Flying below the radar in Cranbrook these days is Baseball - you know, hardball - the kind Babe Ruth Lou Gehrig and Ty Cobb played back in the day.
The Home Run Society of Cranbrook and Kimberley, headed by Garry Slownowski has been working diligently to build a top notch baseball facility up at picturesque Moir Park.
I spoke with Ray Chadwick recently about baseball here in Cranbrook. Ray is a former Major league pitcher who now runs the hugely successful baseball program at Thompson River University in Kamloops. Ray is also a baseball coach for Team Canada.
He told me that there is a buzz in baseball circles around B.C. and Washington State that Cranbrook will be coming into the league in the not too distant future. Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Trail, Kelowna, Kamloops, as well as Langley, Burnaby and Victoria comprise most of the teams in the league.These clubs also play a few tournaments as well during the summer when Canadian ball players are home for the summer from the US..
Baseball was very popular here in Cranbrook and Kimberley back in the 1950s and 60s. Alan Fabro, a standout catcher from Kimberley, signed a sizeable bonus contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1960s. Fabby had all the tools to make it to the Majors, a rocket launcher for an arm and an intuitive ability to call pitches on a hitter. He also had complete confidence in his ability behind the plate, and woe to the baserunner who tried to score by running through Alan. The runner always got the worst of it.
Bob OBrien, now a doctor in the area, was a terrific catcher as a teenager growing up in Kimberley, but chose the books over baseball.
Not that i am partial to catchers, but there was also Bob Nizer James who was an awesome catcher in his own right for the kimberley Tempests in Junior Baseball. James could really work the opposing pitcher till he got his pitch. That batting method takes a great deal of patience and smarts. and Nizer certainly had both of these. Bob was not as flashy as Fabro and OBrien but he was very savvy behind the dish, and very aggressive throwing behind runners at first base. With a little more foot speed James could have gone somewhere with baseball.
Eddy Mountain, who ran the Mount Baker Hotel in Cranbrook, had a big influence in town sponsoring promoting and coaching his baseball team. One summer he did the unheard of and actually brought in a ball player from California. Bob Garcia played shortstop and pitched here while working for Mountain at the Mount Baker.
Garcia was a perfect compliment for locals Marv Ferg, Pat Askew, Howie Heggedahl Don Stuart ,and Mike Wheaton, all pretty good local talent. Eddy Mountains brother in law, Danny Sully Sullivan of Kimberley BC was a hot shortstop with serious range, a deadly accurate arm, and a vacuum cleaner for a glove - a pleasure to watch in the field.
Back to the present, baseball in Cranbrook has been making a resurgence with the Bandits playing great ball and a flourishing minor ball program. Senior baseball in Cranbrook is doing well with two teams playing in a league with Fernie, Sparwood and Kimberley.
At the beginning of the article i mentioned Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees.Mr. Gehrig played 2130 consecutive games at first base during the 1920s and 30s. He came out of the lineup with the illness that was to kill him on May 2, 1939.
His position at first base that day against Detroit was taken by Babe Dahlgren, my baseball coach when I played in a California Winter League in 1967 1968 in Arcadia California.
Babe always wore his Yankee ball cap to our practices and games with a great deal of pride. The day he went in to play first for Gehrig, Babe Dahlgren hit a home run. He mentioned that to me one day while we were sitting on the bench after practice.
I recently googled my coaches name and there it was May 2, 1939, a home run against the Detroit Tigers.Babe played 12 years in the Majors and was considered the best fielding first baseman in the American League for three seasons.
A curious fact about the end of Lou Gehrigs remarkable string of 2130 games played with out missing a day was the man Lou went in for, Wally Pipp was at Briggs Stadium in Detroit to watch the game when Gehrig ended his streak. Pipp had a headache when he was the first baseman of the Yankees and lost his job to Lou Gehrig.
Babe Dahlgren was chums with Joe DiMaggio when they played for the Bronx Bombers, and actually went to dinner a few times with Joe and Marilyn Monroe.
Now as a kid from Kimberley BC, I could not believe my good luck to be sitting on the bench hearing all these great true stories from my baseball coach Babe Dahlgren.
An important part of baseball history here in the East Kootenays was the Kimberley Senior teams Hobos and Dynamos. Two of the best hockey players in town were two of the best ball players - - Kenny McTeer and Les Lilley. Ken was a standout centrefielder and Les was a terrific left fielder and was a base stealer par excellence.
Colin Patterson was a really good second baseman for the B.P.O.E.Angels. He played error free ball and hit for average. Colin had a career in hockey, playing and coaching.
An important aspect of a baseball facility and team here in Cranbrook is economic. All of the ball clubs stay in hotels and motels and eat out in restaurants The parents of the ball players come to visit their sons and watch games, and they too spend money in town.
The baseball tournament held in Grand Forks on Labor Day brings in over $100,000 to the community.
Last but not least, probably the best baseball player to come out of Cranbrook would be Tyson Arishenkoff who was a slick fielding short stop at Louisiana State University, playing on a full scholarship. Tyson was also a playing coach for the Lethbridge Bulls and played pro ball in Evansville Indiana one summer, as well as a year in pro baseball in Holland. Tyson would be an excellent choice to throw out the first pitch at the new ballpark at Moir Field . In Cranbrook, we have Wal Mart, Super Store, Home Depot, and a soon to be open Wendys. Can a baseball park and a baseball team be far behind? Hopefully not .
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