Elliott, Subscriber Series Part I, Joanne Brunner

Joanne Brunner and husband John, with their son, Okotoks Dawgs LHP Graham Brunner (Sherwood Park, Alta.).

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

We thought with diamonds snow covered or empty we’d take a look at our loyal subscribers.

Kind of like the one night the late great Ted Tevan signed off his talk show in Montreal asking the question “Who’s out there in the night, who is listening?”

The next day his wife received a call at home.

“Ted the phone is for you, I don’t know who it is,” his wife said, “but he has a great voice.”

And the former Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney, told Tevan: “Ted, I’m out here. I can hear you. I’m listening. Every night. Keep up the good work.”

Hitting lead off in our loyal subscriber series … Of course we are looking for invididual subscribers -- not under appreciating the likes of busy academies/schools/teams like the Okotoks Dawgs, University of British Columbia Thunderbirds and the Terriers.

Names: Joanne Brunner and her husband, John Brunner.

Hometown: “We live on an acreage southeast of Sherwood Park (Alta.) since 1981.”

How did you fall in love with baseball: “We met on a baseball diamond. We both watched baseball on TV since we were young and I played softball and my husband coached.”

What is your association with baseball? “We’re the mother and father of Graham Brunner.” He will pitch at Emporia State University this spring and this summer for the Okotoks Dawgs.

What is your most memorable moment with your favourite player or team? “We have had lots of memorable moments through the years but probably Game 1 of last season’s Western Canada League playoffs is the most recent. Graham pitched (six scoreless innings) and did very well.”

What do you like most about the Canadian Baseball Network site? “What we like most on the Canadian Baseball Network is keeping up to date with news of other players over the years. We know a lot of players Graham knows through the years.”

Which regular feature on the Canadian Baseball Network site do you enjoy? “We don’t really have a favourite feature on CBN. We really love them all but enjoy the yearly All-Canadian college All Star Teams.” (He earned Canadian Baseball Network First Team honours in 2020 and Second Team honours in 2021.)

How did you initially hear about Canadian Baseball Network? “We heard about CBN probably back when Graham started with the Okotoks Dawgs Academy in 2016 when the Okotoks Dawgs college team was in the old WCBL. Graham started playing for the College team in 2017 when he was still in high school. We started following it then and through the years there were features on Graham.”