This baseball park is the home of the annual Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament, held every year in late summer. It is truly an international event as, for example, in 2012, the year before we visited, teams from Lewiston Idaho, San Diego California, Kamloops BC, Seattle Washington, UCLA (Alumni)California, U.S. Military Allstars, Langley BC, Thurston County Washington, and Trail BC competed for a total purse of $54,000, with the Lewiston Paffile Truckers taking home the first prize of $20,000. Over the years, teams from Australia, Japan, Russia, Taiwan and China, among others, have competed.
The tournament began in 1975 and, except for a few misfires, has been an annual event ever since. The 2013 tournament will be the 33nd event.
The stadium is lit for night ball and has a seating capacity of around 1,000, concessions, washrooms, locker rooms, first aid station, The Hard Ball Café, a souvenir stand and the GFI Hall of Fame.
The GFI Hall of Fame is in the Blue Building. There you will find photos and information on players who performed in this tournament and went on to play in the Major Leagues. Other GFI history is on display in this distinctive baseball atmosphere, as well.
Now, through the Grand Forks Gazette, we get to learn some more of the history of the ball park and of the man responsible for its existence.
Read on.
On his field, James Donaldson's
dream comes true
by Contributed - Grand Forks Gazette
posted Aug 29, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Originally published in the Grand Forks Gazette’s Second Section on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003.
During the 1930s, a shy, soft-spoken man, with a walrus moustache and a twinkle in his eye, turned a vacant lot in Grand Forks, B.C. into a field of dreams for a generation of young baseball players.
Unlike the movie Field of Dreams, James (Jim) Donaldson never played the game and didn’t plow under a corn field to build a baseball diamond, but he was compelled by the same inspiration: “Build it, and they will come.”
Today, the field of scrub grass on which Donaldson spent so many seasons gently encouraging his young players is gone. In its place stands James Donaldson Park, nearly smack dab on the original diamond Donaldson built. Now a backdrop for the Grand Forks International baseball tournament, the stadium is a fitting tribute to one man’s foresight and dreams.
Born in Ontario, Donaldson arrived in Grand Forks about 1909 with his brothers Pete and John. While Pete went to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway, Jim and John opened the Donaldson Store in Columbia, as the area around the ballpark was known then. In 1930, a grass fire destroyed the store located near the CPR Station, now Grand Forks’ Station Pub. Although his brother rebuilt the store, Jim, nearing 50, decided to retire. With plenty of time to spare, he turned his attention to a lifelong passion - baseball.
Realizing that the neighbourhood boys needed a place to play, Donaldson volunteered his own property for a field. With rakes and shovels, he organized a work party to clear away weeds and rocks and make the field playable.
Old planks supported by empty wooden apple boxes became benches. Later, a backstop and simple bleachers were built. The outfield “fence,” consisted of a row of tall trees. It was the beginning of the Columbia ball team. Donaldson became the team’s coach and manager and dreams became a reality for many a young baseball player.
The Columbia team joined a league that included Grand Forks, Greenwood, Curlew, Republic and Orient. The players would travel rutted roads in cars. On some trips, the boys would chip in $5 and pay a farmer with a truck to take them all. In local tournaments they’d play against Trail and barnstorming teams like the Sons of David. Though the “West End” boys now had a place to chase down fly balls, many in the depression years could ill-afford the cost of gloves, bats, or balls. Donaldson again stepped up to the plate, supplying what was necessary. One former player still recalls Donaldson giving him an official Babe Ruth wooden bat as a birthday gift.
While it may be easy to dismiss baseball as just a game of hit and catch, Donaldson knew it was much more. He saw it as a way to teach lessons that would last far beyond the last strike-out. He impressed upon his players the idea that it was better to have played and lost, than never to have played at all. “Do unto others, as you would have them do to you,” he would say. At the field, fedora on head, Donaldson never hollered at his players’ mistakes. Indeed, Donaldson did his best to ensure all who played enjoyed themselves...
A photo of a baseball team with a man believed to be James Donaldson (far left).
Image Credit: BOUNDARY MUSEUM ARCHIVES
Read more at the Grand Forks Gazette