didn’t know at the time was that he would devote decades of his life to researching and writing about the controversial author and his literature.
The result of Steele’s labour is the recently-released biography Going the Distance: The Life and Works of W.P. Kinsella. The book provides an extensive look at Kinsella’s early life, his adult years working odd jobs, and his ultimate success as an author. It also explores the Edmontonian’s writing – which generally fell into two categories: baseball stories and aboriginal tales – and the response to his somewhat controversial books.
Our own Ian Wilson of Alberta Dugout Stories had an hour-long conversation with Steele about Going the Distance.
Read More Going the Distance with Kinsella