PHOTO COURTESY COLTON MCKEE/MEDICINE HAT MAVERICKS
Six members of the Mavs' 2014 championship team, Bryan Arthur, Michael Olson, Garrett Wiese, Bryce Feia, Andy Scott and Jared Welander throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of a 10-9 win on Friday over the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Garrett Wiese can remember sitting on the left field wall with a group of Medicine Hat Mavericks, posing with the 2014 WMBL trophy, in front of the scoreboard.
Ten years later, Wiese has the moment immortalized with a picture in his man cave. Seeing the same outfield fence again and making the jog out to his old position on July 12 brought back a lot of memories.
“There’s nothing that beats getting on the field, running where your position was and throwing the first pitch, it’s special,” Wiese said.
Wiese was one of six members of the Mavs’ 2014 championship team who returned to the friendly confines of Athletic Park last week, taking in a game before getting honoured and throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on July 12 ahead of a gusty 10-9 comeback win by the 2024 Mavs that reflected the resilience of the 2014 team.
He was joined by former teammates Bryan Arthur, Michael Olson, Bryce Feia, Andy Scott and Jared Welander. All six of the former Mavs spent a couple of days together around the city, getting to re-know each other, having the opportunity to meet spouses and kids while rekindling the memories of a summer never to be forgotten.
“When we came out here in 2014, it was all baseball and now with guys having families and having jobs, you get into more in-depth conversation,” Olson said. “It’s really fun picking up right where we were on the conversation side and just kind of getting to know everyone even more than we already did.”
The 2014 Mavs team, led by head coach Adam Shorsher, encapsulated a three-year run for the franchise that will be difficult to replicate. In 2012 they made it to the WMBL finals, losing in four games to the Regina Red Sox. The 2013 team was the cream of the crop in the WMBL, breaking a league record with a 39-7 season that seemed destined for a championship, ultimately falling in four games to the Melville Millionares.
The summer of 2014 was a rebound from the historic flood Medicine Hat suffered the year prior. The Mavs were up and down all season, finishing 25-21 and second in their division. They had a run for the ages in the playoffs, taking down the Moose Jaw Miller Express and Okotoks Dawgs in four games before dispatching Swift Current in four games for the franchises’ second championship.
It was a playoff run and a summer that Scott a Medicine Hat product, says will never be forgotten.
“Being from here and getting to see Brian (Arthur) play before me and the year they broke the win loss record in 2013,” Scott said. “But being able to get him help him get across that finish line and get a championship was definitely the best one.”
Welander says they had the success they did because of the bond built on the buses and while doing early work on the field together.
“Everyone meshed really well on the team,” Welander said. “All the teammates were great dudes, we all got along really great. Winning was just on top of that, made it even better.”
Ask any member of the 2014 Mavs and the opportunity to win a championship for those who endured the back-to-back finals loss and win for the city a year after the flood was the ultimate goal of the summer.
“After witnessing what they went through in 2013, with the flood and hearing about the team and what they did just to come back here and see it was back to normalcy, that was a cool memory,” Feia said. “Even though I didn’t experience the flood, I got to experience what they did to recover and rebuild from it.”
There was a group of four players, C.J. DeDeaux, Wiese, Arthur and Olson who played on all three teams and were finally rewarded with the win in 2014. The three returners all spoke about what it meant to finally get over the hurdle and win that long-awaited championship.
“The 2013 team was the best thing ever and we just couldn’t finish it, we had four guys return in 14 and we all kind of had the same goal at the beginning of the year,” Arthur said.
“We’re thinking, we have to win. The year was up and down, we finished 25-12 but when we got to the playoffs, all four of us that had been there before we all looked at each other like, we’re going to win this thing. It was so cool being able to do it.”
Arthur recorded the final out of the championship-clinching Game 4 win and handed the ball to owner and general manager Greg Morrison after the celebrations. The 2014 title was Morrison’s first after buying the Mavs in 2008. He was proud of the win then and the resilience they showed then. But Morrison was even more proud of the fact that these players, who spent three months in the city, wanted to return 10 years later and celebrate that fateful summer.
“The fact that Medicine Hat as a community and our organization left that much of an impression for these guys to come back, it was pretty amazing,” Morrison said. “It was surreal to be sitting having breakfast with those guys at the golf course, enjoying catching up with them, meeting their wives and kids.
“Then the experience of them taking some batting practice and coming to the game, being down on ground level with us, was just quite the moment for me and my family.”
While the Mavs honoured the six returning players, they also took a moment to remember DeDeaux, the fan-favourite catcher who many hoped would be in attendance before he passed earlier this year. Morrison says DeDeaux was a gritty catcher who they counted on many a times and he says who he was as a player and person will always be remembered.
“He was kind of the beginning of our community really getting behind specific players and name recognition,” Morrison said. “When you have a guy coming back that much, a lot of people know and knew him and respected his name. He had some great relationships in town with his host family. He’ll be remembered.”
The six Mavs who returned to their former home of Athletic Park, all left with rekindled memories and a fresh reminder of the summer they were on top of the world.
Weise, who returns home to look at that picture of himself and some life long friends sitting atop the left field fence, offered some parting words for the 2024 Mavs who look to reach the same peak.
“Looking back, these are the best summers of my life, just enjoy it, don’t take it for granted because it will be over eventually,” Weise said. “Even if these guys go pro, baseball comes to an end. But you have to remember the good times and 2014 was one of the best times for me in my career and I don’t take it for granted.”
