Labatt park might not be in its glory days anymore but at one time the baseball diamond that sits at the forks of them thames hosted major league preambles and was the centre of baseball fever at the end of the civil war.
Recently alumni from the many years of Majors Baseball have been digging out the history of their beloved field. This is in hopes of earning a national heritage designation which will formally recognize the park for its long list of baseball contributions.
The city has owned Labatt Memorial Park since 1937 when the Labatt family donated it to the city along with money to pay for its upkeep.
Not many continuous records have been kept over the many decades, and the task the alumni are undertaking is slowly stitching together one of the greatest sports mythos in the world.
“The settlers had just barely cleared the land when they started playing baseball.”
The few who have been apart of the team and have etched their names into the history of Canadian baseball, know that the events that have taken place on this field of dreams have impacted the world around them in permanent ways.
Chip martin, who has authored several books on early baseball in the London area, contends that “The settlers had just barely cleared the land when they started playing baseball.”
Labatt park was built in 1877 but from Martin’s research we know baseball had been played in London for quite some time at what were called the exhibition grounds. The grounds were actually part of a British military garrison which used to occupy what is now Victoria park. It was a local shop owner who originally proposed the construction of a permanent ball park when he purchased the land that Labatt park now sits on.
“in my opinion that park would not be there if it wasn’t for the park being given to the city.”
Since then the park has gone through many trials and tribulations. It was nearly destroyed in the flood of ’37 when the thames burst its banks and destroyed swaths of developed land along the riversides.
Barry Wells has been a long time protector of the park having been a leader in getting a portion of the park designated as a provincial heritage site. Barry is hyper conscious of the accidental actions that Londoners took to preserve the park “in my opinion that park would not be there if it wasn’t for the park being given to the city.” GeorgeMooney Gibson was a long time friend of the Labatt family and felt compelled to convince the business man to save the park and guarantee in a contract that the grounds would always be used for recreation.
The ensuing conquests of the various franchises that followed would reignite baseball passion in the city and the stardom of the ’48 team would immortalize baseball at Labatt park.
Wells can’t see any future that baseball doesn’t take place on the field next to the forks. Should that National Heritage designation be placed on Labatt park, the city hopes to create informative displays to convey some of the happenings of the Worlds Oldest Baseball Grounds.
