Edmonton Eskimos (baseball)

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Edmonton Eskimos
Minor league affiliations
Class
League
Minor league titles
League titles 1910 (co-champions with Calgary Bronchos) [3]
Team data
Previous names
  • Edmonton Esquimos (1920)
  • Edmonton Gray Birds (1912–1913) [3]
Ballpark Diamond Park, Renfrew Park

The Edmonton Eskimos were a Canadian minor league baseball team that played in Edmonton, Alberta, in various leagues between 1909 and 1914, and again from 1920 to 1922. A revived Eskimos team played from 1946 to 1959, and were briefly Western International League members during the 1953 and 1954 seasons.

Contents

Class D years: 1909–1914

The first incarnation of the Eskimos team joined the Western Canada League in 1909, playing against teams from various provinces in western Canada. The league was classified as a Class D league, the lowest minor league level, and the team had to operate under a $750 salary cap. [4]

The team was not particularly successful. In 1910, the team earned a co-championship with the Calgary Bronchos, but the team's overall record across their six seasons was 273-324. The team folded, along with the Western Canada League as a whole, after the 1914 season. [3]

The team was known as the Gray Birds in 1912 and 1913. [3]

Class B years: 1920–1922

In 1919, after World War I ended, the Western Canada League re-formed. A year later, in 1920, the Eskimos also re-formed and joined the new Western Canada League. They played as the Esquimos for the 1920 season before returning to the original spelling for 1921 and 1922.

The new Western Canada League was a six-team Class B league, two levels higher in the minor league system, and with a $1000 salary cap. [4] The team played in this league for the 1920 and 1921 season, but again had little success, finishing in the bottom half of the league both years. [3]

After the 1921 season, the Western Canada League folded again. Two teams from the WCL (Calgary and Edmonton) joined with two teams from the Pacific Coast International League to form the Western International League, a new Class B league. The WIL was unstable and folded midway through the 1922 season, when Edmonton was in second place out of the four teams. The team folded as well. [3] : 587 

The Eskimos played at Diamond Park. [5]

1940s and 1950s revival

In 1946, John Ducey and business partners leased Renfrew Park and assumed operation of Edmonton's semi-professional three-team league. Ducey managed the Eskimos during the league's 1946 season. The league operated as the Alberta Senior Amateur Baseball League from 1947 to 1950. [6] [7] Ducey had previousl been a bat boy for the Eskimos in the 1921 and 1922 seasons. [5]

Ducey became majority owner of the Eskimos in 1951, and searched for a new league to join. [6] During the 1953 and 1954 season, the Eskimos played in the Western International League. [6] [7] In the a Class-A league, they won 141 games and lost 124 across their two seasons until the league folded in 1954. [3] : 589 

In 1955, Ducey organized the semi-professional Western Canada Baseball League, which later became the Canadian-American Baseball League. [7] [8] He collaborated with USC Trojans baseball coach Rod Dedeaux to bring former college players to Alberta. [9] In the 1957 season, the Eskimos' roster included four USC Trojans alumni including future Major League player Ron Fairly. [10] The Eskimos were Canadian champions that season, and placed second to Japan at the 1957 Global Series in Detroit. [11]

When the Canadian-American Baseball League collapsed following the 1959 season, Ducey ceased operation of the Eskimos instead of joining a new semi-professional league without a team based in Calgary. [12]

References

  1. ↑ "Western International League (A) Encyclopedia and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Western Canada League (D) Encyclopedia and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sumner, Benjamin Barrett (2000). Minor league baseball standings : all North American leagues, through 1999. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. pp. 580–581, 587, 589. ISBN   978-0-7864-0781-1 . Retrieved June 2, 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Minor Leagues Form an Agreement For Protection—National and American Left Out". Davenport Weekly Republican. Davenport, Iowa. September 10, 1901. p. 3. Retrieved June 2, 2025– via newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 Fleming, Don (September 12, 1983). "Death takes Edmonton's Mr. Baseball". Edmonton Journal . p. 14.
  6. 1 2 3 "John E. Ducey fonds". Heritage Resources Management Information System. Edmonton, Alberta: Provincial Archives of Alberta. 1983. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 "Domed Stadiums Sought To Revive Baseball Fans". Calgary Herald . The Canadian Press. February 7, 1966.
  8. ↑ "Ducey dead at 75". Calgary Herald . The Canadian Press. September 12, 1983. p. 45.
  9. ↑ Short, John (July 17, 2012). "Prospects bring college ball back to Edmonton". Edmonton Sun . Retrieved January 11, 2026.
  10. ↑ "The Ducey Diary". Edmonton Journal . August 28, 1994. p. D2.
  11. ↑ Fleming, Don (September 19, 1957). "Japan's Tiny Terror Osawa Rips Ball Crown Hopes Away From Esks". Edmonton Journal . p. 12.
  12. ↑ "Ducey Offered League Berth". Edmonton Journal . February 22, 1960. p. 9.
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