Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast

When you're a reliever, you never know when you're going to get the call to come in from the bullpen. A few Alberta baseball products are making names for themselves south of the border, picking up saves for their respective college teams. Two of those players on the leaderboard are Tanner Jesson-Dalton (Lethbridge) at Sacramento State University and Liam Sabiston (Calgary) at Eastern New Mexico University. We caught up with both earlier this week to talk about their successes. For more on Jesson-Dalton, who we profiled last year, click here.

Baseball is a patient game. Not just for the players but also for photographers looking to snap that perfect image. Amanda Fewer's collection has captured the attention of many, including the Toronto Blue Jays and Okotoks Dawgs. We chat with her about getting into the game and what keeps her motivated. We also sit down with Dawgs Academy product J.T. Patterson to talk about his upbringing and this past weekend's 3-HR, 8-RBI game for Bellevue University.

The US college baseball season is well underway and we've been keeping tabs on some of the young Alberta-born talent who are making waves. But there are some players who came from out of this province to train here and are now plying their trade south of the border. A couple of great chats with Dawgs Academy alum Ryan Humeniuk (Manitoba) and Vauxhall Academy alum Josh Burgmann (BC) about their respective paths in baseball.

He has seen and played baseball all over the world. Former Edmonton Cracker-Cat and Toronto Blue Jay Scott Richmond talks about his time in Alberta as well as the importance of family while jetsetting across the globe. We also sit down with Ian Wilson to talk about all things ADS over the last little while, particularly his in-depth piece about baseball stars coming to Alberta in 1934!

It might be hard to believe, but a new baseball season is just about to get started up here in western Canada. The Canadian College Baseball Conference will see seven teams hitting the field over the next couple of months, including the Prairie Baseball Academy, the University of Calgary Dinos and a brand new Edmonton Collegiate team. We chat with interim league president Kevin Kvame and Edmonton coach Ethan Elias about what's in store for the season. Oh, and there's a little surprise at the end.

We start things off talking to one of two Alberta products who will be heading to Florida for the Baseball Canada Junior National Spring Training Camp. Dawgs Academy product Ayden Makarus is hoping it will keep him on the radar of MLB scouts. And we chat with TJ Bennett, a young man born in Alberta but didn't spend a lot of time here, as his dad was a coach with the Lethbridge Mounties.

Jarome Iginla was a world-class hockey player, but he also carried a big stick on the baseball diamond. Ian Wilson chats with childhood friend Bill Russell about Iggy's days in St. Albert. We also continue our #1Thru9 academy profiles with a look at St. Joseph Baseball Academy in Red Deer and a conversation with coach Jason Chatwood.

He has garnered the respect of everyone in the Canadian baseball world. We sat down with the highly-acclaimed baseball writer Bob Elliott to talk about how he got into the sport in the first place, some of his favourite memories, and what he would like young Canadian kids to think about as they strive to make it to the big leagues.

Dawgs Academy product Clayton Keyes has garnered many headlines over the last few years after being drafted by Toronto in 2016 and Arizona in 2017. He's hoping to write a new chapter to his story in 2019 though. And we continue our #1Thru9 academy profiles with a look at St. Francis Xavier Baseball Academy in Edmonton.

With Valentine's Day this week, Ian Wilson and Joe McFarland chat about some of the things they love about the sport as well as some of the things to come this spring with baseball in Alberta. And we continue our #1Thru9 academy profiles with a look at Prairie Baseball Academy and a chat with coach Todd Hubka.

Back to regular-scheduled programming. We continue our #1Thru9 profiles of Alberta's academies with Prospects Academy and a chat with Jordan Blundell. We also get some background on what it takes to track Alberta's college-bound prospects in the US with Kevin Wall from @CollegeBaseba12 and http://www.cbplayers.com.

A lot of news in the last couple of weeks when it comes to the stadiums in Edmonton and Calgary. We chat with Edmonton Prospects owner Pat Cassidy about his proposed deal surrounding ReMax Field and we give a little update on what the future might have in store for Foothills Stadium in Calgary.