The scene is Capilano Stadium,
home of the Vancouver Mounties. Once it could seat over 9000
fans,
filling the grandstands and the bleachers, the latter which can be seen
extending outward along right and left field. Even then they
occasionally had to rope off an area for fans in the outfield, to
accommodate the overflow. The crowds came to watch the Mounties play
legendary Triple 'A' Pacific Coast League teams such as the Los Angeles
Angels, Hollywood Stars, San Francisco Seals, Seattle Rainers, Tacoma
Giants, and the San Diego Padres--to name a few. In those days the PCL
enjoyed near-major league status.
The view is from Little Mountain where at one time many "freeloading"
fans could sprawl out on the grassy slopes and, from a distance, enjoy
a view of the game while listening to the play-by-play on the radio.
The person sprawled out in the 1959 Corvette is none other than Bruce
Stewart, the painter of this image. Bruce has taken some artistic
liberties here, the foremost being that, in reality, he would have only
been about nine years old during the time period of this image. Bruce
writes: "I do recall sitting up there with the trusty Philips
transistor radio, or listening on the car radio to Jim Robson's
"play-by-play" broadcasts, and the bottom of the seventh "stretch
inning" when "Take me out to the ballgame" could be heard all the way
along Ontario, from Cap. Stadium to our back yard on West 40th. In
fact, at home you might hear "the windup . . the pitch! Pop fly to
center field!!" on the radio, followed a few seconds later by the
actual crack of the bat carried on the wind! Yes, beyond the Stadium in
that painting are the houses of Riley Park, Main Street just beyond and
Capitol Hill in Burnaby in the background."
Today it is Nat Bailey stadium, renamed in honour of the man whose
efforts helped bring us theVancouver Mounties. Triple 'A' baseball in
this
city is now but a memory. Also gone are the bleachers, leaving just the
grandstands. The park today is a smaller venue and the view from the
slopes as seen here is completely obscured by a much denser growth of
trees.
But what does this all have to do with "Top Forty" Radio? Well, the
connection may be a bit tenuous but CKWX was, for many years, both a
strong "sports" station, and a "top forty" station. And it could be
argued that it wasn't the happiest marriage of two formats on the same
station. To the Top Forty DJ, who enjoyed his broadcast time in the WX
studio spinning those 45s, the constant pre-emption or truncation of
his daily program, was a constant frustration, which meant spending
idle hours standing by, waiting to go on the air. Just ask Red
Robinson.
But if indeed Top Forty and Sports formats aren't compatible then that
perhaps leaves only one remaining common connection--and that is the
beauty of Vancouver itself, which this image so wonderfully captures.
Bruce may be listening to the ball game while enjoying
the view, but is it possible that between innings he's tuning the dial
over to the city's "other" rock and roll station?
Whether it's
sports or top 40, this atmospheric scene lends itself nicely to either.
And besides who could resist including such an incomparable vista here
on this site for all to enjoy.
J.B.
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