Telus Field

Edmonton Riverhawks, West Coast League

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. 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 in 2011.

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 was 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. 

The city of Edmonton, which owns the field was reportedly considering demolition 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 to become the AAA version of 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.

Update 2026: This is now Re/Max Field. The Edmonton Riverhawks have been the tenant here since 2022, after they won the rights to run the park over the Prospects, who have rebranded and are trying to build elsewhere in Greater Edmonton. The Riverhawks are the WCL's biggest draw, typically drawing better crowds than the Capitals would have. I would for sure check out a game if they were at home next time I make it to Edmonton, it's been 15 years since I last came here and almost 30 since my first visit.

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 for the time being.

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

Elks Field

 Brooks Bombers, Western Canadian Baseball League

This is a very no-nonsense, amateur ballpark. For spectators, there isn't much of a gate, or a door.

Large metal posts make it difficult to get a clear shot of the field, but this is about as good as you'll do.

I've been around 10 games here, but didn't pay once. That's because I volunteered here. I got around 6 or 8 games of play by play, a few games doing the music and one doing the public address. I never really watched here, but this is about what I can tell you. The park is actually relatively new, opening in 2015. It's got a small metal seating bowl with a good sight lines. There is an elevated platform on the third base side where group functions occasionally take place. The atmosphere is very small town, as the park holds well under 500 people, usually only getting up to around 300. But, the people who go typically want to be there and season ticket holders make up the bulk of the support. The concession options here are slightly above what you'd expect for a place this small, with local beer on tap and mac and cheese bites available as well. The 2022 season was a step up for the Bombers, as they made their first playoff appearance and they'll be looking to build even more in '23. I will definitely make a point of swinging by here this summer when I'm in the area.

Spitz Stadium

Lethbridge Bulls, Western Canadian Baseball League

There wasn't really an entrance towards home plate, but this was what it looked like.

The first live baseball I'd seen in about two years.

The socially distanced, limited crowd files out.

I actually got back on the road for a day trip in 2021, this ended up being my only game for that whole season. This park used to host minor leaguers from the Dodgers, Expos and Diamondbacks organizations for a little over 20 years, before the affiliated minors moved south. The Bulls, a collegiate summer league team, moved in the next year. The park had been renovated within the previous few years of my visit. The Bulls current league, the Western Canadian Baseball League, was playing a reduced schedule that season, with COVID restrictions still in effect, which meant only 5 teams for the summer. 

It was tough to rate very much, given the unique circumstances for the game. The park is old enough that Andre Dawson played here when in the Expos system, but renovations have kept it looking good. Concession was somewhat limited due to the smaller crowds, which also ended up limiting the atmosphere somewhat. I ended up volunteering in Brooks during this year's summer league season, but if I had the opportunity, I'd be willing to head back down to go here with a bigger crowd.

Seaman Stadium

Okotoks Dawgs, Western Canadian Baseball League

No Rating

The crowd files up the stairs about 30 minutes to game time.

Once you're inside, this appears to be a cut above your average summer league park.

The best shot I could get of the seating area. The press box behind home plate reminds me a lot of Orem.

I headed off for the 2 hour drive to Okotoks in August 2019, having finally decided to make a run down here. This is the best attended stadium in the 12 team Western Canadian loop, featuring summer league baseball in front of crowds that are usually in the hundreds(or under a hundred) except for here. This place reliably gets at least 2,500 a game. The town of Okotoks is only around 15 thousand, but being 20 minutes down the road from Canada's 4th largest city, Calgary, there's plenty of potential fans not far away. The team moved out here from Calgary after having to fight with the Vipers team there over home dates, eventually having to skip a season entirely. The joke ended up being on the Vipers though, as private donations, including from the Seaman family, whose name is on the park, financed this place and the fieldhouse immediately next door. It's a solid summer league set up and unlike a lot of teams in this league, they do attract some players from top Div I schools.

Even before I came here in person, I knew this was a nice park. I'd heard about crowds in excess of 5 thousand for holiday weekends, which here, would have meant fire code capacity. But when I got here, it was clear that this park could have for sure hosted a Rookie level team in the Pioneer League, never mind everything else that would have to happen. Our visit was in mid-July of 2019 for a midweek game against Medicine Hat.  There ended up being closer to 3,000 people here, which was steady, but not too busy to get anywhere. The concession items were all the usual staples, but there was nothing unique or distinctive either. The atmosphere was the best part of coming here, it wasn't overly enthusiastic, but people were generally into the game and if they weren't, they weren't into being overly noticeable either. 

I did not give the park a number rating, as I don't for summer league. Minor League contraction means that affiliated baseball is not coming here ever, which is too bad, as the park and the fan base could handle it. But, with the Pioneer League officially off on it's own now and the league's statement making reference to promoting baseball in the Western United States and Canada, it's not impossible that professional players could call this place home soon enough.

Foothills Stadium

Vacant

No Rating

The ballpark is fenced off with motion sensitive cameras, so this was about as "inside" as I got.

This is through a chain link fence....

And my best one probably, you can see the melting snow on the ground.

 I took a walk around Foothills Stadium in March of 2016, when I was in Calgary overnight and it was right across the street from my hotel. This place hosted the PCL Calgary Cannons for many years and when I moved to Alberta in 2011, the North American League's Calgary Vipers were playing here. Famous Cannons such as Bret Boone and Alex Rodriguez played here. I casually looked at a few dates, but didn't go. Of course, the end of the 2011 season saw the end of the North American League and most of it's franchises in short order. The Vipers were controlled by what I call a "hobby owner" and unfortunately, he had gotten very sick and needed to step away, leaving the Vipers without really any chance of operating for the year. Calgary was out of the league by the end of September 2011, leaving the Edmonton Capitals a lot more vulnerable, without a travel partner 3 hours down the road.

This place is simply put, well past it's prime it's a mostly wood and metal ballpark with a very high outfield fence that when I visited, wasn't painted. All I can say is that this place has almost certainly seen it's last pro game, as it's not even the nicest park in the area anymore, as the summer league Okotoks Dawgs play in Seaman Stadium just a few miles south of the city limits, which from photographs is around Pioneer League calibre. Still, I would have liked to have gotten a game in here. It serves as a reminder to get to the vulnerable parks sooner rather than later.