Cherries No More: Duluth’s Longtime AA Club Heads West

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Cherries No More: Duluth’s Longtime AA Club Heads West

#1 Post by DrewV »

Cherries No More: Duluth’s Longtime AA Club Heads West for Medicine Hat

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Mandy Scott, Senior PEBA Analyst, Duluth Times

After a recent announcement from Duluth, PEBA officials confirmed that AA the longtime Duluth affiliate Mississauga Cherries are no more. The AA rights for the Warriors organization has been sold to the smaller, quieter border town of Medicine Hat, known for its natural gas and enthusiastic baseball community. Their new name was agreed to with the City Council—as per the contract—and in 2029 the Mississuaga Cherries will become the Medicine Hat Drillers.

Nested a good two hours southeast of Calgary, the plains river city of Medicine Hat is best known for it’s thriving natural gas industry. A recent 2020 boom has been supplemented with favorable technology laws in the province, giving just the right recipe for a population influx.

“We see this as an incredible win for the growing Medicine Hat community,” Mayor Johnny Kicking Wing told the Duluth Times. “We’ve always had an avid baseball community—heck, I used to tour Montana and Idaho in the summers for Cal Ripken League All-Stars. Medicine Hat is proud to welcome a AA affiliate of the PEBA.”
Joe White, headed into his fourth year as manager of the Cherries-turned-Drillers, told us he was “sad to leave the suburbs of Toronto,” but was “looking forward to a quieter environment and focusing on baseball.”

The Medicine Hat move—part of a PEBA-led AA realignment—was met with mixed emotions from the PEBAverse.
“We’re thrilled for the people of Medicine Hat and looking forward to our new partnership,” Duluth GM Ricky McCoy told the Times online, “but it will be difficult to leave the prestige and welcoming community in Mississuaga, who hosted our AA club for twenty-one years.”

“It’s a fumbling wad of cadswallop!” Duluth Times columnist “Grumpy” Joe Larsen was heard grandstanding near the office water cooler in an unsolicited rant. “I’m not one of them tree-kissin’ rainbow children, but If I was, I might say there’s some poetic tragedy to a ripe, succulent fruit of the earth bein’ transformed into an unfeeling instrument of the military industrial complex!”

Of course, the impact to the franchise is minimal—besides a few less weekend options in the offseason for the AA team.

The Cherries-turned-Drillers have hosted some powerhouse prospects over the years, including Aurora Center Fielder Tomas Flores and retired All-Star Third Baseman Josh Shaffer. The team won the inaugural Great Northern League championship under Manager Vincente Gonzalez, and have not returned since.

The origin of the name “Medicine Hat” as roots in local Blackfoot Tribe mythology. According to oral histories, the site of Medicine hat (Saamis in the Blackfoot language) was guarded by a magical serpent, who demanded the sacrifice of a woman in exchange for special powers and ‘hunting prowess.’ The man reluctantly agreed, sacrificing his wife and becoming a great medicine man, with his “saamis,” or “Medicine Hat,” always adorned. Grumpy Joe was heard shrieking “Like a prophecy for the all-consuming serpent of fossil fuels upon the maiden earth!” as he left work in his Oldsmobile.

“Well I for one am just gosh darn excited,” Mrs. Miranda Michineau told the Duluth Times. “We are all baseball crazy in Medicine Hat, and I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if we weren’t tired of loading the kiddos up in the Pacifica and taking the long trip up to Calgary to see the Stampede. That reminds me, I’ve got a cousin named Pierre who raises bison near Okotoks…”

Love the move or hate it, it’s certainly a new chapter in AA’s history, as one of the longest-standing teams makes its new home along the quiet plains and rolling South Saskatchewan River.

Drew Visscher (GM Ricky McCoy) | Duluth Warriors
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Re: Cherries No More: Duluth’s Longtime AA Club Heads West

#2 Post by Vic »

Grumpy Joe returns! And in excellent form, I might add.

Outstanding.
Vic Caleca
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