Baseball fans in the foothills have the opportunity to tell the rest of the Canada something they have known for the past four and half years – Seaman Stadium is the best facility in the country.
Seaman Stadium has made the Sweet 16 of stadiums and is currently in the playoffs with three other facilities to advance to Baseball Canada’s Favourite Ball Park contest.
Fans have from July 11 to 18 to vote for Seaman Stadium.
The Okotoks ballpark was shortlisted from approximately 40 other entries to make the Sweet 16.
“Based on our knowledge of baseball fields across Canada — we have been to most of those stadiums — we came up with the top 16,” said Andre Lachance of Baseball Canada.
He said while he has not been to Seaman Stadium, he heard rave reviews from Greg Hamilton and Jim Baba. Neither of those two coaches were available because they were coaching Canadian teams in Havana and Taiwan.
“I have heard lots of good things about Seaman Stadium,” Lachance said. “I’ve heard about the quality of the field, the nice atmosphere for baseball and all the pride around the fact this small community has one of the finest facilities in Canada.
“There seems to be a lot of passion for baseball in that community.”
Dawgs executive director John Ircandia wears his passion for Seaman Stadium like Derek Jeter wears a Yankee jersey – it’s practically in his blood.
“We were contacted by at least 10 sources across the country encouraging us to enter even before we knew this was happening,” Ircandia said. “We are extremely proud and I just wish it was totally on merit – I can’t believe there is a better ballpark than Seaman Stadium.”
He agreed it’s the community feel that is the backbone of the stadium, not bricks and mortar.
“We have a whole season of activity going on there from grassroots baseball at the youth levels to the college Dawgs,” he said. “We have had a couple of 4,000-plus crowds and currently averaging 2,300 fans a game. That tells you how important it is to the community.”
He said the addition of the Duvernay Fieldhouse and a Bantam field in the future will help make the complex even more renowned across the country.
To vote for Seaman Stadium as Canada’s Favourite Ballpark go to www.baseball.ca and click on Canada’s Favourite Ball Park contest. Then scroll down past the text to the survey box.
Seaman Stadium
Seaman Stadium Fact BoxOpening Day: June 6, 2007 against Lethbridge Bulls.Cost: $8 million (donated)Capacity: 3,000 (1,850 on seats, additional space on berm)Dimensions: 330 ft. left field; 420 ft. centre field and 325 ft.
