The Okotoks Dawgs are a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

team based in

Okotoks Okotoks (, originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2016 Census, the town has a population ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. They play in the

Western Canadian Baseball League The Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) is a collegiate summer baseball league based in Saskatchewan and Alberta that descends from leagues dating to 1931. History The league can trace its roots back to 1931, via its predecessors. The South ...

(WCBL). The Dawgs are six-time WCBL champions.

History

The Dawgs were originally based in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

where they were known as the Calgary Dawgs. The roots of the team date to 1996 (as shown in the team's logo) "with the formation of an elite youth travel team". The Dawgs joined the WCBL in 2003, playing at

Foothills Stadium Foothills Stadium, formerly Burns Stadium, is a stadium in Calgary, Alberta. It is primarily used for baseball, and was formerly home to the Calgary Cannons AAA baseball club until September 2002, when the team relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico ...

. They won the 2004 league championship in front of over 3,400 fans. The arrival of the professional

Calgary Vipers The Calgary Vipers were a professional baseball team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They were part of the Western Division of the independent North American League. The Vipers played all of their home games at Foothills Stadium. Previously, t ...

in 2005 led to numerous bitter conflicts between the two clubs over use of the stadium, and ultimately forced the Dawgs to suspend operations for the 2006 season. The franchise resumed operations in 2007 in the town of Okotoks, 18 kilometres south of Calgary, after brothers Don and

Doc Seaman Daryl Kenneth "Doc" Seaman (28 April 1922 – 11 January 2009) was a Canadians, Canadian oilman and hockey executive. Seaman was the founder, president, and chairman of Bow Valley Industries, Bow Valley Industries Limited, which was one of Ca ...

funded the construction of

Seaman Stadium Seaman Stadium is a stadium in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, which is primarily used for baseball as the home field of the Okotoks Dawgs collegiate summer baseball team in the Western Canadian Baseball League. The ballpark has a capacity for 5,200 wi ...

at the cost of $8 million. The team has been a huge success in Okotoks. Their average of 1,825 fans per game in 2008 was the most of any baseball team in Alberta and made them the top drawing collegiate team in Canada. Attendance steadily increased to an estimated 2,400 per game by 2011, which team director John Ircandia attributed to the community's enthusiastic support, noting that games "kind of became a place to see your neighbours again." In 2019, the team attracted an average of 3,937 fans per game, the third-highest in all of Summer Collegiate baseball. The organization operates several high performance teams at the under-18 and under-15 levels. Since their arrival in Okotoks, the community has seen a significant increase in participation in minor baseball, growing from 150 registered players in 2006 to over 500 in 2011. The Dawgs have been equally successful on the field since their move to Okotoks, capturing the 2007, 2008 and 2009 championships. One former Dawg, pitcher Jim Henderson, has gone on to play

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. He made his debut with the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

in 2012, nine years after he played for the Dawgs. He went on to become the Brewers closer in 2013, collecting 28 saves. Former Dawgs catcher Jordan Procyshen was drafted by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in 2014, and spent much of the 2016 through 2018 seasons with the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Salem Red Sox The Salem Red Sox are a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), based in Salem, an independent city adjacent to Roanoke, Virginia. The team competes at the Single-A level in the Carolina League. Ho ...

References

External links

Official web site
{{Alberta Sports Baseball teams in Alberta Baseball teams in Calgary Baseball teams established in 2003 Okotoks 2003 establishments in Alberta

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links