London Majors
| London Majors | |
|---|---|
| League | Intercounty Baseball League (1925–present) |
| Location | London, Ontario |
| Ballpark | Labatt Memorial Park |
| Year founded | 1925 |
| League championships | 9 |
| Division championships | 11 |
| Colours | Blue, Black and White |
| Ownership | Scott Dart and Roop Chanderdat |
| Manager | Roop Chanderdat |
| Media | www |
| Website | www |
The London Majors are an independent, minor league baseball team of the semi-pro Intercounty Baseball League. The team was founded in 1925, and is based in London, Ontario. They play their home games at the 5,200 seat Labatt Memorial Park.
Over the years, the team has also been known at various times as the London Seniors (1934–1944) the London Majors (1944–1959) London Chester Pegg Diamonds (1960–61), the London Majors again (1962), the London Pontiacs (1963–1969), the London Avcos (1970–73) and the London El-Morocco Majors (1974), depending on the team sponsorship of the day.
In 1948 London Majors, considered one of the best teams in Intercounty history, not only won the Intercounty League championship, but the Ontario Baseball Association championship, the Canadian amateur men's championship, and the Can-Am North American championship of the National Baseball Congress beating the Fort Wayne, Indiana, General Electrics in a best-of-seven-game series played at Labatt Park, with such London stars as pitcher "Tireless" Tommy White, catcher Jack Fairs, short-stop/ fielder Russell (the Muscle) Evon, catcher Gil Robertson, infielder Don Cooper and rookie outfielder Joltin' Joe Bechard (the four remaining members of the '48 Majors still alive are Jack Fairs, Gil Robertson, Joe Bechard and trainer Norm Aldridge—see photo below).
Fort Wayne had gained renown by losing one game in 15 tournaments played during the previous two years.
The Majors won the opener on September 21, 1948, at Labatt Park when Joe Bechard's single in the 11th inning scored Johnny Lockington from second with the winning run in an 8-7 victory. Three times in the game Bechard had knocked in a run tying the game for London. It was "the greatest display of clutch hitting ever seen in the local ball yard", wrote Free Press sports editor Jack Park.
Fort Wayne went up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series but London pitcher Tommy White threw a five-hitter and Bechard hit a grand slam in a 13-1 London win in Game 6. White returned to the mound the next day and allowed five hits but blanked the Electrics 5-0 to give London the championship and post his third win of the series.
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