By IAN WILSON

Baseball lends itself to dramatic comeback stories.

When Dutche Iannetti spearheaded the creation of the Fort McMurray Giants in 2015, he no doubt dreamt of those captivating tales that would await his ball club. The ninth-inning rally, the unlikely walk-off win, the playoff upset, a home-run robbing catch at the wall, the grand slam after battling back from an 0-2 count. That’s the good stuff.

And it was very good stuff for sports fans in Fort Mac when news broke that the city was getting a Western Major Baseball League (the forerunner of the Western Canadian Baseball League) team on Nov. 2, 2015.

The community had just officially opened the multi-purpose Shell Place sports facility at MacDonald Island Park in June and welcomed the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for a “Northern Kickoff” exhibition game. The North American Soccer League’s Edmonton squad also played a pair of regular season games there in July and August.

Excitement for sports in the region was growing by leaps and bounds, and baseball was a big part of it all.

“The WMBL is thrilled to see this expansion take place and know that Fort McMurray will be passionate about supporting their new hometown club,” said league president Kevin Kvame in a press release.

Kvame noted the ownership group met all the criteria in their expansion bid, which was accepted by the WMBL Board of Governors.

“The quality of the ownership group, along with the outreach of support that we have been monitoring for months really made this decision no contest,” he said.

Kvame described the ballpark at Shell Place as “another facility that many will be envious of” and couldn’t wait to tour the stadium.

Annette Antoniak, the chief executive officer of the Regional Recreation Corporation of Wood Buffalo, also declared “genuine delight at welcoming this opportunity to bring a new sport and entertainment option to the Wood Buffalo region.”

The enthusiasm from the initial announcement continued throughout November. A special dinner celebration midway through the month helped usher in the WMBL era in Fort McMurray, with Toronto Blue Jays outfielders Kevin Pillar and Chris Colabello on hand for the unveiling of the team name “Giants” and the announcement of admission packages that offered up tickets from $10 to $20 per game. The home opener was also set for May 27, 2016 against the Lethbridge Bulls.

“We knew the community would support it, minor ball, the business community, a great local owner. It’s all the right formula for a long successful franchise here,” said Kvame at the dinner.

Josh Iannetti – Dutche’s son and a catcher on the team – was also elated about the opportunity to play in the league.

“It’s unreal,” Iannetti told the Fort McMurray Today newspaper.

“Whenever you get a chance to represent your city, it’s amazing.”

Fellow Fort McMurrayite Matt McPherson, an outfielder with the Giants, shared his teammate’s enthusiasm for a WMBL team in his hometown.

“Hearing about it, I was speechless,” said McPherson.

“It was life-changing, really. Bringing baseball to where it’s never really been a focus, it’s going to change that community forever. Amazing.”

As the days and months passed, the preparations continued and much of the focus shifted to what the on-field product would look like.

“We will put a product on this field that will be on paper as good as any summer collegiate team in North America,” said recruiter Steve Avila in late April.

“We want to be the biggest and best summer party for 25-30 dates … we have the ability to put 2,500 (people) in here right now with the patio and the seats and the suites. We want it to be the best.”

As the roster took shape and the anticipation continued to build, the introduction of the Giants to northern Alberta and the WMBL was set for success. There was some scrambling that was typical for any team approaching an upcoming season … connecting players with billet families, adding sponsors and advertisers to the mix, contacting vendors about concession stand supplies, preparing the field, and selling tickets were among the ongoing tasks as the club counted down the days to the home opener.

Unfortunately, even for those who are best at expecting the unexpected, no one was prepared for what unfolded ahead of the 2016 season.

BRINGING THE HEAT

On the first day of May, a fire began spreading southwest of Fort McMurray and in just a few days it blazed through the city and forced the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta history, displacing as many as 90,000 people from their homes.

Dutche Iannetti was assembling a batting cage near home plate at Shell Place on May 3rd when his wife, Dianne, called and told him to head south to their family-run business, a commercial laundry service for oilpatch workers. Just hours later, a mobile-home park across the street from their business caught fire. Flames ended up destroying the homes of some of their neighbours, as well.

With the batting cage still unassembled, the Iannettis evacuated the area, leaving the Giants uniforms and baseball gear behind.

“I had no real expectation of when we might be back,” Iannetti told The Globe and Mail newspaper.

The inferno destroyed 2,400 residences and buildings while impacting oil sands operations in the area. It caused an estimated $9.9 billion in damage – the costliest disaster in Canadian history – as it ripped through northern Alberta and into parts of Saskatchewan.

The massive forest fire was finally declared under control on July 5th, but it wasn’t fully put out until August of 2017.

Caught up in the devastation were the Giants, and while baseball was not a major priority for the region in May, team officials had some big decisions to make.

The Western Major Baseball League released an official statement on May 4th.

“As you can appreciate, the situation is still active and dangerous. We are monitoring the situation and have conveyed to the Fort McMurray Giants that we are standing by for them. We expect to be involved with them when they have been able to access their situation but that likely will not occur until the threat has ended and the group has been able to reassemble,” stated the WMBL, while encouraging donations to the Canadian Red Cross.

While people in the region were assessing the damage and charting a path back to something resembling a normal life in Fort McMurray, the baseball operations team with the Giants was weighing its options.

Would they cancel plans for a WMBL season that was just weeks away or try to move ahead with some sort of modified schedule?

The answer came on May 13th via another league press release, which confirmed that the “Giants have now officially indicated that they plan to operate during the 2016 season.”

Home games against Fort McMurray remained scheduled and further details from the Giants and the WMBL would be announced soon.

A few days later, word came out that the Giants would begin the season in Edmonton and split time with the Prospects at their ballpark for the first half of the season.

“The decision had to be thought out and see if it could work,” said Kvame in a mid-May article in the Edmonton Journal newspaper.

“When you’re moving that number of games, everything’s going to be a little wonky for a little bit, but it’s all worked out so far, so good … we’re looking forward to having them part of the league.”

The home opener of the Prospects was set for May 28th against the Giants. Fort McMurray was then scheduled to face the Lethbridge Bulls in a doubleheader in Edmonton for a pair of games that were officially home contests for the Giants. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales would also be donated to the Red Cross.

“I had come close to postponing it because there’s a lot going on,” said Dutche Iannetti, the GM and vice-president of the Giants.

“The ultimate goal was to open up at Shell Place, of course. For me, it’s all about those kids, and to take it away from them, it’s just not in me to do that,” he said of the college players who had signed up to play for the Giants.

“We’re set here to start out the season, and if we have to play here for a full season, it’s an honour that they opened up their arms and opened up their doors to allow us to do that.”

Fort McMurray had gone through several failed bids to achieve a WMBL franchise before finally landing one, and the front office of the Giants didn’t want the community to lose out on the opportunity to have high-end baseball because of the wildfires.

The Prospects also didn’t want their neighbours to the north to miss out.

“The amount of energy I know it takes to start the team up, we didn’t want them to lose any momentum,” said Craig Tkachuk, the chief operating officer of the Prospects.

“The fans in Fort McMurray are really baseball crazy, and we wanted them to be able to have a team.”

Prospects CEO Craig Tkachuk (left) and Fort McMurray Giants vice-president & GM Dutche Iannetti (right) pose for a photo by David Bloom of the *Edmonton Journal*.

The assistance meant a lot to those close to the Giants.

“Most of our stuff is locked up at our field – it wasn’t a high priority at the time we left,” said Jayne Kenny, a ballpark gift shop volunteer who fled the fires.

“The fact that the Prospects opened up their field for us makes you want to cry. It looked like we were not going to be able to play this year.”

PLAY BALL!

On the field, the Giants got a rude awakening in their WMBL debut, a 16-3 loss to the Prospects, whose roster included future Major League Baseball (MLB) players Kody Funderburk and Erik Sabrowski. Funderburk, who is now a relief pitcher with the Minnesota Twins, had three hits and three RBI for Edmonton in a matchup that stretched to five hours in length due to rain delays.

When the game finally came to an end after midnight, the Giants – sporting “Alberta Strong” patches on their jerseys – took the field for a team photo and received a boisterous round of applause from the baseball boosters who stuck around.

“Pretty cool – they were really loud, cheering us,” said coach Kellen Camus.

“That put a little touch on everything, for myself, just for understanding the whole context of the situation. It was bigger than baseball that night. It’s still going to be bigger than baseball throughout the season. It’s amazing what everyone’s doing – a great feeling, that’s for sure.”

Adam Kimmel, a pitcher with the Giants, also felt the love from those in attendance, officially listed at 4,720 fans.

“Really warming. That was a good feeling, really cool … because it felt like we were a part of it. Pretty late (at night), you wouldn’t think (the crowd) would be that lively, but people stood up and showed appreciation for us. It’s a nice, warm feeling that we’re so welcome there,” Kimmel told Calgary Herald reporter Scott Cruickshank.

McPherson was also choked up by the outpouring of support.

“Having so many strangers coming up and making sure you’re OK, offering places to stay if you need it … pretty amazing,” said the Fort McMurray outfielder.

“The outreach has been outstanding … it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed.”

The game brought out the largest crowd for a baseball game in Edmonton since the Triple-A Trappers of the Pacific Coast League played their final season in 2004.

“It was just an amazing night,” said Kvame.

“I think it was a rallying cry for the community to come together and to cheer for something after a really hard month.”

Long-time Fort McMurray Mayor Melissa Blake was among those in attendance.

“It was a unique opportunity to be on a foreign field and call it home,” she said.

“It was really jovial, and a fun way for our citizens to connect with one another. We have gone through a lot for a long time, and still have a lot more to go through. Singing Take Me Out to The Ball Game takes you away from that.”

The WMBL debut also brought a series of franchise firsts. Kyle Blakeman picked up the first hit in team history when he smacked a single in the first inning. Pitcher Nikolas Cardinal, who was tagged with the loss for the Giants, recorded the first K for the club when he got Nick Spillman to strike out swinging in the bottom of the first.

Most importantly, the players were playing.

Fittingly, the Giants picked up their first victory on the road, coming out on top of the Okotoks Dawgs at Seaman Stadium by a 9-5 score on June 3rd. Adam Falcon picked up the win in relief after logging two scoreless innings and striking out three Dawgs.

“We are jacked to have them here,” said John Ircandia, the managing director of the Okotoks Dawgs, prior to the arrival of the Giants in town.

“It reminds me of the (2013) flooding. This stadium, in this area, was a rallying point for the community. Having the Giants here will be a reminder of how fortunate we are to have gotten through that … we’re all bound together. Baseball’s a good healing thing to get neighbours together, to get over adversity. That’s going to happen in Fort McMurray.”

*Calgary Herald* coverage of the Fort McMurray Giants from early June of 2016.

The Dawgs allowed the Giants to take centre stage at the Okotoks home opener. Dutche Iannetti threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his son, Josh, and High River firefighters who had been on the front lines in Fort Mac greeted players from the Giants before play got underway. The Okotoks Fire Department also passed a boot through the stands at Seaman Stadium during the game to collect funds for the Red Cross.

“We’re just so lucky that we’re able to play this year,” Josh Iannetti told the Herald.

“It was under the clouds that we might not even have a season … we have plans, plans to be an amazing team.”

The Giants collected their second win of the campaign against the Brooks Bombers – another expansion team that joined the WMBL in 2016 – in a June 4th contest that saw Giants players go yard for the first time.

First baseman Michael Echavia launched a three-run homer out of Elks Field in the third inning, while third baseman Cooper Krug followed up with a solo blast in the ninth inning to help secure the 11-8 win.

HEADING FOR HOME

As the Giants continued to tour around Alberta and Saskatchewan, their story was gaining headlines and national media coverage.

The Globe and Mail newspaper published a feature story on the front page of the sports section in early June under the title “Something to Root For.”

The article by Marty Klinkenberg recounted the Iannetti family’s experience during the upheaval, while recounting the journey for the team and its displaced fans.

“Every day, when I come to the ball field, it’s like medicine for me,” Dutche Iannetti told The Globe.

“The hardest time for me is driving to and from games. That is when I have time to think about the community I love … it is hard to talk about that.”

National newspaper coverage of the Fort McMurray Giants in the *Globe and Mail*.

When asked about the timing of a return to Fort McMurray for the Giants, Iannetti said the city needed to be ready for such a homecoming.

“It’s not about when people can go back, it’s when the community can support the Giants in Fort McMurray,” he said.

“It’s important for our team, and for our kids, to have fans in the stands.”

The Giants continued to road warrior their way through the month of June.

Damage assessment and cleanup was underway in northern Alberta and people began charting a course home.

Brenda and Jerry Muir, who signed up as a billet family for the Giants, had fled to Regina with their children to stay with Brenda’s parents while the fires ripped through Fort McMurray.

They brought 11-year-old Draven, nine-year-old Brooklyn, their two German shepherds, three cats and boxes of photos in two vehicles to the Saskatchewan capital.

Jerry returned to Fort McMurray in early June to get back to work and start cleaning up their house – which didn’t suffer any visible fire damage – while Brenda stayed behind with the kids and the pets.

“We’re lucky – just so lucky,” Brenda said in the Regina Leader-Post newspaper.

“The only thing we’re wondering about is the smoke damage … I want to get the carpets cleaned. I know people have paid people to clean their houses, but I want to do it myself.”

The parents attempted to make life as normal as possible for their children, so they enrolled them in a Regina elementary school.

“They had a great experience there,” said Brenda.

“I just sent thank you cards for all of the teachers and the staff and some chocolates – the teachers have been great and the kids have been great.”

She added: “I just put them in school for a sense of community, a regular routine just so that they could meet some friends.”

In addition to school, Brooklyn was signed up for soccer and Draven played baseball during their stay.

Brenda also did yard work for her parents and planted vegetables in a community garden plot.

“They’ll be reaping the benefits of that shortly,” she said. “It’s growing like crazy.”

The Muirs were grateful for all the assistance they received while they made a temporary home in Saskatchewan.

“I have nothing but good things to say about the support we’ve received from the Red Cross here in Regina,” said Brenda.

“They’ve helped me get groceries and laundry soap to wash my kids’ clothes and I was just at the Red Cross and they gave me some gas money. They were very generous. ‘Thank you’ can’t cover all of the people here who have really gone above and beyond what my expectations were.”

Despite the soft landing in Saskatchewan, there’s no place like home.

The Muirs had agreed to take one player with the Giants into their house in December. That responsibility was left in limbo after the evacuation. As the team looked at a return to Fort McMurray, the importance of that commitment loomed.

“The Edmonton Prospects were sharing their diamond with our Fort McMurray Giants and the lady from the baseball team called me a couple of days ago and she asked if we still wanted our billet,” said Brenda, who agreed to take in a second player after learning that fire had destroyed six Fort McMurray homes of billet families.

“That was kind of the inspiration to get us going back there.”

Baseball fans get autographs from Fort McMurray Giants players in Edmonton … photo by Robert Murray of the Fort McMurray Today newspaper.

The Giants were inspired to get back home, too.

Following a pair of losses to the Okotoks Dawgs near the end of June, the Giants were finally ready to play the role of host to a visiting team, not in Edmonton, but back at Shell Place.

Their franchise home opener came against the Regina Red Sox on June 29th.

“It is very exciting to be part of this historic first game at Shell Place,” said Red Sox general manager Bernie Eiswirth.

“I know the Giants fans are going to fill the park and make this an electrifying home opener for their team.”

Under sunny skies and with an estimated crowd of 2,000 people on hand, outfielder Chase Hager picked up three hits, two runs and an RBI for the home side, while Ryan Dunn registered the win in relief during the 6-4 victory for the Giants.

With that, the Giants had truly arrived in Fort McMurray.

They missed the postseason that year, with an overall record of 16 wins and 32 losses, but the Giants played .500 baseball over their final 10 games of the season.

More importantly, they authored a comeback story for the ages.

It may not have been what Dutche Iannetti dreamt about, but it helped turn a nightmare scenario into some very good stuff indeed.

(Main photo by Jason Franson of the Globe and Mail newspaper)