Baseball
Baseball in Edmonton dates back to 1884 when the Edmonton Legislatures came to play. 27 years later in 1907 the team changed its name to the Edmonton Grays until 1909, the name had become the Edmonton Eskimos for two years. Then in 1912, they changed to the Edmonton Gray Birds for only two years. The team would change its name for the last time, back to the Eskimos for almost 35 years. Alongside the Eskimos were the Edmonton Drakes, Lloydminster Meridians, Edmonton Cubs, Edmonton Navy Cardinals Edmonton Dodgers and the Edmonton Oilers team which existed in 1964.
Triple-A baseball came to Edmonton in 1980 as the Edmonton Trappers, playing at John Ducey Park. The Trappers became the first Canadian AAA franchise to win a pennant in 1984. They would go on and win three more titles with the most recent being in 2002 when they defeated Salt Lake City.
In 2003, the team was sold and moved to Texas. The owners were losing money even though the Trappers were doing well in attendance. Though all of the stadiums in the league were bigger than Telus Field, the Trappers would finish 10 out of the 16 teams in attendance.
The Trappers were affiliated with a total of six different Major teams. The first was the Chicago White Sox, then the Anaheim Angels, Florida Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins, and the Montreal Expos were the Trappers last parent club before the two teams moved together in the same year.
The Trappers also played their Major League affiliates twice in Edmonton. First the Angels played the Trappers at Commonwealth Stadium. The Athletics were the second team to play the Trappers. The A's won by a score of 9–7.
Many MLB players played with the Trappers. These players included Miguel Tejada, Randy Knorr, Jason Giambi and many others. The Trappers went on to send over 500 players to the MLB. A lot of the players who played for the team recently are in the Minors either playing with the New Orleans Zephers, the Harisburgh Senators or with another club.
As a reminder of Edmonton's baseball history, a giant metal baseball bat was erected near downtown and is the largest in the world.
Edmonton were represented in the North American League by the Edmonton Capitals in 2011, but the team has suspended operations.
Edmonton is also known for producing many ball players. Many young prospects are currently in the minors.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Edmonton
Famous quotes containing the word baseball:
“Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“How, in one short century, has this ersatz sport so strangled the consciousness of the country in the grip of its flabby tentacles that the mention of women’s baseball gets no reaction other than blank amazement?”
—Darlene Mehrer, As quoted in Women in Baseball. Ch. 6, by Gai Ingham Berlage (1994)
“Spooky things happen in houses densely occupied by adolescent boys. When I checked out a four-inch dent in the living room ceiling one afternoon, even the kid still holding the baseball bat looked genuinely baffled about how he possibly could have done it.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)