Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast

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.

Episode 71: Devery Van De Keere

The Van De Keere name is synonymous with baseball in the Barrhead area, northwest of Edmonton. Keith was a standout pitcher with the Barrhead Blue Jays and was a member of the Canadian National Team before turning his attention to coaching and teaching. He was Baseball Alberta’s Ted Rudd Minor Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2002 and was made a Baseball Alberta Life Member in 2011.
So it’s pretty easy to see why his son, Devery, would pick up a bat and excel at the sport. A star with his hometown teams as a youngster, he went onto Phoenix Junior College and Louisiana-Lafayette before being drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 48th round of the 2007 MLB Draft. After a couple of years with Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League, he went down his own path, traveling the world while playing and coaching.
Now 34, Van De Keere is in Vancouver and has his eyes set on wearing the maple leaf again. We chatted with him earlier this week about where he’s been, where he’s going and some of the lessons he’s learned along the way.

Episode 70: 2020 Vision

With 2019 in the rearview mirror, Ian and Joe sit down to talk about some of the stories that stick out in their minds from the last year and look ahead to what's in store for 2020. Plus, we have a conversation with Jordan Blundell of the Edmonton Prospects as the team now has some certainty heading into the summer after a few questions were raised about what the City of Edmonton had in mind for RE/MAX Field.

Episode 69: State of Alberta's Game 2019

What a year it was for baseball in Alberta. From the all-star performance of Calgary's Mike Soroka to the top-notch talent making names for themselves at the university and college levels to the grassroots game in every community, it was another year to remember. In the final episode of the 2019 season, we chat with Baseball Alberta's Darren Dekinder about the sport, the year that was and what's to come in 2020.

Episode 68: Chris Shaw

Even before his professional baseball career began, Chris Shaw was no stranger to visiting places unknown. He started following his dream in high school by moving to Alberta to take advantage of an opportunity with Dawgs Academy in Okotoks. He later went on to play for the college Dawgs before being selected three times in the Major League Baseball Draft. He eventually signed with Baltimore and spent several seasons in their farm system before joining Quebec of the Canadian-American Association in 2019. Shaw is back in Calgary training and hoping to gain the attention of another Major League team. We caught up with him recently to talk about his journey, what he's working on now and what's in store for 2020.

Episode 67: Strive For Success

We first chatted with Drayton Valley's Shane Dawson about a year ago when he welcomed Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen to his new Strive Baseball Program in Calgary. Fresh off a stint as pitching coach for Alberta at the 2019 Canadian National Women's Championship in Okotoks, Dawson invited former teammates Ryan Borucki and Anthony Alford to come to Calgary to take in some of the sights and sounds and to coach some of the province's young talent a thing or two about making it to the pros.