Grey-Bruce Kids Summer 2023

Memorabilia from Canada’s national women’s
baseball team.
Items from the hit movie, A League of Their Own.
international success, baseball continued to grow in popularity
across the quickly expanding country. Playing fields of differing
dimensions were a common sight in many communities,
however, it was London, Ont., in 1877, where WJ Reid
constructed a world-class baseball facility that is still in use
today. Swampland adjacent to the Thames River was drained
and cleared for a baseball stadium named Tecumseh Park.
Though used regularly for the next six decades, the stadium fell
into disrepair in the early-1930s. Coming to the rescue of the
grand playing field was the Labatt family of London brewing
fame. They purchased and donated the park to the City of
London, while also footing the bill for over $10,000 in upgrades
(over $175,000 today).
Today, Labatt Park remains the oldest continually used baseball
stadium in the world. Its unique early stadium architecture
provides fans with the unforgettable experience of watching
baseball the way the game’s early enthusiasts did over 100
years ago. Today, the London Majors of the semi-professional,
Ontario-based Inter-County Baseball Association call the
historic grounds home.
By the beginning of the 20th Century, baseball had exploded
in popularity in the densely populated U.S. With railroads
providing comparatively rapid travel between cities, organized
leagues had formed and the playing rules were standardized. By
1903, Major League Baseball had begun to take on a similar
structure to what it is today. The original National League,
which was primarily based on the east coast of the U.S., reached
an agreement with the American League, which was centred in
the midwest, to compete yearly for the World Series, which saw
the champion from each league square off for the title.
Though Canada would not have a Major League team until
1969 when the Montreal Expos joined the National League,
22 GREY-BRUCE KIDS • SUMMER 2023