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The Calgary Vipers were a professional baseball team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They were part of the Western Division of the independent North American League. The Vipers played all of their home games at Foothills Stadium. Previously, the Vipers played in the Northern League from 2005 to 2007. The Vipers were champions of the Golden Baseball League in 2009, having defeated the Tucson Toros in the Championship Series.
Management problems surfaced just prior to the end of the 2011 season. By the end of the 2011 Season, it became apparent that the Vipers were financially moribund, and would not be back for 2012.
The Northern League announced on April 3, 2004, that it was expanding to Alberta, granting new franchises to Edmonton and Calgary. The Calgary franchise was to be owned by a pair of Japanese businessmen, Hiro Masawa and Naoto Higuchi, and incorporated as Calgary Baseball LLC. Due to the distance between the Alberta franchises and the Northern League's base in the midwest United States, the two teams were required to pay a Canadian Dollar60,000 annual travel subsidy to offset the costs for the other teams to fly into the city.
Despite the short time frame, the Vipers managed to build a quality team on the field, finishing second in the Northern division in both halves of the season. They played the first game in franchise history, on the road against the Sioux City Explorers on May 20, 2005, losing 7–3. They won their first game the following night, defeating the Explorers 12–2. The team played its first game at home on May 27, defeating the Joliet Jackhammers 9–8 in 11 innings.
Off the field, the Vipers finished last in attendance, averaging just over 1100 fans. However, crowds slowly improved as the season went on and the Vipers grew from a bare bones operation, and as the weather improved following a month of June that featured record amounts of rainfall.
On June 13, 2006, a string of bean balls in the first two innings touched off two major brawls between the Vipers and their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Cracker-Cats. After Edmonton's Greg Morrison was hit by a Calgary pitch for the fourth time in five games, the Cracker-Cats responded by throwing at two Calgary players. The resulting melee was so violent that the umpires sent both teams off the field, and suspended the game for over an hour to consult with league officials. When the Cracker-Cats refused to return to the field afterward, the game was declared a forfeit and the Vipers were awarded a 9–0 victory. winnipegsun.com - Baseball - Battle of Alberta, baseball style
The league came down hard on both teams, as both managers and seven players were suspended a total of 79 games. Morrison blamed Calgary manager Mike Busch for the incident, believing that Busch continues to hold a grudge after both Morrison, and another former Viper, J.P. Fauske defected to the Cracker-Cats after leaving the Vipers after a falling out with the Calgary manager late in the 2005 season. edmontonsun.com - Other Sports - Basebrawl
The Vipers finished first in their division in the first half of 2007 with a record of 29–19, and qualified for the playoffs for the first time. During the season, outfielder Darryl Brinkley became the first minor league baseball player of the modern era to achieve a .400 batting average. Brinkley was named the Independent League Player of the Year by Baseball America.
In the playoffs, they faced the second half winning Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in the North Division championship. The Vipers defeated the RedHawks 9–4 in the first game of the series to win their playoff debut, en route to a three-game sweep of Fargo as they won the pennant and earned a berth in the Northern League Championship Series. The Vipers won the first game of the final series against the Gary SouthShore RailCats, 7–6, on a two-run, walk-off home run by Carlos Duncan. The teams traded wins in the first four games, forcing the series to a decisive fifth game. The RailCats won the game, and the championship, 5–1.
Then, the Vipers traded pitcher John Odom to the Laredo Broncos of the United Baseball League for ten bats. Odom was unable to enter Canada and was turned away at the Canadian border due to an unspecified criminal charge on his record. Calgary Vipers minor leaguer traded for 10 baseball bats, Yahoo! Sports, Accessed May 31, 2008 The Vipers intended to auction the bats off to raise funds for their Snakes and Batters charity fund, however they were instead sold to Ripley's Believe it or Not for $10,000. Minor leaguer traded for 10 bats seeks redemption, Yahoo! Sports, Accessed May 31, 2008
On September 5, 2008, the Vipers won the GBL North Division Championship outright by sweeping the Cracker-Cats 3 games to 0. On September 14, they lost the best-of-five GBL Championship Series to the Orange County Flyers 3 games to 2.
In the 2009 season, the Vipers won both halves of the season, qualifying for the playoffs as the North Division regular season champions along with the second-place Edmonton Capitals. In the playoffs the Vipers won their first round series against the Capitals to win their second straight GBL North Division championship. The Vipers set a franchise attendance record in game four, with 4859 fans at the game.
The Vipers won the championship on their third straight try after losing the Northern League title in 2007 and the GBL title in 2008.
The Vipers defeated the San Luis Atleticos, 8–1, in the AWL Championship Game shortened to eight innings due to rain. They became the first team in history to capture both the GBL and AWL titles since the GBL's and AWL's respective inceptions. More impressive is that it was done within one calendar year. They would not return to the AWL in 2011.
| 2005 | NL | North | 25–22 | 2nd | 26–22 | 2nd | 51–44 | .537 | Did not qualify |
| 2006 | NL | North | 19–29 | 4th | 23–25 | 3rd | 42–54 | .438 | Did not qualify |
| 2007 | NL | North | 29–19 | 1st | 21–27 | 3rd | 50–45 | .526 | Won North Division pennant (3–0 FM) Lost championship series (2–3 Gary) |
| 2008 | GBL | North | 26–18 | 1st | 19–24 | 2nd | 45–42 | .517 | Won North Division pennant (3–0 Edm) Lost championship series (2–3 OC) |
| 2009 | GBL | North | 26–13 | 1st | 23–14 | 1st | 49–27 | .645 | Won North Division pennant (3–1 Edm) Won Championship (3–1 Tucson Toros) |
| 2010 | GBL | North | 23-20 | 3rd | 30–15 | 1st | 53–35 | .602 | Lost North Division Playoff (0-3 Chico Outlaws) |
| 2011 | NAL | North | 53–33 | 2nd | N/A | N/A | 53–33 | .616 | Lost North Division Playoff (2-4 Edmonton) |
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