The love of baseball lives on in Oyen

By Joan Janzen

It’s been said that love may be the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. Marilyn Lehman from Oyen recognizes the truth in those words, as she and her late husband, Doug Lehman, shared love for one another and a love of baseball.

There are plenty of reminders of the Lehman’s involvement in the sport spread throughout the town of Oyen in Doug’s memory: Doug Lehman Field, Doug Lehman Stadium and the Doug Lehman Badgers Scholarship, to name a few. The couple was involved in amateur sports at all levels in the community.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland, was the final stadium Marilyn Lehman and her late husband Doug visited on their tour of thirty stadiums. Photo: (USA Today)

Their love of the sport inspired them to complete a quest to watch a ball game in every Major League Baseball home park. Yet Marilyn first acquired her love of the sport after she married her husband.

She was born in Oyen and grew up in Acadia Valley, never straying far from home except to attend university. She explained that neither she nor her family were involved in sports. “We didn’t even go to sports days,” she added. However, that all changed after she married Doug.

“Opposites attract, you know,” she said. “He definitely was a sports lover. As soon as we were married, baseball and hockey were a huge part of our lives. He played both.” And Marilyn was there to cheer him on.

In 2003 the couple took a baseball trip to watch the Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim, Doug’s favourite team. It was such a great experience, they decided they would visit more major league stadiums.

“Usually, we would visit one or two each summer, but we started doing the math and decided we had to pick up the pace,” Marilyn explained. Consequently, they started going on baseball bus tours, visiting between six to eight stadiums on each trip. The bus was filled with baseball enthusiasts during their ten-day excursions.

Their quest to visit more than thirty stadiums proved to be a relaxing experience, as they would enjoy city tours, visiting local points of interest along the way. The couple completed their quest in 2016.

“Our last stadium was Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland,” Marilyn said. “My university friends and their husbands from Pennsylvania joined us for that momentous occasion and came for the game.” On that trip, they attended the Little League World Series, and visited the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Museum at Cooperstown.

“What an experience! There was so much history there!” Marilyn exclaimed. “It takes a while to knock off 30 stadiums, and we ended up going to some stadiums more than once.”

Now she has many fond memories and is so thankful they accomplished their goal. “There’s also the satisfaction that he could enjoy his passion for sports during his lifetime.” They completed their goal a little over a year prior to his passing.

Now, all this reminiscing has got Marilyn thinking it might be time for another baseball tour. “They were a lot of fun, that’s for sure!” Marilyn concluded.