CAMROSE IN NEED OF A BALL FIELD

A few weeks ago Axemen coaches and players were asked what the best park is the NCABL was taking into consideration everything from field quality to the atmosphere to dugouts to parking and so on. Below you can find the ranking of the fields that the Camrose Axemen play on average 1 - 3 times per year on.  The top four fields in our list were very close to one another as all four offered amenities and quality baseball fields. Fields that were also mentioned but  not in the NCABL were the Badlands Baseball Academy field in Oyen where the 2012 Senior AA Provincials were held, the newly renovated Pilot Field in Provost which held the 2013 Senior AA Western baseball championship and Henry Singer Park in Spruce Grove. So without further delay, here is the list;

1. Legion Memorial Ball Park in St. Albert (St. Albert Cardinals)

The home of the St. Albert Cardinals as well as the St. Albert Tigers of the Sunburst League and the St. Albert Minor Baseball Association, Legion Memorial Ball Park jumped to the top of the list with ammenities such as a well manicured grass infield, spacious dugouts, warning track, decent grandstands for fans a great baseball environment with multiple diamonds, scoreboards and batting cages. Large trees surrounding the outfield add to the atmosphere and provide a suitable batters eye. Parking is readily available either on the driveway to the SAMBA clubhouse and sheltered by the tall overhanging trees or in the parking lots beyond the outfield fence. Baseball lights are available for those games that run late or start late meaning that tournaments and teams can utilize the diamond more often. The SAMBA clubhouse is often open in the evenings so that fans can check out the history of the Association in minor, junior and senior baseball. All put together, Legion Memorial Ball Park was the most enjoyable field to play on for the Axemen in 2013 despite going 0-1 on the field. 

2. John Frye Park in Edmonton (Edmonton Indians)

A second new diamond for the NCABL in 2013 was John Frye Park in south Edmonton. Much like Legion Memorial Ball Park, John Frye Park sports a grass infield complete with spacious dugouts and great grandstands for the fans. The sunken dugouts include a spot for players to stand up while still being protected from the field of play. The park is so nice to play on, it has held its fair share of high calibre baseball from World Championships to WMBL baseball. The Axemen's only trip to John Frye Park in 2013 resulted in a win on what was a very fast and extremely short grassed infield and outfield. While the park itself is as good as Legion Memorial Ball Park in St. Albert, the one lacking factor was the atmosphere as the 1500 spectator field with lights doesn't have the same accessibility to other diamonds and hitting cages that Legion has and the parking lot is a little further away. This of course could change in the future as land at the facility has been set aside for a potential City of Edmonton recreation facility in the future. 

3. Arena Diamonds in Stony Plain (Stony Plain Mets)

The Arena Diamond was the third new field that the NCABL saw come into play for the 2013 season as the Mayerthorpe Mets headed east to Stony Plain. Another well maintained field which sees a grass infield and a good atmosphere as the main field is adjoined by two other fields sporting minor baseball on most nights. Trees running down the first base side as well as stretching from right field into centre field give the field the protection from the elements and great batters eye that hitters love. With multiple fields in the same vacinity, the left field corner is sub 300' away but compensating for the distance is the high outfield fence. Parking is right behind the small bleachers behind home plate with a hitting cage up the small hill for teams to easily access. A nice diamond with just the right amount of features to make a road game enjoyable. 

4. Keller Field in Westlock (Westlock Red Lions)

The majestic Keller Field in Westlock is the home of the Red Lions and up until a couple of seasons ago was considered the crown jewel of the NCABL with its large permanent bleachers and press box and outfield wall with retired numbers of past Red Lion greats. Keller Field is now the Fenway Park of the NCABL with a ton of history but aging amenities that ball parks in larger centres highlight. The sunken dugouts are spacious but the visitng dugout has a hole in the cement floor and a water tap that no longer works. The outfield wall of solid green is a great feature, but is showing signs of age after years of holding up to the elements. During events such as the NCABL Semi-Finals and the Harvey J Doherty Memorial Tournament the atmosphere is great with passers by to the local rodeo or fair stopping in on their way to watch the chariots or chuckwagons on the other side of the left and centre field wall but night games are not an option in the small town due to a lack of lights. The quality of the field is always in great condition whenever the Axemen have played in Westlock, a testiment to the hard work of the Westlock baseball community.

5. Centennial Park in Sherwood Park (Sherwood Park Athletics)

Placed at the far end of the Centennial Park facility in Sherwood Park, Centennial Park (actually called Diamond 9) is part of a nine ball field diamond complex despite eight of those diamonds being primarily used for slopitch. Centennial Park has taken its beating over the last couple of years due to the high use of the diamond by various baseball clubs across all age groups. At the start of the season, Centennial Park appeared to be in the roughest shape it has been in some time with patches of the infield grass being re-sodded around the mound. The Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association was unable to host any provincial tournaments in 2013 due to the fields being shut down early in the season for maintenance by the County of Strathcona which in 2012 began to put together a sports field management plan in motion to not only build new facilities in Sherwood Park but to better maintain current facilities. The diamond is still a great field to play on and all the modern amenities are there with grandstands, score board, lights, spacious dugouts and convenient concession during large events. Biggest drawback of the diamond has to be the number of baseballs that are lost into the trees down the first base line.

6. Footz Field in Edmonton (Edmonton Athletics, Edmonton Blackhawks, Edmonton Warriors)

When Footz Field opened three years ago, it challenged Keller Field in Westlock and Henry Singer Park in Spruce Grove as the top park in the NCABL. The privately owned field quickly became utilized by both minor and senior baseball given its location in Edmonton. But in 2013 the privately owned field saw some issues with both the grass infield and outfield which has dropped Footz Field down in the rankings. A patchy outfield grass mixed with some fairly long infield grass has kept the diamond from becoming one of the NCABL's best. With the diamond being used most nights in the week, the wear and tear has seemed to take its toll. There also has not been a night game on the field since its inception, depsite the field being equipped with lights. The Axemen and Edmonton Warriors played an eight inning game in 2011 with the final score left 1-1 due to darkness. There have also been games which if still going around the 9:15pm time, makes it tough for fielders to track a ball. While a basic diamond in terms of amenities Footz Field is still new enough to have great dugouts and fencing teams the fact that the diamond is privately owned means not as much time and money can be spent on maintenance means Footz Field might stay in the bottom half of fields in the NCABL.

7. Archie Jenkins Field in Bon Accord (Sturgeon Paladins)

Only two diamonds in the NCABL still have a full shale infield, Harry Andreassen Field in Camrose and Archie Jenkins Field in Bon Accord. Known for its cement like infield during the drier months, Archie Jenkins Field in the small village of Bon Accord has one distinct advantage for Harry Andreassen Field, the dugouts. Good sized dugouts means a team of fifteen or so can fit comfortably on the bench. While the diamond is slightly smaller than most of the parks in the NCABL, it plays big. Perhaps it is the slight incline in right centre that makes the fence that much higher and harder for lefties to pull one out, or maybe it is the wind currents that come off the roofs of the houses that line the first base side of the field, the Axemen have never put up good power numbers in Bon Accord. Archie Jenkins Field is only the third diamond in the NCABL without lights for night games, but given the size of Bon Accord, it is understandable. No visible batting cages are also an issue when compared to the other parks in the league that sit higher in the rankings.

8. Harry Andreassen Field in Camrose (Camrose Axemen)

It was painful to put the beloved Harry Andreassen Field at the bottom of the list for NCABL ball fields, but sometimes the truth hurts. It is the Oakland Coliseum of the NCABL. A football field that shares space with a baseball field means that expected baseball amenities aren't there. Lights are set up for football and not baseball and actually can cause more problems then they solve on pop flies. The fence that spans from left field to right field leaves large gaps between the permanent fence that runs two thirds of the way up the first and third base side and the temporary fence that is the outfield fence. The dugouts are both small and worn down as the fence is curled and a team of nine players often have struggles to have room for bags and equipment meaning outside the diamond becomes storage space. While Harry Andreassen Field does have a score clock, which the Arena Diamond in Stony Plain, Footz Field and Archie Jenkins don't have, too many lights are burnt out to fully appreaciate the purpose of a score board making it relatively useless to use. A batting cage does exist but in five years the Axemen have been able to access it once and had to pay for it. A hitting back stop for batting practice exists but the tires have been damaged for a number of years and the mesh netting hangs too far down to swing a bat in. Pitchers rarely have nice things to say about the mound which is often just filled in with loose shale during maintenance. Too many things that are not baseball friendly to say that Harry Andreassen Field should be any higher on the list than where it is.

While it is saddening to have the home park at the end of the list it does highlight the need for a city like Camrose, whose population hovers around the 18,000 person mark and 25,000 if you include the areas immediately outside of the city limits. Since 2009 the Axemen have hosted the Axemen Invitational Baseball Tournament attracting teams from all over the province with stiff early season competition as the attraction. We have heard comments about the uneven outfield to the quality of the bases to inability for teams to access the batting cages between games to the rock hard shale infield. Understandable concerns coming from teams who play on baseball specific fields throughout the year. 

At one point in time Harry Andreassen Field was the Camrose area's most appealing baseball field. It held Senior Provincials and still today holds the Powerline Baseball League versus the Battle River Baseball League All-Star Game. It had lights and a scoreboard while being centrally located with the ability to go out for beer and food afterwards as opposed to the offerings of the small towns. But the diamond has not had any major upgrades since........it has been too long to even try and think of something. A lot of great baseball history exists at Harry Andreassen Field with hopefully much more to come, but baseball deserves the appropriate facilities in a city like Camrose before the facilities become the reason that baseball history stops being made.