Alberta Dugout Stories: 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.

Episode 78: Vauxhall Academy of Baseball Banquet

You know baseball season is just around the corner when all of the different programs across this province are holding their annual awards and fundraising banquets. Our own Ian Wilson headed south to Vauxhall Academy of Baseball last weekend and chatted with a number of people, including guest speaker Rance Mulliniks, current players Jackson Clemett and Carlin Dick, and Wall of Excellence inductee David Reiniger.

Episode 77: Black History Month

They were legends of the game, all went to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and all made stops in Alberta. This episode of Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast features conversations about Satchel Paige, Leon Day and Andre Dawson. Joe McFarland and Ian Wilson sit down to talk about Ian's stories on Paige and Dawson, while Tom Kern chats with Joe about Day, who he wrote Day's Society for American Baseball Research bio.

Episode 76: Alberta Girls Baseball

The women's baseball program has been a point of pride in recent years in Alberta. With a handful of players representing the province on the national team each year, it has a great momentum behind it. But where do we go from here? We asked that and much more of Baseball Alberta Girls & Womens director Barb Northcott and technical coordinator Chris James in this conference call from a few weeks ago.

Episode 75: Landen Bourassa

He didn't go to an academy in Alberta, but Landen Bourassa made a name for himself south of the border anyways. The Lethbridge-born pitcher is getting ready for his first start in almost a year this weekend after undergoing Tommy John Surgery shortly after his first start of the 2019 season with the University of San Francisco. We talked about the 6'4" right-hander's upbringing, the injury and his mindset, which centers on believing in himself.

Episode 74: Adam Macko & LaRon Smith

The baseball season is getting closer! We're less than a week away until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. We thought we'd catch up with a pitcher and catcher from Alberta hoping to turn some heads. Vauxhall Academy's Adam Macko enters his first spring training after being drafted by Seattle in 2019, while Dawgs Academy's LaRon Smith is going into his second after being drafted by Minnesota in 2018. We chatted with both about the adjustments they have made in professional baseball and what they expect out of themselves heading into 2020.

Episode 73: Alberta's "Mr. Baseball"

Blair Kubicek moved to Lethbridge in 1995 with the goal to help get the Prairie Baseball Academy off the ground. He ended up coaching the team for 15 years while helping grow the game of baseball all over this province. He and five others will be inducted into the academy's new Hall of Fame this coming weekend, and we chatted with "Coach Kubicek" about the long list of accolades he has received (including being an Okotoks Dawgs Hall of Fame inductee in 2014), his advice for others trying to build the game in this province and why behind every good man, there’s a great woman.

Episode 72: Emerson Frostad

Emerson Frostad's journey in baseball took him to places a kid who grows up in a hockey-dominated world could have only dreamed of. From his days with the Calgary Dawgs program before they moved to Okotoks to Lewis-Clark State College to being drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2003 and playing for Baseball Canada at the Olympics and Pan-Am Games, Frostad did it all. Now a corporate lawyer in Calgary and a member of our recently-announced "Alberta's All-Decade Squad", Frostad spoke with us about where he's been, some baseball life advice he cherishes, and his thoughts on former coach Larry Walker being inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame.