Baseball is back, Ottawa.
Canada’s capital will once again have a ballclub to follow through the dog days of summer in 2015, along with a new-look Ottawa Stadium. The Champions, Ottawa’s new entrance in the Can-Am League being spearheaded by president Dave Gourlay, announced a stadium sponsorship deal with local law firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.
Though something of a mouthful, RCGT Park has a nice ring to it. Or Parc RCGT, if you prefer français.
More importantly, the new stadium name represents two things for Ottawa’s latest edition of a pro baseball team. Firstly, the sponsorship agreement will provide some income for the Champions, who will be operated by the league in year one with Gourlay serving as the team’s figurehead. Secondly, as highlighted by the team’s affable president earlier today, the new name represents the beginning of a ‘new era’ in Ottawa baseball.
Let’s hope. With the team and city combining for over $2M in much-needed renovations to the hulking 22 year-old concrete behemoth formerly known as Ottawa Stadium, there is reason to be optimistic about the Champions. The team will be owned by Can-Am League commissioner Miles Wolff, who is no stranger to owning minor pro ballclubs, and the goal is that it will last longer than Ottawa’s ill-fated previous Can-Am franchise.
In terms of personnel, Ottawa’s roster consists of the usual hodgepodge you would expect to find on a indy league expansion team’s roster. There’s Corey Caswell, a catcher who hit .324 in the Pecos League, where players can make as little as $300 monthly. Then there’s Willie Carmona, a promising prospect who flamed out with Philadelphia’s High-A team, still young at 23 and looking to return to affiliated baseball. On the mound, Jack Wagoner will toss the ball for his fourth indy league team in two seasons; at 25, Wagoner will be looking to pick up more than the 17 innings he worked for three different ballclubs in 2014.
Such is the beauty of independent baseball; it is far from glorious, but you have to admire the professional ballplayers squeezing everything they can out of themselves for the love of the game. The ragtag Champions will be led by 72 year-old Hal Lanier, an indy league vet with a remarkable tale of his own.
Regardless of the product on the field, which might just surprise people under the supervision of the uber-experiened Lanier, it will be nice to have baseball back in Ottawa.
While some will scoff at the self-created hullabaloo around the stadium’s new title sponsor, it offers something new and hopeful for the small group of long-suffering Ottawa baseball fans who have stood by as first the AAA Lynx, then the unaffiliated Rapidz, and finally, semi-pro FatCats (a surprising success) all skipped town.
With opening pitch slated for Friday, May 22nd, the return of pro baseball to Ottawa looks primed to really happen, after years of speculation about teams of various levels and affiliation. Therefore, my thumb is up to Can-Am commissioner Miles Wolff and Champions president Dave Gourlay for giving Ottawa baseball one more go. For better or worse.
