The Victoria Seals were a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team based in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

. The Seals were a member of the North Division of the independent Golden Baseball League, which is not affiliated with either

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) or

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

. They joined the GBL on October 1, 2008. The Seals played their home games at

Royal Athletic Park Royal Athletic Park (also known as Wilson's Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park) is a stadium in Victoria, British Columbia, and is used for baseball, soccer, softball and football, but also hosts special events, such as the annual Great Canadi ...

, a multipurpose stadium in Victoria which is also used for soccer, softball and football. On November 10, 2010, team owners Russ and Darren Parker announced that the team would be ceasing operations immediately after being unable to reach an agreement with the City of Victoria on the condition of the ballpark and the instability of the Golden Baseball League. The rights to the franchise were purchased by Westpro Productions and were going to be relocated to

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significa ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

but that never occurred because the North American League folded.

Attendance

The Seals inaugural season boasted impressive attendance figures, with an average draw of 2,388 per game, good enough for second best in the GBL. Furthermore, average capacity was 53%, which was the highest overall capacity total in the league. By contrast, these numbers were higher than the GBL's other

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

teams, the Calgary Vipers and the Edmonton Capitals, in both capacity percentage and total attendance. The Seals also missed a sellout by only 19 people on their final game of the 2009 season, with 4228 fans in attendance. They drew 10,045 fans on their final (three-game) home-stand, bringing their total attendance for 2009 to 93,691 fans. Attendance improved in 2010 and the Seals drew 116,872 fans in 45 home dates at Royal Athletic Park. Their average attendance (2,597 per game) was third best in the ten-team league. The single-game attendance record for the franchise was set on Tuesday July 27, 2010 when 4,753 fans turned out to see Eri Yoshida pitch.

Ownership

The Seals are owned by Russ Parker and his son Darren. Russ is the former owner of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

Calgary Cannons The Calgary Cannons were a minor league baseball team located in Calgary, Alberta, for 18 seasons, from 1985 until 2002. They were a member of the Triple-A (baseball), AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL) and played at Foothills Stadium. The Cannons ...

(now the

Albuquerque Isotopes The Albuquerque Isotopes are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They play home games at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at an ...

). He is also the long-time owner of the Regina Pats

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

team of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hocke ...

On-field staff

On November 25, 2008, the Seals named former MLB infielder Darrell Evans as their first manager. Before joining the Seals, Evans was the first manager of the Long Beach Armada from 2005 to 2007, and last served as batting coach for the Orange County Flyers, who won the GBL title in 2008. On March 4, 2010, Evans was fired as manager of the Seals after being discovered to have "solicited employment with another team". That team is believed to be the Palm Springs Chill of the

California Winter League California Winter League is a former baseball winter league. It was the first integrated league in the 20th century as players from Major League Baseball and Negro league baseball played each other in training games. The league was in existence ...

. On March 8, 2010, the Seals announced the hiring of former Major League All-Star Bret Boone as their new manager. Boone is no stranger to the Pacific Northwest, having played for the nearby

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

for several seasons during his major league career. Joining Bret Boone in 2010 as members of the Seals' on-field staff are former major-leaguer Kip Gross as pitching coach, and second-year Seals catcher Josh Arhart, who along with regular playing duties will also serve as bench coach. On May 27, 2010, the Seals announced that Bret Boone had resigned from his position as field manager in order to deal with a personal family issue. Boone managed the team to a 3–2 record during his short stint with the club. It was further announced that pitching coach Kip Gross took on Boone's duties as field manager. Infielder Brian Rios also took on duties as a player/coach.

Seals' demise and ownership change

On November 10, 2010, team owners Russ and Darren Parker announced that the team would be ceasing operations immediately after being unable to reach an agreement with the City of Victoria on the condition of the ballpark and the instability of the Golden Baseball League. The GBL would later merge with the Northern League and

United League Baseball United League Baseball was an Independent league baseball, independent baseball league that operated in Texas. The league operated from 2006 to 2009. The league then temporarily merged with the Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), Northern L ...

to form the North American League.

Fort McMurray North American League team

On October 14, 2011, it was announced that the North American League granted

, a new franchise. The ownership group, Westpro Productions, led by Craig Tkachuk (former general manager of the Edmonton Capitals), bought the rights to the original Seals franchise from the Parkers. However, Tkachuk admitted that MacDonald Island Park would not be ready for play in 2012 and the team could start their run as strictly a road team. The North American League has since folded,

Roster

2010 Opening day roster as of May 21, 2010 Victoria Seals batter

Seals players signed by Major League organizations

2009: *

Austin Bibens-Dirkx Austin Mitchell Bibens-Dirkx (born April 29, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and current coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers and for the Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional ...

(

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

) * Isaac Hess (

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

) 2010 * Sergio Pedroza (

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

) * Chris Bodishbaugh (

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

) * Anthony Pluta (

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

)

Seals players who went on to appear in Major Leagues

2011 *

Dane De La Rosa Dane David De La Rosa (born February 1, 1983) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Career Prior to playing professiona ...

(

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

) - signed by Rays after being traded away by Victoria

History of baseball in Victoria

Baseball has a long and distinguished history in the city of Victoria dating back to the mid-19th century. Many amateur and professional teams from many different leagues have called the city their home over the years, including a

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

farm team called the Victoria Athletics from 1946 to 1951.

Past Victoria baseball teamsVictoria Baseball 1946 - 2008
/ref>

*Victoria Olympic Club (1866) *Victoria James Bays (1886) *Victoria Amity Club (1887) *Victoria Baseball Club (1892–1901) *Victoria Islanders (1911) *Victoria Bees (1911–1914) *Victoria Maple Leafs (1915) *Victoria Capitals (1920–1921) * Victoria Athletics ( WIL) (1946–1951) *Victoria Tyees (WIL) (1952) *Victoria Mussels ( NWL) (1978–1979) *Victoria Blues (NWL) (1980) * Victoria Capitals ( CBL) (2003) *Victoria Royals (Pacific International League/Northwest Major League) (2004)

References

External links

Victoria Seals

Golden Baseball League website

Press release announcing the Seals' membership in the GBL

Victoria Seals Baseball Blog

Fort McMurray Professional Baseball website

Fort McMurray Professional Baseball Facebook
{{Victoria Sports Baseball teams established in 2008 Golden Baseball League teams Defunct baseball teams in Canada Seals Baseball teams in British Columbia 2008 establishments in British Columbia 2010 disestablishments in British Columbia Baseball teams disestablished in 2010 Defunct independent baseball league teams