We are very excited to announce that Alberta Dugout Stories has applied to have Mel Kowalchuk inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
In an effort to promote Alberta baseball and help give recognition to one of the sport’s major players, we determined Kowalchuk – the man largely responsible for bringing the Edmonton Trappers to the provincial capital for a quarter century – was a worthy nominee.
Read More Hall-of-Fame Worthy NomineeIt has been 17 years since an Alberta team represented Canada at the Little League World Series.
The Calgary West squad was the first since 1977 to take Canada to South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
As everyone watched this year’s edition, we caught up with two members of that squad to reminisce about that tournament.
Read More Trip Down LLWS Memory LaneThe Edmonton Prospects will have a new look in the dugout next year, as the coaching duo of Ray Brown and Orv Franchuk is moving on.
But the experienced skipper tandem may not be away from the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) for very long.
The Prospects announced the resignation of Brown, the team’s head coach, and Franchuk, the director of baseball development, on Sept. 12th after contract discussions with owner Patrick Cassidy broke down.
Read More Coaching Duo Leaving ProspectsIt’s hard not getting butterflies in your stomach as you step onto the turf at Rogers Centre.
It will be up to Alberta’s coaches like Allen Cox and Les McTavish to keep them all at bay as the annual T12 tournament kicks off.
We chatted with them ahead of the showcase in Toronto.
Read More Dome Sweet DomeIt started with just a slight blurring of his vision. But by the age of 12, Myles Creran was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
That prognosis didn’t stop him and now the University of Calgary Dinos utility-man is sharing his story in hopes of proving positivity and activity can help someone else.
Read More RundownFor 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 KinsellaLong before author William Patrick Kinsella ever dreamt about baseball in Iowa cornfields, he was a stimulus-starved child growing up in rural Alberta. What he lacked in local events and community activities as a homeschooled farm kid near Darwell – 75 kilometres northwest of Edmonton – Kinsella made up for using his imagination.
That creativity served him well as a writer, as William Steele notes in his new biography, Going the Distance: The Life and Works of W.P. Kinsella. The book provides a comprehensive look at the man made famous for his 1982 novel Shoeless Joe, which was the basis of the seminal baseball movie Field of Dreams.
Here is an excerpt from Going the Distance …
Read More Kinsella at the BatNobody’s perfect.
Perfection, they say, is a myth.
That’s where Rich Walker comes in. When the Edmonton Prospects’ pitcher took the mound at Shell Place in Fort McMurray on June 29th, he unleashed a flawless performance on the Giants.
Read More Chasing PerfectionThere are final outs and then there are final outs.
When Maverick centre fielder David Salgueiro caught a fly ball in the ninth inning of a game against the Regina Red Sox on Thursday, Aug. 16th at Athletic Park in Medicine Hat, it sealed an 8-2 win for the Mavs.
It was the final out of the deciding game of the series. It was also the final out of the last Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) game of 2018 and it marked the end of the league as we know it.
Read More How The West Was WonWith one eye on the prize of the 2018 Women’s Baseball World Cup, Canada has another eye on the future and it may not be more prevalent than by looking at the Alberta contingent heading to Viera, Florida.
Five Albertans make up the roster, including three first-year national team players.
While there is plenty of new blood, the expectation remains the same: win.
Read More Unfinished Business