NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY - The Medicine Hat Mavericks celebrate a win July 2, 2018 at Athletic Park. The Mavs' season is looking less and less likely, with the Western Canadian Baseball League pushing its earliest possible start date back to the end of June as of Thursday.
It’s looking less and less likely that the Medicine Hat Mavericks will play any games this summer, but Greg Morrison’s kept himself busy this week by edging the grass at Athletic Park.
The Mavs’ owner enjoys the zen-like focus he gets from being out on the field, far from the stress of considering when and if anyone will get to play baseball on it.
“My phone, I took a quick look at it once today. Other than that I was on the field eight hours,” said Morrison Thursday, a few hours after the Western Canadian Baseball League announced that it’s delaying the start of the season until at least late June.
“No matter what’s happening in the world, just like when you’re the ballplayer, when you’re the grounds crew guy you just do what you’ve got to do, it’s like your own little world down there.”
The Mavs were originally to begin their season May 28 at Athletic Park, but the global pandemic ended any hopes of that.
When restrictions went in place the WCBL initially said it wanted to make a determination on the season by May 2. On a conference call with league governors Wednesday it was decided there’s no need to cancel the whole summer yet.
“Although the circumstances are not moving quickly enough at present in our favor, we want to look at all options in order to play this year,” said WCBL president Kevin Kvame in a press release. He added that “…we still want to maintain hope that a partial season can be played should health and government positions on the pandemic change enough to make it feasible.”
A relaunch plan from the Alberta government later Thursday doesn’t instill much confidence into the situation. In the three-stage plan, sporting events and festivals aren’t allowed until the final stage, which has no date set and will be determined by how the COVID-19 situation evolves in Alberta. The Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede announced late Tuesday it was cancelling for the first time since World War II.
Morrison, with fewer barriers to cross in order to start up the team, sees a little bit of green in the news. The former professional hitter won’t step away from the plate until strike three is called.
“It’s a very low percentage, maybe it’s zero percentage after what Kenney said,” said Morrison. “But… is there a reason to cancel right now?
“Players are still staying in shape. When you have these organizations that are bare bones, really no salaries… what’s the harm in waiting?”
With only Morrison and coach and assistant general manager Nolan Rattai as permanent staff, the Mavs remain in touch with players – though many of them are in the United States where COVID-19 has already killed more than 63,000 people.
Travel restrictions are among many factors that would have to change in order for a season to take place.
If the 2020 season miraculously takes place, it would likely be a maximum of six weeks starting July 1. But Morrison notes even in a worst-case scenario, the franchise isn’t going anywhere.
“I could comfortably say we will have a season in 2021 if we don’t this summer,” he said.
