Foothills Stadium

The sign on the back of the grandstand identifies the park as Burns Stadium, Aug-2002.

The main grandstand and a condemned bleacher, as seen from a lone bleacher down the left-field line.

Some people even watch from adjacent McMahon Stadium.

Chronological Tour: Stop 228

• Location: Crowchild Trail at 23 Avenue N.W., Calgary, Alta. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1966 as Foothills Stadium
• Additional names: Burns Stadium (1990s-2002)
• Home team: Calgary Cardinals (1977-78), Expos (1979-84), Pioneer League; Calgary Cannons, Pacific Coast League (1985-2002); Calgary Outlaws, Canadian Baseball League (2003); Calgary Vipers, Northern League (2005-07), Golden League (2008-10), North American League (2011-12)
• Capacity: 6,000

Rating: 2 baseballs

In 2001, the Calgary Cannons announced plans to move into a renovated Albuquerque Stadium for the 2003 season. That may have sealed the fate of this park, which as of 2002 had started to fall into disrepair.

Seating here is in three tiers: a lower tier with stadium seats, a middle tier with bucket seats with backs, and an upper tier with aluminum buckets with no backs. In addition, there are two general admission sections labeled “Rush Seating”, but the one down the right field line was never repaired and was condemned by the time I reached the park. There is one additional bleacher down the left-field line.

The field faces southwest, giving third-base side patrons at night games a healthy dose of the sun, which in Alberta doesn't set until after 9 pm in the summertime. From the stands, one can see adjacent McMahon Stadium, the football home of the University of Calgary and of the Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. That facility was also used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the XV Olympic Winter Games in 1988.

After half a season of the Canadian League in 2003, the independent Northern League announced plans to move into Calgary and Edmonton for 2005, saving Foothills Stadium from the wrecking ball. The park had been known as Burns Stadium, the name belonging to a meat distributor, for several years of the Cannons’ tenure, but as I understand it the name has reverted to Foothills Stadium once again.