Baseball boom: Families hit with curveball before summer as minor leagues fill up fast

As baseball season gets closer, some players are having trouble finding a team close to home as registration numbers skyrocket. Evan Kenny reports.

The Toronto Blue Jays run at the World Series sent baseball fans into a fever pitch last year, bringing together long-time lovers of the game and new ones. But, it has also threw an unexpected curveball for families wanting to sign up their kids for the sport.

Jess Jackson, a radio host on 100.3 The Bear in Edmonton, was planning to sign up her son for U9 baseball this summer, as she has done for the past four years at the end of hockey season. But she struck out – finding out registration was full and she was put straight onto the waiting list.

“I was shocked because I know, in years past, they’ve sometimes struggled to get enough teams and now (they’re) completely full,” Jackson said Thursday.

And she is not alone. The St. Albert Minor Baseball League told CTV News Edmonton that, similarly, its U7 and U9 divisions are completely full with many families like Jackson’s not able to crack the roster.

“I’m glad that there’s more interest, and there’s more teams, and that’s exciting, and it’s great for the organizations,” Jackson said. “It just sucks for me (who) left it to the last minute.”

Jackson said she contacted the league organizer, but they were also caught-off guard by the surge in interest, telling her it was a first for them, too.

“The Blue Jays and how they finished in the World Series – I think that sparked a lot of interest for new fans, and also has everybody excited (including) the Blue Jays faithfuls,” Edmonton Riverhawks Baseball Club coach Jake Lanferman said.

Thursday marks the season opener of Major League Baseball (MLB) – or what Lanferman calls, “The best day of the year.”

He said he’s not surprised the love of the sport is on the rise, saying the success of the Blue Jays over the last ten years has trickled down.

“I think grassroots baseball is starting to grow,” Lanferman said. “Kids start to play it more, and the community involvement that comes with that is really awesome to see.”

Maddie Murdoch, with the Riverhawks marketing team, said baseball has definitely grown in Edmonton. The club is in its fifth year, and the numbers filling the seats at Re/Max Field are up – from around 60,000 in its inaugural year to 150,000 last season.

“That’s a pretty incredible growth rate over five years,” Murdoch said.

She said the social aspect of the game, the quality of the players on the field, and the relaxed nature of the sport are all contributing factors.

“People are appreciating the sport a little more and appreciating the kind of entertainment that it can provide,” Murdoch explained, adding that suites are sold out and premium areas are nearly sold out for Riverhawks games this season.

“We’ve never had that amount of demand and growth so early in the season,” she said. “It is super exciting, and we’re grateful and humbled that people are so excited to watch baseball.”

A new sound system has been added to the ballpark, amping up announcements and music for the upcoming games. The Riverhawks’ home opener is on May 29.

“We have a short-period window here in Edmonton that we can play baseball, but it’s really fun, obviously, in the summer when we get to,” Lanferman said, adding that more and more local talent is heading south of the border to play college baseball in the United States.

Most local minor baseball associations are accepting players until April 1, if they have the space.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny