John Ducey

John Eugene Ducey (August 31, 1908 – September 11, 1983) was a Canadian baseball executive and umpire. He operated the semi-professional Edmonton Eskimos baseball team from 1946 to 1959, and was briefly their manager. He organized the Alberta Senior Amateur Baseball League until the 1950 season, transferred the Eskimos into the Western International League, then organized the Western Canada Baseball League in 1955, which later became the Canadian-American Baseball League. In 1964, he was a co-founder of the Edmonton Oldtimers Baseball Association to recognize the city's baseball history.

Beginning in baseball as a bat boy and playing amateur baseball in Edmonton, he umpired for fifteen seasons including time in the Northern Professional Baseball League. He was briefly a sportswriter for the Edmonton Bulletin, and worked winters in public relations for hockey and managing arenas in the United States, and the Edmonton Junior Hockey League. He was twice Edmonton's "Sportsman of the Year", was inducted into the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Edmonton's stadium was renamed John Ducey Park after his death.

Early life and family John Eugene Ducey was born on August 31, 1908, in Buffalo, New York, the son of Thomas and Mary Ducey. Ducey's father was originally from Lindsay, Ontario, lived in Alberta in 1906, then briefly in Buffalo by 1908, and returned to Alberta in 1909. The family lived alternately between Edmonton and Strathcona, until remaining in Edmonton since 1914. Following four seasons umpiring in Alberta, he accepted a post with the Northern Professional Baseball League in 1934. Returning to Edmonton by 1938, he umpired there until 1941, when he spent summers umpiring in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was offered a contract for the 1944 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League season, but declined then retired from umpiring after the 1945 season. He subsequently managed the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium for the 1944-45 season. Ducey and Art Potter planned a "Bob Carse night", to honour a local player who was a recent prisoner of war, and to recognize other junior hockey players who died during World War II. The junior league suspended operations after the season, replaced by a city league including senior, intermediate and junior hockey teams.

Baseball executive Ducey subsequently switched his focus to baseball in Edmonton, where he organized leagues and teams, scouted baseball players, and occasionally managed baseball teams.

In 1946, Ducey and business partners leased Renfrew Park and assumed operation of Edmonton's semi-professional three-team league. Ducey managed the Edmonton Eskimos during the league's 1946 season. The league added a team in Calgary for the 1947 season, and operated as the Alberta Senior Amateur Baseball League until the 1950 season. In the 1957 season, the Eskimos' roster included four USC Trojans alumni including future Major League player Ron Fairly. The Eskimos were Canadian champions that season, and placed second to Japan at the 1957 Global Series in Detroit.

In 1959, Ducey declined to purchase the Pacific Coast League franchise rights to the Sacramento Solons–an independent team without financial assistance as a Major League farm team. He stated that Renfrew Park required many upgrades and double its spectator capacity, and that Sunday sporting events needed be legalized in Alberta. When the Canadian-American Baseball League collapsed following the 1959 season, Ducey ceased operation of the Eskimos instead of joining a new semi-professional league without a team based in Calgary. He continued advocating for Sunday baseball, and pushed for domed multi-purpose stadiums to resurrect professional baseball in Alberta. Using connections in baseball, Ducey grew the association to 119 members by 1965, including 20 former major league players. In 1967, the association began honouring baseball persons during annual dinners at the Hotel Macdonald.

Personal life Ducey was a sales representative for Motor Car Supply Company sports equipment from 1933 to 1937, and later for CCM sports. After a lengthy illness, Ducey died in Edmonton on September 11, 1983. and "Lefty". He was inducted into the builder category of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, John Ducey Park was replaced by Telus Field in 1995, built on the same location. In 1997, Edmonton renamed the road adjacent to the ballpark, John Ducey Way.

The Rajah of Renfrew, a book published in 1998 by his son Brant, chronicles the life of Ducey.