The newest of a series of honors for Labatt Memorial Park reinforces the desire for a national historic designation for the world’s oldest baseball park.
In late June, after a three-week online vote organized through the Inter-Cons Baseball League, the jewel of London was named the IBL’s most productive ball stadium, ahead of a strong Rival welland.
The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes the park at the forks of the Thames, unlike central London, as the “oldest baseball box in the world.” It was created in 1877 for the professional team of London Tecumsehs, one of the most productive clubs in North America at the time.
That autumn, London won the opening pennant of the International Association, created to rival the National League. Based on their success, the Tecumsehs were invited to join the National League, but refused. At the time, London was an absolute hotbed for baseball while Toronto was still learning the game.
Baseball has been played frequently on the same site for 144 years and continues to attract attention.
Before retiring, John Winston, Managing Director of Tourism of London, suggested that the city apply for the designation of National Heritage for Labatt Park. And when he came up last year, Bob Barney, a sports historian and professor emeritus at Western University, echoed that call in an article presented at the Canadian Baseball Research Center, saying, “If the mythical park is guaranteed to have lasting prominence in sports culture, he will have to seek the designation of national heritage.”
The municipality reports that the COVID-19 pandemic has a backward focus on the concept, but will be addressed.
London has 4 places designated as national historical sites: the Banting House, where Frederick Banting conceived the concept of insulin; The former Middlesex County Courthouse; The residential and advertising building complex on Ridout Street, north of Queens Avenue; and Wolseley Barracks, established in 1888, Canada’s first and longtime royal regiment infantry school.
The baseball stadium acquired for the Tecumseh through Chinese merchant W. J. Reid, who named it after the team. A 600-seat grandstand erected and within a few months the Canadian Illustrated News said Tecumseh Park as “no doubt.” ArrayArray the most productive for goal in the Dominion. This is the first of many awards the park has won over the years.
A flood in July 1883 swept through the grandstand and fences and shortened this season of play. It was temporarily rebuilt and other activities such as cycling, lacrosse and football were carried out there.
By the end of 1936, the park was in poor condition and was purchased through the circle of Labatt relatives who donated it to the city with $10,000 for upgrades. There were two situations associated with the gift: that it be renamed and continued to be used for public sport. In the spring of 1937, a devastating flood seriously broke the park, but the famous Labatt Memorial Park was repaired and used in mid-June. That same year, the Roy McKay Clubhouse was built.
The semi-professional London Majors, founded in 1925, are the oldest tenants in Labatt Park. Amateur at Western University and Fanshawe College also use it extensively. From 1989 to 1993, he hosted the London Tigers, a professional agricultural club with the Detroit Tigers, followed by the London Werewolves and the short-lived London Monarch, both professional operations.
A national heritage designation would be a feather on the park hat, highlighting its tourist and city perspective.
If Wolseley Barracks, the former house of grenade launchers, can be so honored, the venerable house of ball throwers will actually be too.
The time has come for the city corridor to adapt to the occasion.
Chip Martin is a retired journalist from the London Free Press and books on crime and baseball.
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