From the Diamond to the Gridiron

Baseball fans will be excused if they feel like trading in their cowhide for some pigskin this Super Bowl weekend.

With that in mind, here’s a look at three pieces of trivia involving times when Alberta baseball had links to the Super Bowl …

Campbell was a Calgary Ace

He was, most likely, the best pitcher to take the mound for the Calgary Cannons.

That’s saying something for a team that was represented by major-league talents like Jim Abbott, Andy Hawkins, Erik Hanson, A.J. Burnett, Ken Forsch, Dennis Powell and Jeff Nelson.

But Mike Campbell wasn’t just a pitcher who honed his craft at Triple-A in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) – the righthander dominated the circuit in the late 1980s.

Putting on The Show

We look at 10 times that Major League Baseball (MLB) teams played in Alberta …

OPINION: The Nightmare in Calgary

You have to think that baseball people in Calgary look at Okotoks and wonder “what if?”

What if the city had backed the Dawgs instead of forcing them out?

With Foothills Stadium being torn down, it leaves a giant void in the city’s baseball landscape.

Bidding Farewell to Foothills Stadium

The demolition of Foothills Stadium has hit the baseball community like a wrecking ball.

Despite the inevitable end of the facility, which played home to Calgary’s highest levels of baseball for more than half a century, seeing the structure reduced to rubble has left many sports fans heartbroken, angry and despondent.

The Rise and Fall of Foothills Stadium

It’s been home to so many.

And for so long baseball was safe at this home.

Alas, the long-awaited eviction notice has been executed and the bleacher-bashing machinery is dismantling the memory-infused wood, steel and concrete that surrounds the diamond, which was once a playground for some of baseball’s best players.

In The Cards: ’91 Calgary Cannons

They were a colourful bunch, those 1991 Calgary Cannons.

Sporting jerseys with white, blue, red and yellow colours, the Cannons looked sharp that season.

This 27-card team set from ProCards added even more colour to the squad …

Naked Gun Fun

Hey, if Die Hard is a Christmas classic, well then yippee ki-yay, you bet The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a baseball film.

And not only is it a baseball flick, just like Field of Dreams and The Hill, it has ties to Western Canada.

Bone Rattling

Calgary baseball fans just couldn’t wait to see the rising star outfielder suit up for the home team.

And in the spring of 1989, that wish came true, even if it didn’t quite seem like it at the time.

While season ticket holders of the Cannons were eagerly awaiting the arrival of future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., the Seattle Mariners – the parent club of the Triple-A Calgary team – sent up-and-coming Jay Buhner to Foothills Stadium instead.

In The Cards: 1990 Calgary Cannons

It was the summer of 1990 and life was good for Calgary baseball fans.

If you went to Foothills Stadium to take in a Triple-A game that season, the odds were good that you’d get to see shortstop Omar Vizquel pick a ball out of the infield dirt and fire it over to first baseman Tino Martinez to record an out.

If you were really lucky, you might show up on one of the nights that outfielder Jay Buhner suited up for the Cannons that year.

For those who collected baseball cards, the sports collectibles business was booming.