Telus Field

Vacant

6/10

The park actually has a relatively pleasant, redbrick exterior.

Then you get inside....with the turf infield and grass outfield. A sunny June afternoon saw the Edmonton Capitals play the Lake County Fielders.

                                

Here you can see the unusual configuration of the field, seats on top, suites on the bottom.

We went here for two games(I think in 1998 or 99) to watch the Edmonton Trappers play the Vancouver Canadians during Vancouver's final year in Triple A when we went on a Vacation to Edmonton. The Trappers were either an A's or Angel affiliate at the time. The field was a still unique to me with the combination of a grass outfield and a turf infield. Not too sure why. Attendance was higher the second game, because Chubby Checker had a post-game concert. That’s right, the King of the Twist, reduced to AAA post-game entertainment, plus fireworks.

Eventually, the Trappers moved away, after getting a few more years than Calgary, thanks to building this new park. They were replaced by an independent team in the Northern League, the Edmonton Cracker Cats. The 'Cats moved to the Golden League after 4 seasons and after one there, became the Capitals under new ownership. After two more seasons in the GBL, the Capitals took to the field with their new counterparts from the remnants of the Northern League and the United League for the North American League's first and subsequently only season.

I went back in 2011, with Edmonton now the closest park to my house. The Capitals were in the first month of the inaugural North American League season and playing the Lake County Fielders. The park is a very nice facility, with a brick façade and roomy concourse, it’s a legitimate minor-league park. They STILL had the turf infield with actual outfield which is a bit ugly. I would go back to see the Capitals play the Chico Outlaws, the Yuma Scorpions twice(even seeing an aged Jose Canseco whiff going for a homerun), the Calgary Vipers, then the Rio Grande Valley Whitewings for the NAL flag. That series was played entirely in Edmonton with the Whitewings having to borrow players from the San Angelo team they'd just knocked out. This was necessary because many of their Central American players were refused entry visas into Canada. 

Edmonton won in 5 games and never played again, as the entire league slowly withered away over the summer, leaving only just 4 teams lined up for the 2012 season. The Capital's owners, the group that owns the Edmonton Oilers hockey team, elected for a yearlong hiatus, to try and find a new league. As of 2016, that hiatus is ongoing, leading most to consider the team defunct. A big handicap is the lack of progress in Calgary, which most consider essential to having baseball here, as it allowed teams based in the US to rack up 8 or so games with one border crossing.
 
Telus Field hosted the Women's World Baseball Championships in 2012, which drew some large crowds for certain games, but has as the primary tenant, the Edmonton Prospects, a summer league team that averages a few hundred people, but boosts the totals with a few days they almost sell out. The Prospects have been relatively poor in the last few seasons, but have shown slight improvement. I went to a game in 2013, but didn't enjoy it and left early. Apparently the players only enjoyed it so much as towards the end of the 2013 season, the manager and numerous players walked off the team, in protest of how it was run. Their prime example? Not ponying up for a hotel in a city 4 hours away, leading to the team busing back and forth, some late nights and poor results. The team seems a little better run now and went from a .200 record to .450, partially because of bringing on the Capitals old manager. I might be convinced to go back this year.

The city of Edmonton, which owns the field was reportedly considering knocking it down in 2014, to redevelop the entire neighbourhood it's in. This idea got shut down, with the wood bat league continuing to operate.

Telus itself isn't too bad of a park, it was built in the mid 1990s with the hope of keeping the Trappers around, which sort of worked, they played 9 seasons there, before moving to Round Rock, Texas to become the Express. It's a nice looking park on the way in and on the concourse for sure. Concessions are straightforward, but what's there is good and lines are usually short. The atmosphere was quiet when the Capitals were there and for the Prospects, it's limited to friends and relatives most nights. The choice of having the suites on the bottom meant that the whole seating bowl got lifted up, so sight lines aren't as good as they could be. I would take a point off for the stadium because of this, plus the field consisting of a turf/dirt split with the turf looking rock hard. Atmosphere was a half point off as well.

I previously gave Edmonton a 6.5, but I've since bailed on half-points. Is it closer to a 6, or a 7? I'd say 6. It's built where the previous ballpark was, with parking being in a grassy field and not being within a walk of much besides the river valley, there isn't much to do in the area before or after a game. Location is the biggest knock in my opinion. Still, with Edmonton being my home for awhile, I certainly hope the Oil City can lure an Indy league team back soon, but I know I'm hoping for an awful lot.


Update 2016: 2016 brought a deal where the Prospects agreed to operate the park themselves for two years. The city itself seems to have accepted that professional baseball of any kind is no longer viable in Edmonton, largely because of it's location. I left the rating at a 6.

Linescores:

Notes: I cannot find all the games I went to. I had two AAA games here in the late 90's but not much more info. Just looking at the limited players I remember, I think the AAA games here may have been in 1998, or possibly earlier. I may have a program around the house somewhere, it will linger as an unsolved mystery on the blog.

2011-06-11
                                    123    456   789   R H E
Lake County Fielders     002   000   020    4 4 1  
Edmonton Capitals         020  121   02x    8 10 3
Temp: 19C  Time: 2:31  Att: 1,311

 2011-07-23
                                   123    456    789   RHE
Chico Outlaws              001   000     000  180
Edmonton Capitals        023   000     000  552
Temp: 15C   Time: 2:36  Att: 1,373

2011-08-12
                                    123    456   789    R H E
Yuma Scorpions             013   011   100    7 13 0
Edmonton Capitals         021   001  202     8 15 1
Temp: 23C  Time: 3:32  Att: 4,155

2011-08-16                      123    456   789    R H E
Yuma Scorpions             302   402    000    11 17 2
Edmonton Capitals        351   210    11x     14 19 0
Temp: 21C   Time: 3:30  Att: 1,736
Temperature is afternoon high, gametime temp not available

2011-08-25
                                    123    456   789    R H E
Calgary Vipers               100   000   102     4 8 0         
Edmonton Capitals         022    043   00x    11 15 0

Temp: 19c  Time: 2:46  Att: 3,932

2011-09-08
                                                      123    456   789    R H E
Rio Grande Valley Whitewings          000     010   000    1 7 1     
Edmonton Capitals                           101     130   10x   7 12 1
Temp: 29C    Time: 2:50  Att: 3,083