*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on November 7, 2024. You can read it here.

November 9, 2024

By Ian Wilson

Alberta Dugout Stories

As the concrete walls and steel beams rise out of the dirt in Spruce Grove, a new ballpark is finally starting to take shape.

The forging of a new identity for a Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) franchise that will celebrate its 20th year of existence in 2025 is also underway.

With a moving in date set for June of next year, the multi-million dollar stadium project has moved well beyond photorealistic renderings and that much closer to becoming a reality.

It’s been a painstakingly long process from when the stadium was initially conceived in 2020 by Pat Cassidy – owner of the WCBL’s Edmonton Prospects – to get to this stage, which now includes the horizon-altering vertical construction of the baseball venue.

Since the Myshak Metro Ballpark plan was unveiled, it has been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, labour shortages, supply-chain issues, weather challenges and environmental requirements.

The Prospects used to call ReMax Field in Edmonton home, but their lease there ended after the 2019 season.

In the seasons that followed, the Prospects increased their road games and played out of Sherwood Park while work was being done in Spruce Grove. The team took the 2023 season off to focus efforts on the new stadium.

Following the clearing of the Spruce Grove site, concrete has been poured and metal beams now provide visual building blocks for what will soon become the concourse and seating areas behind home plate.

Site and services work are finished, design and engineering tasks are nearing completion, as is work on piles, structural grade beams and walls.

Over a third of the construction of parking lots has been completed and internal plumbing is about 25% done. Further work is also required on structural steel, playing field grading, drainage and irrigation. Erection of the outfield walls and scoreboard structures is getting started.

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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories discuss the new ballpark being built in Spruce Grove, Alta., here.

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Cassidy is cautiously optimistic about the status of the project – which carries an estimated overall cost of $40 million – and is finally allowing himself to dream about next summer.

“There’s still a bit of a sense of it being surreal in terms of where we were and how long it’s taken to get to where we are right now and then you look at it and you still think, ‘Are we gonna make it? Is this gonna happen?’ You always have those lingering senses of maybe there will be another pandemic or maybe there will be something else that comes along and spoils it,” said Cassidy.

“You’ve got to keep pushing those thoughts out of your head, continue believing, continue pushing, continue dragging everybody along and one day it will just happen and it will be unbelievable.”

OPENING DAY

The first WCBL game at the Myshak Metro Ballpark is scheduled for Saturday, June 7, when the Okotoks Dawgs are set to pay a visit to Spruce Grove.

“We’ve kind of set it as our soft launch. We’re targeting it, we’re going to do everything in our power to try to make it happen. We’ve kind of got a long break after that where we could buy ourselves some time if it doesn’t happen, but we are hell-bent on trying to make that happen because I think it would be awesome,” said Cassidy.

Many of the games at Myshak Metro Ballpark are scheduled for the final week of June, followed by another 16 days in July

During an interview with Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast, Cassidy admitted a major challenge with the project over the years has just been staying the course.

“The biggest part of it is that whole human nature, just remaining patient, believing in the process, believing in yourself, believing in the team that you put together to make this happen and just being patient. The patience sounds easy but … sometimes it’s not that easy, right?” he said.

“If anybody knows me for any length of time, they just know how persistent I am and I’m one of those guys who just refuses to quit and if I believe in something strongly enough I’m going to pursue it.”

Added Cassidy: “Once the vision and once the idea takes hold and enough people get behind you, the vision itself and the concept itself are very powerful things and you have to continue to believe in that and continue to pursue and be incredibly persistent. That’s the secret I think to anybody’s success or most people’s success is patience and persistence. Don’t take no for an answer, just keep going.”

Cassidy sees parallels between the progress of the ballpark and the journey of one of his former star players to the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason.

“It kind of reminds me of watching one of our former players taking the stage at Yankee Stadium this past playoffs and watching Erik Sabrowski pitch for the Cleveland Guardians and you just sort of pinch yourself, because you think, wow, that’s just an incredible journey that guy’s been on, especially given all the things he’s been through,” noted Cassidy.

“I got to know Erik quite well when he was in Edmonton. He’s quite an outgoing character, a real personality, and you look at it and this is incredible. It’s beyond believable, to be honest with you. I guess what we’re doing in Edmonton is beyond believable, but yet it’s happening so just keep going.”

PHASING IT IN

The ballpark project will be rolled out in phases, said Cassidy, adding the initial opening will include a seating capacity for 3,700 fans, the creation of 24 corporate suites and an expansive concourse.

“Phase one is big for us, it’s pretty much the entire ballpark,” he said.

“We’ve got a microbrewery, restaurant, amphitheatre phase planned for down the road, we’ve got some multi-family condominiums planned in the left-field area there, we’ve got a fieldhouse planned down the road on the east side of the ballpark. I know in Okotoks they started with a ballpark and then a fieldhouse came and they’ve been adding on different pieces over the years and it just keeps getting to be a more exciting and vibrant ballpark each and every year.”

One unique feature is the incorporation of a two-level facility that includes 250 storage units under the concourse. That was added to help with funding for the project.

Another future phase will add a venue called Mass Timber House to the mix, which Cassidy envisions as a reimagining of Edmonton’s Molson House log hall.

“It was sort of this community centre that the company Molson had in Edmonton and they would use it for press conferences, corporate gatherings. It’s the location where the trade for (Wayne) Gretzky was announced. It became an interesting hub and gathering place and our theme there was to copy that in a way, in terms of using it as a community-gathering centre but build around the forestry industry, the mass timber industry because we’ve got a mass timber theme in our ballpark,” said Cassidy.

The community response to the project has been “nothing short of sensational,” according to Cassidy.

All outfield signs have been sold, hundreds of season tickets have been snapped up and there is a waiting list for corporate suites. In addition, Cassidy said the mayor and city council are “100% supportive” of the initiative.

“There’s anxiety out there to get this place opened and I know we’re going to do well,” he said.

“We have lots of opportunity here with this ballpark, no doubt about it.”

NAME THAT TEAM

As construction continues at 2000 McLeod Avenue in Spruce Grove, Cassidy’s baseball team is also building a new identity.

The WCBL club recently announced an official name change, new uniforms, the creation of a new mascot and the implementation of a fresh brand.

After entering the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) – the predecessor to the WCBL – as the Big River Prospects in 2005, the team later dropped “Big River” from their title. The Prospects underwent several redesigns of their logo and website over the years, but no rebrand as major as the one they’re embarking on now.

“It took us a while to make that decision. I was pretty set on keeping the name,” confessed Cassidy of his love of the Prospects handle.

“We’re trying to make sure that people understand that this ballpark is for the entire Edmonton and metro Edmonton region, including Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Parkland, Sherwood Park and St. Albert and Leduc and all of those other great baseball locations in this region. We were a little hesitant to change the name but then we started to investigate it a little bit further.”

The new moniker will be decided with the help of a team-naming contest, similar to the process the Saskatoon Berries went through before they joined the WCBL in 2024.

“We thought we would put it out there, create a little bit of a contest and see what we could come up with. We’re kind of looking for something that would capture and embody the essence and spirit of who we are and something we can all be proud of, something that is regional and also fun,” said Cassidy.

“I’ve got names flying at me all the time and I’ve probably got 200 potential names already. We’re probably going to get 200 or 500 more from the public and then we’re going to try to narrow it down to maybe 10 and then continue and pick one of the 10. Then we’ll really do a good job of ensuring it does what I hope that it does, which is capture the essence of the region.”

He added: “I’m excited about this. I think it’s the right time to do this in our evolution, given everything that’s happened, so we’re going to embrace it, we’re going to have fun with it. Hopefully, we can get the public out there to do the same and help us out with this.”

Along with the name, comes the responsibility of putting forth a new reputation, both on and off the field.

“With brand, it’s not just about the name and the colour, it’s also about what you stand for as an organization and how you treat your customers and how you treat your players and all of those kinds of things that are all part of the brand. It’s a big task, it’s a big job but I’m looking forward to it and I think we’re going to knock it out of the park,” said Cassidy.

GIVING DAWGS THEIR DUE

Over the years, Cassidy has gained a major appreciation for the Dawgs and what they’ve been able to accomplish in Okotoks. Despite competing hard on the field against their southern Alberta rivals, the Prospects have learned a lot from what they’ve seen at Seaman Stadium and from John Ircandia, the founding and managing director of the Dawgs.

“I think we all know what the Okotoks Dawgs have done since they’ve come into existence,” said Cassidy.

“I don’t want John Ircandia’s head to swell too much but I’m going to give him credit for what’s going on in Edmonton here because he’s been an inspiration going back to 10 or 15 years ago when you started to see and witness what was going on in Okotoks and then you started to go, ‘Huh, look what that guy’s doing?'”

Cassidy called the Dawgs a model organization that is worthy of emulating.

“John’s my inspiration and I’ve never told him that … it’s really amazing what they’ve done down there and it’s completely changed the landscape of baseball in Canada. That’s how big it is,” he said.

Cassidy also feels positively about the direction of the WCBL and what it can do for baseball in Canada.

“I think that something special is really happening with baseball in Western Canada. The Western Canadian Baseball League, with everything that’s going on in this league, is a major driver of that,” he said.

“We’re kind of entering a new era of baseball in Canada, as far as I’m concerned and it’s happening, it’s evolving right here in the West and we’re a part of it.”

The Edmonton Prospects hosted a ballpark site tour in Spruce Grove for members of the media on Nov. 7.

Details of the team-naming contest, and other rebranding initiatives, will be revealed in early 2025.