As Oakland baseball fans say goodbye to the Athletics, the curtain is also going down on a small piece of Alberta’s baseball history.
The Athletics had a Pioneer League team in Medicine Hat in 1977, then an affiliation with the Edmonton Trappers from 1995 to 1998.
Read More The A’s in AlbertaWhen 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’sWhen you talk about baseball in Medicine Hat, the memories of having the Toronto Blue Jays’ Pioneer League affiliate obviously come to mind. The likes of Lloyd Moseby, Jimmy Key, Pat Borders, David Wells, Chris Carpenter and a host of other future MLBers is more than enough for locals to wax poetic about the “good ol’ days.”
Yet, the Blue Jays weren’t the first big league ball club to start sending youngsters to The Gas City.
Read More A’s for Effort