Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast

Episode 90: Fort Mac Attack

Some exciting news for our province, courtesy of Baseball Canada, late last week. With the cancellation of the 2020 national championships at all levels, attention has now been turned to planning events for future years. And the national body announced the border city, Lloydminster, will host the 13U National Westerns in 2021, while Red Deer will get the men’s nationals and Fort McMurray gets the 18U national championships. Fort Mac will get that same tournament again in 2022 and then the Baseball Canada Cup in 2023. One of the people behind the efforts has been Fort McMurray Minor Baseball Association president Kevin Breen, who joins us as our first guest this week to talk about what went into it, but also the growth of the game in the northern Alberta city. We also check in with one of the Fort McMurray products who has taken his talents stateside. Max Poole has spent the past couple of years pitching for the Mars Hill University Lions. 

Episode 89: Letters of Intent

Despite the wait we’ve all endured to get back onto the ball field, there has been some wonderful news in the baseball world in Alberta over the last few weeks. Several young ballplayers have signed letters of intent to head south of the border to continue playing the game they love at the college level. We sit down to chat with Tyrese Johnson (Dawgs Academy), Maddux Mateychuk (Vauxhall Academy) and Tylor Jans (Prospects Academy) about signing their respective journeys in baseball and where they are heading to next.

Episode 88: WCBL Season Update

There have been a lot of questions surrounding the upcoming summer baseball season in Alberta, across this country and around the world. Will it happen? Can we have a shortened campaign? How willing are players and fans to take part? The Western Canadian Baseball League's board of governors met on Wednesday night to discuss the next steps as we get closer to the originally-scheduled start of the season. We chatted with WCBL president Kevin Kvame about what was decided, as well as what might be in the cards for the Canadian College Baseball Conference and Little League in southern Alberta.

Episode 87: Cannons Retrospective Part 2

Do you remember where you were 35 years ago? Many baseball fans in Calgary will remember their first exposure to the Pacific Coast League Cannons. The Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners had many future Major League Baseball players on the roster when they hit the field. We chatted with Harold Reynolds, Pat Casey and Darnell Coles about their time in our province and what it was like to arrive here for the home opener, only to be welcomed by snow and cold, delaying the contest for a few days. You can also read more about the Cannons' arrival in our new retrospective story here.

Episode 86: Cannons Retrospective Part 1

Believe it or not, it was 35 years ago that the Calgary Cannons made their Pacific Coast League debut. The Pacific Coast League squad would spend the next 18 years at Foothills/Burns Stadium, serving as the triple-A affiliate for the Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox and Florida Marlins during its tenure. In that first season, there was a lot of excitement across the province, especially in providing another chapter in the Battle of Alberta with the Edmonton Trappers having joined the PCL four years earlier. After a lengthy roadtrip to start the season, the Cannons were ready for their home opener on April 19, 1985. Unfortunately, Old Man Winter had other plans. We talk about that and much more with broadcaster and former Cannons PR guru Mark Stephen.

Episode 85: Jamie Campbell

It’s not just sports fans trying to grapple in this world without games to watch. The broadcasters who bring us those games also have some unexpected time on their hands, as they’re not spending hours at the ballpark or arena for the games, practices or media scrums. They also don’t get to have that guaranteed, daily connection with the fans. Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell has found a way to bridge that gap, making a simple request on Twitter to get in touch with older fans looking to chat about baseball and just life in general. He took some time this week to talk about the initiative, as well as baseball collectibles and autographs, his memories of broadcasting in Edmonton and a fascinating tale about his first encounter with a young Mike Soroka.

Episode 84: Kelsey Lalor & Nicole Luchanski

Some very cool news over the last few days from Baseball Canada has led to this bonus episode of the #ADSPodcast. The Women's National Team award winners were unveiled late last week and we'd like to congratulate MVP Kelsey Lalor, Ashley Stephenson Award winner Amanda Asay, Futures Award winner Ellie Jespersen and Special Recognition Award winner Nicole Luchanski. You read that right: three of the four award winners are from Alberta. We caught up with Lalor and Luchanski about the honours and to catch up on what they have been up to since the last time we had them on the podcast.

Episode 83: "The Wax Pack" Author Brad Balukjian

We have had a ton of fun putting up stories about baseball cards on our website. So to stick with that theme, we thought we'd talk to someone who recently wrote a book about the cardboard collectibles. Brad Balukjian's new book is called "The Wax Pack: On The Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife." It's a fascinating tale about tracking down former MLB players found in a pack of old baseball cards to answer that fun question we sometimes ask: whatever happened to that guy? Not only did we talk about the baseball side of things, but also the self-discovery roadtrip Balukjian found himself on in writing this book.

Episode 82: Chris Ewanik & Landen Bourassa

We know it's not Thursday, but with Opening Day supposed to be last week and many people chomping at the bit for baseball content, we thought we'd put together a bonus episode. This time around, we chat with Spruce Grove's Chris Ewanik and Lethbridge's Landen Bourassa. Both went through Prairie Baseball Academy, both underwent Tommy John Surgery and both had just returned to their college baseball programs when the news hit that their seasons would be ending abruptly because of the coronavirus pandemic. We chatted with them about what's happened since then and what they view as being "next".

Episode 81: Scott Gillespie & Graham Brunner

It has been a roller-coaster ride for many Alberta baseball products who were honing their trades in colleges south of the border. Not only were they dealing with the cancellations of their seasons, but they also had to deal with the logistics of getting back home in light of the coronavirus. We chatted with Prairie Baseball Academy grad Scott Gillespie and Dawgs Academy alum Graham Brunner about their respective journeys in baseball and what it was like to see their 2020 college seasons come to an abrupt halt.

Episode 80: Working Out In Uncertain Times

A lot of athletes have been left wondering how they should be handling the current coronavirus pandemic. With calls to stay home and limit time out, how do you make the most of the opportunity and stay in shape when the baseball season starts back up again? We chatted with Absolute Human Performance's Taylor Burns about some of the things he's recommending and some of the game-plans he is working on both physically and mentally.

Episode 79: John Ircandia

It is a baseball oasis in the heart of Southern Alberta. The Okotoks Dawgs and Dawgs Academy have quickly become a powerhouse in Canadian baseball. But it also has an interesting history that includes a highly-contentious move from Calgary. Behind the effort has been Managing Director John Ircandia. In this in-depth conversation, we wanted to go a little deeper, to get to the heart of what drives him day-after-day, what it was like to build the program in the early days and what it's like to be him now, stepping into Seaman Stadium or any of the facilities in Okotoks and see that a dream has become a reality.