by Deb Lee, BRCA Heritage Committee
Everyone was watching the World Series on TV as the Toronto Blue Jays took it to Game 7 before being defeated by the LA Dodgers. It was a nail-biter, and all of Canada was united behind our team!
Baseball was a big deal in past days of Bridgeland-Riverside. Prior to the implosion of the Calgary General Hospital, there were three well-used baseball diamonds close to where our community centre used to be, south of McDougall Road. Those old ball diamonds occupied much of the space where the Bridge, Steps, and McPherson Place buildings are located today. In the 1990s, the Ladies Softball League regularly played there, and staff teams from the General Hospital were also active in the area. George’s Pub, located in our community hall, was a great place for ball players and other community residents to congregate, socialize, and quench their thirst after a game.
Bridgeland-Riverside baseball history goes back much further than the 1990s. Our Community Association, then known as ‘The BRAA’, regularly fielded teams that competed with other community association teams. The BRCA Beavers was a boys’ team that was coached by local dads. You can see them in the 1975 team picture, with the Bridgeland Outdoor Swimming Pool and the George Boyack Nursing Home in the background.
Ev Altenhof, who grew up in Bridgeland, tells of the BRCA Juniors team, made up of 16- to 18-year-old boys, which won several Alberta titles. Coached by locals Bill Speck, Ed Nowak, and Mel Leinweber, the team advanced beyond their usual Boys’ League. For a few years in the 1960s they participated in the Major Men’s Fastball League, with games played at Corbett Field in Renfrew. Ev, who played with the team, credits the firm and skilled leadership of the coaches, lots of practice and hard work, starting with ball throwing in the Langevin School gym in February, and the talent of the boys, for carrying the team to success.
Walking around Bridgeland-Riverside on a day between World Series games, I encountered a father and his son practicing baseball at Schule Park. Located to the rear of Delta West School, there are two baseball diamonds, recognizable by their ball screens. They are small, informal diamonds, but perhaps this is where the next generation of top-notch Bridgeland baseball players will get their start.
Baseball 1975 BRCA Beavers. Historic photo.
Baseball – Father and son playing baseball at Schule Park, October 2025. With permission. Photo by Deb Lee.
Baseball 1960s BRCA Juniors. Historic photo with permission of Ev Altenhof.
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