Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Jun 24, 2018

baseball.jpg

When I was a kid in 1950s Vancouver my father often took me to watch the Mounties play baseball at what was then Capilano Stadium. In fact I was part-owner of the club; at some point the team was community owned and my dad bought me a $25 share. Truth be told I found the games a bit boring but I appreciated spending time in the bleachers with my father and I daresay he felt the same way.

What brings on this fit of nostalgia is an excellent article by Kevin Plummer explaining how, in 1956, Vancouver got around the Lord's Day Act and permitted Sunday baseball for the first time. The photos show Jim Marshall, Spider Jorgensen and Joe Durham, all players I recall watching during that era. Though of course the most famous Mountie is Hall-of-Famer Brooks Robinson who, before he starred at third base for the Baltimore Orioles, played part of the 1959 season in Vancouver.

Did I actually see him play? That's my story and I'm sticking to it.