McFarland: Coaching legend Brown back with WCBL’s Giants
Veteran coach Ray Brown is back with the Fort McMurray Giants. Photo: Alberta Dugout Stories
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on June 2. You can read it here.
June 5, 2025
By Joe McFarland
Alberta Dugout Stories
It all comes down to a simple game of catch for Ray Brown.
After more than six decades in baseball, few can match his experience or his instincts at the ballpark.
You never have to question where the Baseball Alberta Life Member is coming from or what his coaching philosophies might be, as he has always believed that hard work and the basics will create success on the field.
While many focus on the offensive side of the game, he says defence and pitching give you a better chance at winning games.
“In my opinion, the most important skill in baseball is playing catch,” Brown told Alberta Dugout Stories: The Podcast. “If we can catch the ball and throw the ball and throw strikes, we have a good chance at being successful.”
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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories interview Ray Brown here.
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It’s a philosophy that has continued to stand the test of time and one that continues to earn him respect – and more opportunities – in the ever-changing baseball coaching world.
BIG-LEAGUE DREAMS
Originally from Shreveport, La., Brown says he was about 10 years old when he was first introduced to the game of baseball.
He and his brother were delivering newspapers when one of the men who answered the door asked if they wanted to play Little League baseball.
Both suited up, and while his sibling only played for one season, Brown was enamoured with the sport, playing whenever he could and listening to Los Angeles Dodgers games on the radio.
“I remember saying to a friend that, ‘When I get big and have a job, I want to be like those guys,’” he recalled.
“I said, ‘I want to do my work then play baseball at night,’ and my friend didn’t know what I was talking about and [I] had to explain that baseball was their job.”
Brown says he remembers that it was in that moment in 1959 where he decided he wanted to chase his baseball dream.
After a solid high school career, the hurler went to Long Beach City College before heading 3.5 miles south to California State University, Long Beach.
He also started earning the attention of Major League Baseball scouts and the Kansas City Royals took a shot by taking the right-handed hurler in the 60th round of the 1969 June Amateur Draft.
Two years later, Brown signed with the club and began a four-year pro playing career that took him to the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League as well as the Waterloo Royals and San Jose Bees in Single-A.
He even threw the first perfect game in the California League.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
However, Brown was released in 1975, leading him to ask around for possible places to play.
A fellow player, Orv Franchuk, told him about the Edmonton Tigers of the Alberta Major Baseball League.
Not only did he fall in love with the Edmonton region, but he also found love when he met his future wife, Lyn, while playing at a tournament in Lac La Biche.
They got married and stayed in Edmonton where, after his playing career came to an end, he started focusing on coaching.
Brown gives credit to his high school and collegiate coaches for showing him how to mentor young players the right way.
“All three of those coaches demanded the work ethic to be the best that you could be,” said the 76-year-old. “I brought that same attitude with me (to Alberta).”
“If I’m going to coach, then we’re going to coach for a purpose to make guys better. If guys want a chance to go to school, we’re going to try to get them that opportunity. It’s just who I am.”
Brown was named the Baseball Alberta Minor Coach of the Year in 1982.
DAYS OF SUMMER
After spending nearly 20 years coaching in the region and developing the game in South Pacific countries, Brown got a phone call from Edmonton Prospects owner Pat Cassidy.
The Western Major Baseball League team was looking for a new coach, and Brown liked the idea of helping contribute to the careers of collegiate players.
“The season starts next May but people who know me won’t be surprised to hear that we’re preparing for opening day, starting now,” he told the Edmonton Sun.
Joined by Franchuk, Brown and the Prospects finished with a 17-29 record that summer.
They inched closer to the .500 mark in 2015 with a 21-26 record, crossing over to the East Division playoffs, where they lost their best-of-five series to Weyburn.
With future MLB players Kody Funderburk and Erik Sabrowski (Edmonton, Alta.) in the lineup, the 22-25 Prospects of 2016 surprised the first-place Okotoks Dawgs and second-place Medicine Hat Mavericks in the playoffs before falling to Swift Current in the 2016 final.
The Prospects once again upset the Dawgs and the Mavericks in 2017 but again lost to the 57’s in 2017.
They did it again to Okotoks in 2018 before falling to the eventual champion Mavericks, with Brown and Franchuk stepping down that fall.
Brown landed in Fort McMurray for his first stint with the Giants in 2019, guiding them to a 28-28 record, falling just short of the playoffs.
After the COVID-19 pandemic turfed the 2020 WCBL season, then led to an abbreviated 2021 campaign which the Giants didn’t take part in, Brown was back in Fort McMurray for the 2022 campaign.
He led the Giants to their first playoff appearance that summer with a 26-30 record, although they were swept in their best-of-three with the Sylvan Lake Gulls.
That fall, Brown started a two-year stint as pitching coach with the West Coast League’s Edmonton Riverhawks, who are led by former Edmonton Tigers teammate and hurler Randy Gregg.
When the opportunity to rejoin the Giants came up for the 2025 season, he jumped at the opportunity.
“I like Fort McMurray,” said Brown, who was named a Baseball Alberta Life Member in 2019. “I like the ownership – Dutche (Iannetti) does a great job with the program and he’s good to the players.”
Like he did in working with up-and-coming head coach Jake Lanferman with the Riverhawks, Brown says he’s excited to not only coach but mentor the next generation of coaches, which will include former Giants Nik Cardinal and Tanner Hess as his assistants this summer.
OLD SCHOOL
If you want to know what kind of team Brown wants to bring on the field, he’s not shy about it.
He wants players to work hard and give 100 per cent for the team and the fans who pay money to see games every night.
“The expectation is that they’re coming here to play baseball,” Brown said. “They’re coming here to get better – they’re coming here with a dream.”
He says his goal is to make sure each Giants player leaves Fort McMurray better than they were before they got there, preferring to use his eyes and gut to make decisions over data and analytics – although he adds they can be useful tools.
Brown is also aware many college players have dreams of turning pro, so he’s happy to treat them as such for the few months they come to Western Canada.
“You have to like it … it just can’t be a job,” Brown says. “When it’s just a job, you’re looking for days off.”
Which says something about Ray Brown because, after 66 years in the game, even he isn’t looking for a day off.