A Snowy Baseball Visit To Blue Cross Park, Home Of The Winnipeg Goldeyes

Last week, I flew to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for work (ArcBest) to experience my first work campaign north of the United States. The temperatures in Winnipeg in February, on average and according to online weather sites, are quite frigid and the landscape is mostly snowed over fields, streets, and parks. Flying into Winnipeg, I looked out of my window seat for any signs of baseball fields, or even greenery, and saw mostly this:

And when I landed at my hotel and later the next day at work, and during a snowy walk around the Winnipeg downtown, here are what my views looked like:

So, needless to say, the online weather folks were pretty spot on regarding the temperatures and conditions I experienced in Winnipeg for the week. No worries, I planned ahead with 10 pairs of socks of various thicknesses, two heavy sweatshirts, my go-to winter jacket (actually it is my only winter jacket), hat, gloves, and the mindset that cold, cold air is expected. And as for Winnipeg baseball experience pre-planning, I reached out to the local Winnipeg Goldeyes, an American Association of Professional Baseball club, to see if I could visit their park during my visit. Communications Manager Jason Young returned my email and invited me to connect with him once I got to Winnipeg. Which I did, and as luck (timing and opportunity, really) would have it, we did connect and agreed on a mutual date and time to meet at Winnipeg’s Blue Cross Park, home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes on the last day of my business campaign.

After my last day at the Winnipeg service center (ABF Freight), I parked my rental car at my hotel and made the roughly 1 mile trek on foot, down mostly snowed and iced over sidewalks, passed the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and over to Blue Cross Park. I entered the park through the Goldeyes Team Store, which had a ton of great Goldeyes shirts, hats, hoodies, and cool baseball items for sale. The Goldeyes Jason Young came into the store to greet me, welcomed me to Winnipeg, and proceeded to take me on a guided tour of various spots inside Blue Cross Park. We started with a walk down this amazing hallway filled with Winnipeg Goldeyes history, memorabilia, and stories galore.

Jason was awesome. His baseball knowledge, especially Canadian teams like the Goldeyes and Toronto Blue Jays, was incredible. Jason stopped at several framed jersey displays to tell me about the great Jeff Zimmerman and Pete Rose, Jr. (Dad signed his jersey which is framed), and the baseball uniform used by Matthew Modine in “The Winning Season” and the Pan-Am games as well as the caricature artistry in the main office. This hallway was a Canadian baseball history lesson in the flesh and I soaked in as much knowledge as Jason was willing to dish out.

Quick pivot to the Winnipeg Goldeyes team. As I stated earlier, the Goldeyes play professional, independent league baseball in the American Association of Professional Baseball. The Goldeyes are in the West Division, along with five other squads – Kansas City Monarchs, Sioux City Explorers, Lincoln Saltdogs, Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, and the Sioux Falls Canaries. The Goldeyes play at Blue Cross Park, which according to Jason, has a stadium capacity of around 7,400. The Goldeyes have called Blue Cross Park home since 1999. Their 2026 season starts with exhibition games in early May, an opening weekend road trip to Milwaukee (Milkmen) in mid May, and their first homestand against Kansas City beginning May 19th. You can view their entire schedule, roster, and all things Goldeyes on their official website – www.goldeyes.com.

As our tour made its way up and into Blue Cross Park, Jason was hospitable enough to bring me through one of the many stadium suites, into the press box, and show me around parts of the stadium’s concourse. With snow covering the field and many of the stadium’s seats and concourse area, along with some stadium construction going on, Jason safely navigated me into and out of a small section of the park so I could see the entire field. He pointed out the snow just about reaching the tops of the dugouts. He mentioned the many great vendors, craft breweries, patios for ultimate fan experiences, and promotions that go on during a typical season at Blue Cross. We chatted about mutual baseball acquaintances as Jason pointed out the many cool features of Blue Cross Park. I got this shot from the press box, which shows a snow covered field, likely to remain untouched until Mother Nature thaws it out.

After returning to first floor hallway, Jason and I exchanged baseball thanks and I departed Blue Cross Park for my mile or so walk back to the hotel. Just outside the team store, I was able to snap a few photos of the periphery of Blue Cross, again with snowy background present in each photo. It was a mostly sunny weather day on Thursday, so the photos with the white snow and the partly sunny skies really came out good.

I got way more than I expected on my guided tour of Blue Cross Park, home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Communications Manager Jason Young was an expert tour guide, not only about Goldeyes and Blue Cross Park, but about Canada’s place in baseball history. I really enjoyed our baseball chats about players, teams, stadiums we have visited, and those great baseball stories that make us all love the game so much. Huge thanks to Jason for his time and knowledge and contribution to the Goldeyes and the game of baseball. Overall, it was an exciting, snowy tour of Blue Cross Park, its press box, its memorabilia hallway. Sincerely, I got just a tiny glimpse into why Blue Cross is such a desirable destination for Winnipeg baseball fans every season. I had a pleasant walk to and from the ballpark, an even better tour once inside the stadium, and a fantastic Winnipeg baseball experience there at Blue Cross Park, home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes.