Is this Heaven? No, it’s Bardo
Posted June 1, 2009
Those fabled days back in ought six when Bardo and Dodds Coal Mine toiled on many a wind-swept Alberta nights with wood bats and leather mitts seem like a mythical far-off make-believe land.
But yet, many, many…many years ago, 96 to be exact, there they were. Farmers and teachers, ranchers and wranglers, coal miners and roughnecks – plus maybe a couple bankers – making their way to the biggest and best tournament of the year.
Bardo days.
All the way back in 1913 when Bardo Days began; back when Kingman and Dodds Coal Mine made up the “Powerline” league, rumoured to be named that for the long power lines strung through the three areas.
Since then there’s been a depression, lots of draughts, a ton of rains, piles of snow, several recessions and a whole truck-load of pie eaten. But Bardo baseball has kept on keeping on. Even when sometimes it didn’t seem like it was possible.
Many of you might know Ryan Stauffer. Many of you, however, may not know Ken Stauffer. But none of you probably know of, or have heard of Leonard Stauffer.
Leonard was Ryan’s grandfather, and Ken’s dad. They called him “Lefty.” And just over 15 years ago he passed away at the age of 80.
But his legacy lives on.
The Bardo Day tournament is named after him. Bardo baseball might have faded away without him. And surely, the Powerline League wouldn’t have been the same.
Many harvests ago, once the miners and the power men moved out of the area, baseball looked to be in peril. But there was Lefty. The one responsible for keeping it all going through the lean years.
And although Bardo Days is now just one day, and the god’s who we once thought cursed the A’s (until two championships in three years) generally dump a load of wet stuff right on the BRAC that weekend. Baseball is still kicking in Alberta’s Unofficial Birthplace of Baseball.
Lining the Bardo hall are photos and pictures, old teams and memorabilia. All a footprint of where the team has been.
It’s one of the reasons you might feel a chill on your neck or goose bumps on your arms every time you hit the field in Bardo, or step up to the plate.
Enjoy every minute of it. “Lefty” sure did.
Posted on June 1, 2009 by Jason Buzzell
