Labatt Park
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| Former names | Tecumseh Park |
|---|---|
| Location | London, Ontario, Canada |
| Owner | City of London |
| Capacity | 5,200 |
| Field size | 330 ft (100 m) down the lines; 402 ft (123 m) to centre field |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | May 3, 1877 |
| Renovated | 1883, 1937, 1950s (side grandstands), 1989, 2001 |
| Construction cost | 2001 (new Main Grandstand): $1.97-million |
| Architect | Tillman Ruth Mocellin |
| Tenants | |
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London Tecumsehs, International Association (1877–1878; 1888–1890) London Alerts (1897, 1899) London Cockneys, International League (1899,1908) London Cockneys, Canadian League (1911) London Tecumsehs, Canadian League (1912–1915) London Tecumsehs, Michigan–Ontario League (1919–1924) London Indians, Michigan–Ontario League (1925) London Majors, Intercounty Baseball League (1925–present) London Tecumsehs, Ontario League (1930) London Pirates, PONY League (1940–1941) London Tigers, Eastern League (1989–1993) London Werewolves, Frontier League (1999–2001) London Monarchs, Canadian Baseball League (2003) Western Mustangs Baseball Club (2006–present) London Rippers, Frontier League (2012) |
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Labatt Memorial Park (formerly Tecumseh Park, 1877–1936) is a baseball stadium near the forks of the Thames River in central London, Ontario, Canada. It is 8.7 acres (35,000 m2) in size, has 5,200 seats and a natural grass field. From home plate to centre field the distance is 402 feet (123 m); from home plate to left and right field down the lines, it is 330 feet (100 m).
Labatt Park is the "oldest continually operating baseball grounds in the world", with a history dating back to 1877. Since December 31, 1936, Labatt Park has been owned by the City of London.
On September 7, 2011, Baseball Canada announced that historic Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario, had won its six-week-long, favourite ballpark contest, winning the final round where it went head-to-head with Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Ontario. During the two-week-long, final round of online voting, where more than 19,000 votes were cast, Labatt Park won with 63 per cent of the vote.
However, Fuller Field in Clinton, Massachusetts made it into the Guinness Book of World Records in September 2007 as the "world's oldest continually used baseball diamond/ field", dating back to 1878—a year after Tecumseh Park-Labatt Park opened in 1877—as Fuller Field's home plate and bases have purportedly remained in the same location since 1878, whereas home plate at Labatt Park has been moved (within the same field) from its original location in 1877.
In September 2008, however, Labatt Park replaced Clinton, Massachusetts' Fuller Field in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records (page 191) as the "World's Oldest Baseball Diamond." Although it has flip flopped in the past, as of January 4, 2016, Guinness's online record for the World's Oldest Baseball Diamond also states Labatt Park, London, Ontario. World's Oldest Baseball Field
On May 30, 1994, the park was designated by London City Council under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act as an historic site via by-Law No. L.S.P.-3237-544, with the ceremonial plaque unveiling at the front gates of the park occurring on July 1 (Canada Day), 1994, prior to a doubleheader between the London Majors and Toronto Maple Leafs of the Intercounty Baseball League.
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