A Western Outpost for the Baby Jays

The front of Medicine Hat’s Athletic Park, Aug-2002.

You can see the action from a berm extending all the way to the right-field foul pole.

The park is built along the South Saskatchewan River.

Chronological Tour: Stop 226

• Location: Second and Birch streets, Medicine Hat, Alta.
• Opened: 1977
• Home team: Medicine Hat A’s (1977), Medicine Hat Blue Jays (1978-2002), Pioneer League
• Capacity: 3,000

Rating: 2 baseballs

The park, part of an athletic complex that also includes a hockey arena and curling center, doesn’t have any stadium seating, just aluminum benches. Many regulars bring their own modified lawn chairs that rest on the benches so they can better enjoy the game. The berm in right field is also available as a picnic area or a spot to spread a blanket.

In a forward-looking move, the portals are at street level and the field is recessed by about five feet. A roof overhangs part of the main grandstand.

I would really like this park if it had some stadium seating; its absence knocked my score down considerably. It is otherwise a well-designed facility that ably serves the Gas City. Unfortunately, Minor League Baseball has now abandoned Medicine Hat, as the franchise moved to Helena, Mont., for 2003.