2008 Ottawa Rapidz: A White-Knuckle Ride

Ottawa Rapidz center fielder Jared Lemieux watches the ball after a hit. (Courtesy of Jared Lemieux)

 

The word “rapids” refers to stretches of river that are fast-flowing, rocky, and turbulent. They’re a test of endurance, but some people enjoy them.

“Rapidz” made a good name, then, for the Ottawa baseball team that lasted one scant season, 2008, in the independent Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, colloquially known as the Can-Am League. The Rapidz came and went quickly, and the team’s existence was rocky and turbulent for some. On the field, the Rapidz finished last in an eight-team league with a 31-63 record, firing their manager midway through the campaign and narrowly dodging the league record for most losses in a season. Off the field, the team went bankrupt, and one of its owners filed a $3-million lawsuit against the city and others.

Despite these travails, those who spent the season in the clubhouse remember it as a largely positive experience. “We had a good group of guys who were fun to play with. We worked hard every day,” recalled center fielder Jared Lemieux. “We enjoyed each other’s company, and we never got too far down.”1

Also, in a region that had just lost the Triple-A International League Ottawa Lynx, there were fans for whom the Rapidz represented a relaxing and entertaining—if not always winning—night out at the ballpark. “The Lynx and Rapidz bent over backwards to offer incomparable summertime value to families,” fan Neil Kelly wrote to the Ottawa Citizen newspaper in 2009. “My two little lads will never forget [Rapidz] coach Ed Nottle’s invitations to chat with the players on the field.”2

Knockabout minor-league manager Nottle became one of the faces of the team during its brief existence. But the man who began the Rapidz’ run, so to speak, was Miles Wolff Jr., the veteran minor- and independent-league commissioner and team owner, who was serving in 2007 as commissioner of the Can-Am League.3

That season, the Can-Am included a league-owned traveling team called the Grays to bring it to an even number of 10 teams. As reports of the Lynx’s pending departure from Ottawa gained momentum, Wolff began talking with city officials, seeing Ottawa as a logical landing spot for the Grays.4

Talks began in the summer and continued into the fall, complicated by mutual hostility between former Lynx owner Ray Pecor and the city. Wolff tried to position a Can-Am team as a compromise that would allow both parties to drop their hostile gestures—a lawsuit against the city on Pecor’s part, a financial penalty against Pecor on the city’s.5

Wolff didn’t succeed in forging a peace between Pecor and the city.6 But he got his team on November 28, 2007, when Ottawa city council voted to allow a new Can-Am League franchise to take over the remaining two years of the Lynx’s lease on Lynx Stadium, renamed Ottawa Stadium.7

By independent league standards, the former Triple-A park was a garden spot. During the 2008 season, Can-Am League managers ranked Ottawa as having the best stadium, field, and amenities in the loop.8 Catcher Kyle Geiger recalled: “I always tell people one of my favorite places to play was in Ottawa because of the city and how safe and clean it felt. It was also nice to have played in a former Triple-A stadium and have the facilities we did at that time.”9

The new team, as it turned out, shared no DNA with the Grays. The travel team’s players had been scattered a month earlier in a dispersal draft, requiring the new Ottawa ballclub to start from scratch.10

The new team vowed to include local and Canadian-born players on its roster, and its earliest signings made good on that promise. The team’s first three commitments came from pitcher Mike Kusiewicz, a local native who’d reached the Triple-A level in the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics organizations and represented Canada at the 2004 Summer Olympics; pitcher Fraser Robinson, from North Gower via Northwestern State University in Louisiana; and outfielder Jeremy Ware, an Ontario native who’d played for the 2001 Lynx and also made the 2004 Canadian Olympic baseball team. (Kusiewicz and Robinson played for the Rapidz; Ware did not.)11

Two other important blank spaces were filled in in early 2008. As part of a name-that-team contest that drew 1,100 entries, “Rapids” was selected as a tribute to the rivers that had powered the Ottawa area’s lumber industry.12

The Rapids—or Rapides, to French-speaking fans13—also chose an experienced and colorful field manager in 68-year-old Nottle, a pitcher during his playing days. Known as “Singing Ed” for his crooning talent—he’d recorded a self-released album and worked in nightclubs—Nottle had spent a lifetime in baseball but only one season in the majors, serving as the Oakland Athletics’ bullpen coach in 1983.14 He was better known as a manager in the minor leagues and independent ball. After 12 seasons managing as high as Triple-A in the Boston Red Sox and Athletics systems, he’d switched to independent leagues in 1993, spending another 15 seasons in cities like Brockton, Massachusetts, and Sioux City, Iowa.

Nottle promised fans an accessible, community-rooted, and competitive team: “I guarantee people are going to be amazed at the level of baseball. We’re asking [fans] to give it a shot.”15 To another writer, he said: “If we’re invited to community events, we go. I’ve had people tell them they’ve got five years in this community and never met a Lynx. Well, that’s changed now.”16

Baseball backers made a case that independent ball—labeled “professional baseball at its lowest but most lovable form”17—would be a good fit for Ottawa. One newspaper columnist pointed out that the Can-Am season didn’t start until May 22, which spared the team from having to compete against either the National Hockey League playoffs or unpredictable April weather. And since the team had no affiliation with a major-league organization, manager Nottle would not have to think about player development; he would be free to make decisions with no other goal than winning.18

The Rapids continued to sign players, including two of the 34 aspirants who attended an open tryout camp in Ottawa on May 8.19 The team came together in a hurry. Nottle noted that its preseason training camp would last for just 12 days, and the Rapids would start playing exhibitions five days after the players arrived.20

But as the team hustled to prepare for Opening Day, the preseason was marked by upheaval in the front office. New, locally based owners Rick Anderson and Rob Hall—co-founders of movie rental company Zip.ca—bought the team from the league in late April and modified the name, discarding Rapids and Rapides in favor of the language-neutral Rapidz. Anderson emphasized that affordability would be a priority for the new owners: “We’re not looking to make money on [the team]. It is not our main business.”21 Ticket prices ranged from $10 for adults to $4 for children under 14. Beer was $4.50 a cup—except when a Rapidz player hit a home run, when it was marked down to half-price for the next inning.22

Ten days after they took over, and just 16 days before the season opened, Anderson and Hall fired general manager Don Charrette, a local resident who had been in charge of the Rapidz’ day-to-day business operations.23 It’s unclear whether Charrette would have been able to prevent some of the minor issues that arose in the run-up to Opening Day, such as the delayed arrival of the team’s uniform pants and caps.24 In more positive news, the team set up a schedule of 10 local TV broadcasts, as well as French-language radio coverage of games.25

The Rapidz began their odyssey with a May 18 exhibition game in which they beat the Quebec Capitales, 7-6, scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth in front of fewer than 1,000 fans. Pitcher Dallas Strankman got credit for the win; it was one more victory than he would record in 15 regular-season appearances.26

The 2,561 fans who came back the next night saw the Rapidz’ first victory, 6-1. Canadian-born starting pitcher Adam Hawes earned the win, and second baseman Jose De Los Santos and first baseman Jabe Bergeron chipped in three hits apiece.28 De Los Santos, a former Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates farmhand, and Bergeron, who’d played in the New York Mets system, went on to become two of the Rapidz’ offensive leaders, hitting .288 and .354 respectively. After a loss in the team’s third game, Nottle remained optimistic: “I guarantee it right now, we’ll be in the playoffs and you can write that.”29

But the real tone for the Rapidz’ season was set on their first road trip, which followed four games at home. The first bus hired to carry the team to Atlantic City, New Jersey, never showed up. The second overheated several times on the highway. (Lemieux recalled, “The A/C went out, and we’re going down there with the hatch open and our shirts off.”30) The sore, sleep-deprived Rapidz arrived two hours late for their game against the Atlantic City Surf. Nottle dubbed it the “road trip from hell” on that first day, and he was prescient. Though some of the games were hard-fought, Ottawa went 1-6 on the road trip and fell into the league’s basement with a 2-9 record.31

They never made it out. As early as the start of June, Nottle was already shuffling personnel, including the addition of infielder Félix Escalona, the only member of the 2008 Rapidz to have played in the major leagues. Escalona had played 84 games with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Yankees between 2002 and 2005. Nottle said he was “very happy with the pitching, except the bullpen,” and tried to boost his team’s confidence with salty pep talks: “Don’t give up the ship until your ass hits the water, folks.”32

The team continued to struggle through June, though. When the bats began to heat up, the pitching went south. After five losses, local favorite Kusiewicz finally earned his first win on June 26, at which point the team’s record was 9-23.33 While team morale stayed positive, Geiger admitted that losing took its toll on him: “It was hard being as competitive as I was to watch the team struggle and not have success. It was new territory for me to lose that much in one season, so the frustrations were there.”34

It took the Rapidz until July 9 to string together two wins in a row.35 A few days later, the first half of the Can-Am season ended with the Rapidz in last place at 13-34. Nottle said the team needed “another bat” to be stronger in the second half, while offensive star Bergeron looked on the bright side: “That’s the glory of the second half: We have a chance to wipe it clean. Hopefully we’ll all get hot at the same time.” A local sportswriter took a tougher stance: “If Ottawa Rapidz owners Rob Hall and Rick Anderson viewed their team as any other business venture, mass layoffs would likely be in order.”36

These difficult weeks were not without their bright spots. Geiger, released by the Minnesota Twins organization a month before the season, stepped up as a solid offensive and defensive contributor; Nottle called him “an absolute delight.”37 And the Rapidz retained a solid core of fan interest, despite their on-field problems and a rainy month of June. At the end of the first half, they ranked fifth in the eight-team league with an average attendance of 2,205 per game.38

Two mascots, Trash Monster and Rookie, kept things light at Ottawa Stadium, as did a denim-clad cheer team called the Rapidz Girls. “After the sour departure of the Lynx, we may all have forgotten how pleasant these summer evenings can be,” a local columnist wrote. (“There is a Bad News Bears quality about the team, which may become endearing,” he added.)39

Highlights of July included a Montreal Expos tribute night that drew 2,781 fans, with appearances by former Expos Claude Raymond, Warren Cromartie, and Jim Fanning, as well as Montreal organist Fernand Lapierre.40 On the road, the Rapidz’ pitching staff had the satisfaction of holding U.S. Olympic skiing medalist Bode Miller without a hit when Miller made a stunt start for the Nashua (New Hampshire) Pride on July 19. The Rapidz still lost 5-2.41

July included an early public hint that the team was financially struggling. It came via a single line in a July 25 column by sports columnist Marty York: “What’s this I hear about the new ownership of the Ottawa Rapidz baseball team irking creditors with unpaid bills?”42 Geiger said that the owners’ financial issues did not affect the players: “We were treated very well and compensated for everything in a timely manner. I felt like the owners definitely did a great job in running the team and the day-to-day operations.”43

That month also ended with an event that left a sour taste in some fans’ mouths. On July 23, Nottle left the Rapidz to be with his ailing wife, Patty, in Evansville, Indiana.44 Under interim manager and hitting coach Tom Carcione, a former catcher in the Athletics organization, the Rapidz rattled off five straight wins. When Nottle returned to Ottawa, the Rapidz’ management fired him, handing the reins to Carcione for the rest of the season.45

Co-owner Hall acknowledged that the timing looked poor, but said the team had already decided not to bring back Nottle for 2009 and simply chose to make the change earlier than planned. “Ed was a great ambassador for baseball in Ottawa, he truly was,” Hall told reporters. “Unfortunately, a manager’s job is measured by what the team does on the field. … The reality is, there’s no good time to do it.”46

Nottle, whose baseball career had begun in 1960 with Pensacola of the Class-D Alabama-Florida League, returned to independent ball as a coach but never managed professionally again. Fan Steve Dolesch of Gatineau put Rapidz management on blast in a letter to the Ottawa Citizen: “Rapidz owners and management stink. They will, and I can only hope, lose fans at how they treated Mr. Nottle.”47

The Rapidz’ treatment of their former manager might have raised eyebrows, but judging by numbers, it didn’t cut deeply into their fan base. A season-ending home crowd of 5,021 on September 1 gave the Rapidz an average attendance of 2,197 per game for the full season. Not only was that close to their average at the end of the first half, it marked an improvement over the lame-duck Lynx, who drew 1,922 per game in their final season.48

The Rapidz’ total season attendance reached 101,073. “With Ottawa being a former Triple-A affiliate, I wasn’t sure how the fans would react to having independent baseball back in the capital city,” Geiger recalled years later. “For the most part, I felt like people enjoyed coming to games and having baseball in Ottawa. The interaction with the fans was always one of my favorite parts about playing professional baseball.”49

The team continued to play sub-.500 ball under Carcione, going 11-20 under his management. Like the first half, though, the second half was sprinkled with memorable moments and small victories.

In Worcester, Massachusetts, in August, the Rapidz posted a win in front of legendary pitcher Roger Clemens; Clemens was on hand to visit Worcester Tornadoes manager and former teammate Rich Gedman.50 Infielder Jake Daubert, a former Seattle Mariners draft pick playing for his third independent team of the season, won a game against Brockton that same month with a walk-off two-out single.51

Playing for pride, the Rapidz also avoided breaking the league record for losses, held by the 2005 Elmira (New York) Pioneers, who went 28-64. In their third-to-last game of the season, the Rapidz beat Worcester, 7-1, to ensure a finish with no more than 63 losses. “We’re staying out of the record books,” Carcione said. “That’s what we’ve been looking at for the last two weeks.”52

A season-ending 8-3 loss to Worcester left the Rapidz with a 31-63 record. In keeping with Nottle’s promise of accessibility, Ottawa’s players returned to the field after the game and spent 90 minutes signing autographs for fans. “That’s the best thing about today. The fans, and sitting here talking,” Carcione said. “This is what it’s all about in independent ball: getting the fans out. This is awesome and I’m having fun with all these people.”53

Fans interviewed at the final game returned the praise. “It has been great,” Ottawa resident Murray McIntyre said. “Great in-game entertainment and pretty professionally done. The in-between innings stuff for the children is really good. The concessions are more economical than the NHL. It’s enjoyable.”54

Bergeron and Geiger made the league’s All-Star team. Bergeron placed in the top five for batting average, doubles, on-base percentage, runs, RBIs, hits, and slugging percentage.55

Among pitchers, Hawes (4-13, 6.94), Robinson (4-8, 5.06), and reliever Reid Price (4-0, 2.08 in 20 games) shared the staff lead in wins. Angelo Burrows, a former Atlanta Braves draft pick who began his pro career as an outfielder, led the pitching staff in appearances with 40, posting a tidy 2.76 ERA in 49 innings. Saves were in short supply, but righty Cardoza Tucker—formerly a minor-leaguer with the organizations of the Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, and Mariners—paced the staff with 7.

Planning for 2009 began soon after the season ended. Carcione was to return as manager, while Kusiewicz was hired to serve as pitching coach and director of player personnel.56 And then, at the end of September 2008, only four weeks after the team’s final game, the Rapidz abruptly collapsed.

On September 29, Hall notified the Can-Am League that the Rapidz would fold immediately. According to the team, Ottawa officials told the Rapidz that they planned to raise the annual rent on Ottawa Stadium from $108,000 to $1.1 million after the Lynx’s former lease expired in 2009. Having lost $1.4 million in the team’s first year, Hall chose not to return for another season just to face a sizable rent increase.57 The team’s creditors included the city, owed $10,415 for water bills, and the local transportation agency, owed $10,500.58

City officials characterized their discussions with Hall as preliminary and informal, and said the $1.1 million rent figure was a hypothetical number introduced to make a point during talks about a potential long-term lease.59 Meanwhile, the league revoked the team’s membership and drew down its $200,000 letter of credit, rejecting the Rapidz’ request to withdraw from the league because of financial hardship.60

In March 2009, Hall filed a $3 million suit against Wolff, the city of Ottawa, the Can-Am League and others, claiming that they knew the team was likely to fail but collectively misled him about its viability. “If given an accurate picture, [Hall] might not have come to the position he found himself in … that he would have thought differently … that this team might not have happened at all,” a spokesman for Hall said.61

The suit was dismissed by the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario; in January 2010, the city of Ottawa was awarded $12,000 for costs related to the lawsuit.62 Hall continued to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which closed the book on the suit and the Rapidz by dismissing the appeal in March 2012.63 Wolff attempted to arrange a new Can-Am team in Ottawa for the 2009 season, to be called the Voyageurs, but plans fell through and the team did not take the field.64

Several independent-league teams have since succeeded the Rapidz in Ottawa—and it says something about the city that, despite the Rapidz’ struggles, some of those associated with the team have since returned to town. As of this writing in early 2024, Carcione was the pitching coach for the city’s current team, the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League.65

Lemieux, too, returned as a coach with the Ottawa Champions, who played in the Can-Am League from 2015 to 2019. “The city’s fantastic,” he said. “Once I found out there was going to be a new team in Ottawa, I reached out to Miles Wolff and said, ‘I love my town up there. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.’”66 The 2016 Champions, with Lemieux on staff and former big-leaguer Hal Lanier managing, won the Can-Am’s postseason playoffs and brought a league championship to town. Baseball in Ottawa had come a long way from the Rapidz’ struggle of eight seasons before.

KURT BLUMENAU grew up in the Rochester, New York, area, following the Mets and the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. He works in corporate communications in the Boston area. He has a strong interest in the minor leagues, particularly the New York-Penn League, and also enjoys watching college games.

 

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com for general player, team, and season data, as well as additional coverage of the Rapidz in the Ottawa Citizen.

The author thanks former Rapidz players Kyle Geiger and Jared Lemieux for responding to interview requests in January and February 2024, and for contributing photos of their time with the Rapidz.

As of February 2024, amateur footage of the final out in Rapidz history (Geiger popping to second base against the Worcester Tornadoes on September 1, 2008) was available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H_Ct-qWut4

Amateur footage of several other Rapidz games was also available via the Internet Archive (archive.org), including the team’s May 18 exhibition opener against Quebec (https://archive.org/details/Ottawa_Rapidz_VS_Quebec_Capitales_18May2008); the home opener on May 22 against New Jersey (https://archive.org/details/Ottawa_Rapidz_Vs_NJ_Jackels_22May2008/SSA50132.AVI); and August 8, 2008, against Brockton (https://archive.org/details/Ottawa_Rapidz_Vs_Brockton_Rox_09Aug2008/).

A breakdown of the Rapidz’ lawsuit, prior to the Supreme Court of Canada hearing the case, can be read here: https://sportlaw.ca/lessons-from-the-ottawa-rapdiz-case-contracts-that-help-and-contracts-that-dont/

(“Lessons from the Ottawa Rapidz Case: Contracts that Help and Contracts that Don’t,” Sport Law, posted March 1, 2012.)

 

NOTES

1 Author’s interview with Jared Lemieux, January 30, 2024.

2 Neil P. Kelly, “We Shouldn’t Rush to Tear Down Stadium” (letter to editor), Ottawa Citizen, April 6, 2009: 9.

3 Wolff also owned one of the league’s teams, the Quebec Capitales. Darren Desaulniers, “League Makes First Pitch to Councillors Over Lynx Stadium,” Ottawa Citizen, September 14, 2007: F3.

4 Desaulniers, “League Makes First Pitch to Councillors Over Lynx Stadium.”

5 Desaulniers, “League Makes First Pitch to Councillors Over Lynx Stadium.”

6 Pecor’s ongoing legal action against the city was resolved in the city’s favor in March 2011. Joanne Chianello, “City Wins Legal Battle Against Former Lynx Owner Pecor,” Ottawa Citizen, March 18, 2011: C1.

7 Laura Drake and Don Campbell, “Pro Baseball Will be Back at Lynx Stadium in 2008,” Ottawa Citizen, November 29, 2007: B1.

8 Don Campbell, “Can-Am League Still Up for Ottawa Challenge,” Ottawa Citizen, November 20, 2008: B5.

9 Author’s email interview with Kyle Geiger, February 5, 2024.

10 Drake and Campbell, “Pro Baseball Will be Back at Lynx Stadium in 2008.”

11 Don Campbell, “It All Begins at Home for Rapids,” Ottawa Citizen, February 20, 2008: B2.

12 Don Campbell, “And Now the Hard Work Begins,” Ottawa Citizen, February 15, 2008: B1.

13 As of January 2024, the Baseball-Reference page for the 2008 Ottawa team referred to them as the Rapides. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=e74467b2.

14 It’s part of the Nottle legend that he was called up to the Chicago White Sox in 1963 but was sent down again without pitching in a game. For what it’s worth, a search of Chicago Tribune archives on Newspapers.com in January 2024 did not find any mention of an in-season promotion or demotion involving Nottle and the White Sox, although he pitched for the team in spring training in 1963 and 1964. He also pitched for the White Sox’s Indianapolis farm club in an in-season exhibition against the parent club on May 23, 1963. Richard Dozer, “Sox Defeat Minor League Indians, 4 to 3,” Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1963: Section 3: 3.

15 Campbell, “And Now the Hard Work Begins”; Don Campbell. “‘Singing Ed’ Set to Sign On,” Ottawa Citizen, February 13, 2008: B2.

16 Don Martin, “Pro Ball, but Low Ball,” National Post (Toronto, Ontario), May 26, 2008: A3.

17 Martin.

18 Mark Sutcliffe, “How the Rapidz Can Replace Ottawa’s Missing Lynx,” Ottawa Citizen, May 3, 2008: H1.

19 Only one of the two players who drew interest at the tryout, outfielder Greg Dumouchel, played for the 2008 Rapidz. The other, outfielder-catcher Rudy Vallejos, did not make the team. Don Campbell, “Fielders of Dreams,” Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 2008: B1.

20 Don Campbell, “Can-Am League’s Rapids No Place for Field of Dreamers,” Ottawa Citizen, April 27, 2008: D1.

21 Don Campbell, “Rapid-z Change in Ottawa,” Ottawa Citizen, April 29, 2008: C2.

22 “Rapidz Announce Ticket Prices for Initial Season,” Ottawa Citizen, May 15, 2008: B2; “Go Rapidz!!,” The Waffle (blog), posted July 23, 2008. https://www.thewaffle.ca/index.php/2008/07/23/go-rapidz/.

23 Don Campbell, “Rapidz Fire GM Charrette,” Ottawa Citizen, May 8, 2008: B2. Charrette’s wife Lorraine, a former employee of the Lynx, had also been hired by the Rapidz but resigned her position a day before her husband’s dismissal.

24 Don Campbell, “Here’s A Uniform, Let’s Play,” Ottawa Citizen, May 18, 2008: D1.

25 “Broadcasts,” Ottawa Rapidz website, archived via the Internet Archive and accessed January 2024, https://web.archive.org/web/20080620061530/http://www.ottawarapidz.ca./press-broadcasts.asp; “Ottawa Rapidz on Rogers TV,” Rogers TV website, accessed January 2024, https://www.rogerstv.com/show?lid=12&rid=4&sid=2890.

26 Darren Desaulniers, “Baseball Makes a Rapidz Return,” Ottawa Citizen, May 19, 2008: B2. In his second and last season of independent ball, Strankman went 0-2 with a 7.54 ERA in 2008.

27 Don Campbell, “Nothing Doing in Opener,” Ottawa Citizen, May 23, 2008: B3.

28 Don Campbell, “Rapidz’ Bats Come to Life in Game 2,” Ottawa Citizen, May 24, 2008: C2.

29 Darren Desaulniers, “Rapidz Short on Offence, but Not Promises,” Ottawa Citizen, May 25, 2008: D2.

30 Author’s interview with Lemieux.

31 Don Campbell, “An Instant ‘Road Trip from Hell’ for the Rapidz,” Ottawa Citizen, May 27, 2008: D1; Don Campbell, “Road Trip’s a Rough One for Rapidz,” Ottawa Citizen, June 2, 2008: C1.

32 Darren Desaulniers, “Rapidz Struggle to Get Pitchers Some Run Support,” Ottawa Citizen, June 6, 2008: B8.

33 Darren Desaulniers, “Kusiewicz Wins First Rapidz Start the Hard Way,” Ottawa Citizen, June 27, 2008: B6.

34 Author’s email interview with Geiger.

35 Darren Desaulniers, “Surf’s Up for Modest Rapidz Streak,” Ottawa Citizen, July 10, 2008: B2.

36 Darren Desaulniers, “Rapidz Slide Out of First Half with Loss to Surf,” Ottawa Citizen, July 13, 2008: D3.

37 Campbell, “Road Trip’s a Rough One for Rapidz.”

38 Desaulniers, “Rapidz Slide Out of First Half with Loss to Surf.” In an interview with the author, Lemieux pointed out that the Rapidz’s crowds of 2,000 to 3,000 people were solid by independent league standards, but they seemed small because Ottawa Stadium could hold 10,000 fans.

39 Kelly Egan, “A Dog and a Beer, the Crack of a Bat and a Giant Man Named Walter,” Ottawa Citizen, June 27, 2008: F1.

40 Darren Desaulniers, “Hitting Woes Lead to Rapidz Ninth One-Run Loss of Season,” Ottawa Citizen, July 14, 2008: C3.

41 “Pride Beat Visiting Rapidz,” Ottawa Citizen, July 19, 2008: C3. Miller signed one-day contracts with the Pride for several years to raise money for charity. “Roundup,” Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor, July 18, 2008: C2.

42 Marty York, “Tillman Bleeds Roughriders Green,” Metro Ottawa, July 25-27, 2008: 8. https://archive.org/details/metro-ottawa-2008-07-25/page/n7/mode/2up?q=%22ottawa+rapidz%22&view=theater.

43 Author’s email interview with Geiger.

44 Darren Desaulniers, “Rapidz Loss Adds to Sad Day for Nottle,” Ottawa Citizen, July 24, 2008: B4.

45 Don Campbell, “Nottle Fired after Visiting Ailing Wife,” Ottawa Citizen, July 31, 2008: B1. In his interview with the author, Lemieux said he enjoyed playing for both managers. He described Nottle as “a vibrant personality” who was “all about supporting the guys” and Carcione as “more quiet, but a great guy” with “a wealth of knowledge about the game.”

46 Chris Yzerman, “High Praise Follows Nottle Low Note,” Ottawa Citizen, August 1, 2008: B4.

47 Steve Dolesch, “Disgusting Firing” (letter to the editor), Ottawa Citizen, August 6, 2008: A13.

48 Darren Desaulniers, “Rapidz Look on Bright Side,” Ottawa Citizen, September 2, 2008: B2.

49 Author’s email interview with Geiger.

50 “Rapidz Top Tornadoes,” Ottawa Citizen, August 24, 2008: D7.

51 Mike Beasley, “Late Heroics by Daubert Seals [sic] Win for Rapidz,” Ottawa Citizen, August 11, 2008: B7. Daubert had previously spent time with the York (Pennsylvania) Revolution and Bridgeport (Connecticut) Bluefish of the Atlantic League. The author of this story read several newspaper profiles of Daubert, but none specified whether he was related to Jake Daubert, the star first baseman of major league baseball’s Deadball Era.

52 Darren Desaulniers, “Rapids Play to Escape Dubious DIstinction on Last Weekend,” Ottawa Citizen, August 29, 2008: B1; Darren Desaulniers, “Rapidz Avoid Futility Record with Two to Spare,” Ottawa Citizen, August 31, 2008: D3.

53 Desaulniers, “Rapidz Look on Bright Side.”

54 Darren Desaulniers, “Wait ‘Til Next Year: Can-Am Team a Hit with Fans,” Ottawa Citizen, September 2, 2008: B2. Comparisons between the cost of attending a NHL Ottawa Senators game and a Rapidz game were common in Rapidz news coverage.

55 “Stars Shine on Rapidz Duo,” Ottawa Citizen, September 4, 2008: B2.

56 Don Campbell, “Rapidz Hand Carcione Manager’s Job,” Ottawa Citizen, September 6, 2008: C4; “Kusiewicz Joins Rapidz Front Office,” Ottawa Citizen, September 10, 2008: B5.

57 Don Campbell, “Rapidz Out at Home After One Season,” Ottawa Citizen, September 30, 2008: B1.

58 Campbell, “Rapidz Out at Home After One Season.” The Rapidz had arranged for shuttle-bus service to the ballpark to overcome the facility’s limited parking. Bob Thomas, “Council Didn’t Go to Bat for Pro Baseball” (letter to the editor), Ottawa Citizen, April 2, 2009: A11.

59 Don Campbell, “City Would Only Go to Five Years, Rapidz Say,” Ottawa Citizen, October 1, 2008: B1; CBC News, “Ottawa Rapids Go Under,” posted September 30, 2008. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-rapidz-go-under-1.733370.

60 “SCC to Field Arguments Over Baseball Team’s Forum Squabble,” Canadian Lawyer magazine, posted May 19, 2011. https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/general/scc-to-field-arguments-over-baseball-teams-forum-squabble/270815.

61 Don Campbell, “Suing Former Owner Claims Rapidz Demise Preordained,” Ottawa Citizen, March 26, 2008:C6.

62 Chianello, “City Wins Legal Battle Against Former Lynx Owner Pecor”; “City Wins Costs in Baseball Suit,” Ottawa Citizen, January 11, 2010: C5.

63 Supreme Court of Canada docket for Momentous.ca Corporation, et al, v. Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball Ltd., et al, accessed January 29, 2024. https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/dock-regi-eng.aspx?cas=33999.

64 Don Campbell, “Baseball Strikes Out Again in Ottawa,” Ottawa Citizen, March 31, 2009: B1. The Can-Am League had planned to operate the Voyageurs as a league-owned team. But when a planned sale of the league’s Atlantic City franchise fell through, league owners voted to eliminate the Ottawa and Atlantic City teams rather than subsidize and operate them both.

65 “Coaching Staff,” OttawaTitans.com, accessed January 31, 2024. https://www.ottawatitans.com/coaching-staff.

66 Author’s interview with Lemieux.