“Sportshound” has Passion for Baseball

Elk Point’s Doug Bassett is being recognized once again.

The Alberta Amateur Baseball Society has nominated Doug “the Sportshound” Bassett for his passion for baseball award in thanks for his many years of heavy involvement with the sport in the Elk Point area.

Bassett’s been a ballplayer since he was a young kid, playing in little league and during recess, but got involved with the coaching side of things after his wife, in his own words, conned him into coaching t-ball.

“Once I started I got hooked, and my son [Jordan] wanted to play ball so we’d go out every night and I’d hit him pop flies,” said Bassett.

“He really loved that.”

Bassett has been a part of Elk Point’s baseball scene for over 30 years.

He got started in the mid-1980’s and has since served as a director for Alberta Baseball for the past 20 years.

Bassett Field

One of his shining achievements was building a provincial sized baseball diamond in Elk Point. The town hadn’t had a diamond big enough to host Provincials for midget aged kids.

With his son being a midget ball player and the team looking like they could go all the way, Bassett decided to rally up volunteers and get a field built.

“Jordan’s team didn’t have somewhere to play, so we built it.”

Not letting anything get in his way, the diamond was completed in time for his son’s team to go onto Provincials in 1999.

It worked out, as Bassett’s son was the first player to hit a homerun out of the field during game play. Left field, down the line, 350 feet.

In recognition for his contributions to Elk Point minor ball and being the driving force behind the diamond being built, the baseball diamond was named Bassett Field.

Awards & Recognition

Since building the field, Elk Point has hosted midget provincials 10 times, peewee provincials three times and bantam provincials twice. The field has also been host to female softball provincials three times.

Bassett has coached four provincial gold medal teams and four provincial silver medal teams.

He has received numerous awards for his coaching, including Coach of the Year from Baseball Alberta in 1999, the year he coached his son’s team to provincials.

In 2012, he received the Bill Chmiliar Award of Merit from the Edmonton International Baseball Foundation and the next year, 2013, he was awarded the President’s Award from Baseball Alberta.

One of the highest recognition that he’s received came in 2015 when he received the Baseball Alberta Lifetime Member.

The Nicknames

Bassett’s also gained a reputation for the nicknames he gives players.

“Sometimes I’ll see something in a kid, or I’ll think of something that might rhyme with their name, and something just pops out of my head,” said Bassett.

“Nowadays when kids start playing they’ll come up to me and they’ll wanna know what their nickname is gonna be — Hammer, Roadrunner, Pickpocket, you name it.”

When asked what it was about the sport that made him love baseball, Bassett joked that it was “everything”.

“But really, it’s that it’s not an easy sport to play, you know, it’s complicated. It’s a slow game, but it really isn’t,” said Bassett.

“Things can happen very fast like a home run, or striking someone out, and then the dugout’s all emptied from the players rushing onto the field to celebrate. Stuff like that is just great.”

Ever since the ball season was put on hold since COVID-19 Bassett’s been spending most of his time with his wife, but has kept his love for baseball strong in spending time with his grandchildren out on baseball diamonds.

Follow Doug “the Sportshound” Bassett on Lakeland Connect.