Airdrie’s competitive men’s baseball team is pulling the plug, as the Brewers will no longer be taking to the diamond in the Foothills Major Baseball Association (FMBA).
According to the Brewers coach and manager, Dean McCaffrey, the team was unable to guarantee enough players to warrant competing this year.
“We had issues with commitment towards the tail end of last year,” he said. “There were games where [the coaches and management] were playing, just because we didn’t have enough guys.
“The more we chatted about it and asked around, we didn’t think we’d be able to have a good enough commitment from everyone to field enough players so us older guys wouldn’t have to play.”
The team’s folding ends a three-year experiment with competitive men’s baseball in Airdrie.
The Brewers formed in 2016, initially playing in the Parkland Baseball League (PBL) against teams from Lacombe, Red Deer and Innisfail. After two years in the PBL, the Brewers moved to the FMBA – the top amateur men’s baseball league in the Calgary area – for the 2018 season.
The reason for joining the league, according to management, was the decreased amount of travel – all games took place at the FMBA’s Deerfoot Stadium in northeast Calgary.
Despite the decreased travel commitments, the Brewers struggled during its lone season in the FMBA. With a thin lineup and a young roster, Airdrie finished in the basement of the competitive league, with just a single win in the 22-game season.
As the losses continued to pile up, McCaffrey said it became more difficult to field a complete lineup for games.
“It was just a constant battle to try and get nine guys to come out and play,” he said. “We did have some injuries that popped up before the season started, which hurt us.
“Throughout the year, we were constantly trying to pick up new guys, or adding new guys.”
McCaffrey said he is disappointed the team is disbanding, as there are not many local options available for adult, competitive ball players in Airdrie .
“A lot of those [Brewers] kids, I coached through Airdrie Little League, and it was nice to see them have a place to play going forward, once they left their little-league careers behind,” he said.
“There’s an over-35 fall ball league that plays in Airdrie. They start in August, and run through September and October. But that’s more for older guys.”
For former Brewers players who want to continue playing ball at a high level, McCaffrey said trying out for a Calgary-based team in the FMBA is the ideal choice.
“The FMBA is still an option, it’s just not going to have an Airdrie team in it,” he said. “There are a couple guys from the Brewers who are going to play with the [Calgary] Giants in the FMBA.”
