Alberta First Nation's application for new ball diamond grant a hit with Blue Jays

An overgrown ball diamond on a First Nation south of Edmonton is getting new life thanks to Canada’s team.

The Toronto Blue Jays, via the Major League Baseball team’s Jays Care Foundation, are contributing more than $240,000 to replace the Louis Bull Tribe’s baseball field at Maskwacis, located 90 kilometres from the city.

The new diamond will be built on the site of the current one, which is unused and in need of renovation.

“Over the years, I’ve always wanted to put money in there, but we don’t have money in the budget for it,” Trevor Larocque, the Louis Bull Tribe’s director of infrastructure, said Tuesday at a cheque presentation from the Jays Care Foundation.

“I kept seeing it getting worse and worse. Pretty soon, I realized no one was using it.”

Larocque put together the application accepted by the Blue Jays, making Maskwacis the only Alberta community to receive funding this year from the charitable arm of Canada’s only big-league baseball squad.

Robert Witchell, executive director of Jays Care, said the Louis Bull Tribe’s successful application touched on many key community elements.

“They also talked about the number of kids in this community and how they are really committed to running programming, getting kids back on the diamond (and) involved in team sports, and that meant a lot to us,” said Witchell, who attended the Tuesday presentation along with former 1980s Blue Jays slugger Jesse Barfield.

Barfield, a one-time winner of both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, said he wished he could attend the opening of the new ball diamond when it’s slated to be completed later this year.

"Just the enthusiasm that it gives the kids and parents it makes you want to go out there and be better,” said Barfield, who was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year.