Former Professional Teams in Alberta

The other day I saw a Calgary Cannons card of Ryan Dempster, and that inspired me to write an article on my Red Sox blog about how many Red Sox players used to play in our Province.  In researching that I learned about a lot of teams that used to play here that I was unaware of.   I'm sure most people fondly remember the Cannons or Trappers, or even the Med Hat Blue Jays of the Pioneer League, but there have been many more Minor League and other semi-professional teams that have played in Alberta.  No less than 12 MLB franchises have had minor league affiliates here.  And there have been hundreds of stars who have played here including Alex Rodriguez (left - pictured batting for Calgary) and Hall of Famer Andre Dawson who started his professional career in Lethbridge.

Here are all the teams I found, listed with the name and level of their league and affiliation. If you are aware of other professional teams that have played in our Province, please let me know.

League / Level	Year	Affiliation
Pacific Coast League - AAA
Calgary Cannons	1985-1994	Mariners
	1995-1997	Pirates
	1998	White Sox
	1999-2002	Marlins
Edmonton Trappers	1981-1982	White Sox
	1983-1992	Angels
	1993-1994	Marlins
	1995-1998	Athletics
	1999-2000	Angels
	2001-2002	Twins
	2003-2004	Expos
Pioneer League - Rookie Ball
Lethbridge Expos	1975-1976	Expos
Medicine Hat A's	1977	Athletics
Calgary Cardinals	1977-1978	Cardinals
Lethbridge Dodgers	1977-1983	Dodgers
Medicine Hat Blue Jays	1978-2002	Blue Jays
Calgary Expos	1979-1984	Expos
Lethbridge Mounties	1992-1995	none
Lethbridge Black Diamonds	1996-1998	Diamondbacks
Western International League - Class A
Calgary Stampeders	1953-1954
Edmonton Eskimos	1953-1954
Western Canada League - Class B
Calgary Broncos	1907; 1910-1921
Edmonton Eskimos	1920-1921
Western Canada League - Class D
Edmonton Grays	1907
Lethbridge Miners	1907-1910
Medicine Hat Hatters	1907-1914
Calgary Cowboys	1909
Edmonton Eskimos	1909-1911; 1914
Bassano Boosters	1912
Red Deer Eskimos	1912
Edmonton Gray Birds	1912-1913
Independent Leagues
Canadian Baseball League
Calgary Outlaws	2003
Northern Baseball League
Calgary Vipers	2005-2007
Edmonton Cracker-Cats	2005-2007
Golden Baseball League
Calgary Vipers	2008-2010
Edmonton Cracker-Cats	2008-2010
North American Baseball League
Calgary Vipers	2011
Edmonton Capitals	2011