Museum property includes 3 ball diamonds and memorabilia galore
By Mark Schadenberg
Another check off the old bucket list.
You would have thought a baseball
fanatic such as myself living about 40 minutes away from St. Marys
had been to the Canadian Baseball Hall Of Fame & Museum.
I've seen the baseball display at the
Beachville District Museum several times and local sports memorabilia
at the Woodstock museum, but I had never entered the doors of the
Canadian baseball shrine is St Marys.
As manager of the Woodstock Navy Vets
in Junior InterCounty baseball some 20+ years ago, I spent hundreds
of hours at the Tip O'Neill Sportsfield in Southside Park.
When I was sports editor of the
Woodstock Sentinel-Review, I was honoured to interview Oscar 'Lefty'
Judd (pictured below) at his Ingersoll home. While there is an abundance of recollections in St. Marys, part of the collection is the southpaw's cleats.
As per too many landmarks, the signage
to find the Canadian ball shrine is truly lacking, but with a check
on Mapquest before our family departed, I knew where to find the hall
of fame and its accompanying three ball diamonds even without
sufficient directional arrows – simply meander down Church Street
South.
Among the folks Nicole, Maeghan,
Spencer and I chatted with there was a gentleman from Illinois who
seemed to know the entire Chicago Cubs history and commented that he
had seen Ferguson Jenkins pitch in person at Wrigley Field on
numerous occasions. I could over-hear him talk to the two women
employees about various collectibles which were for sale. The Cubs
fan would purchase an autographed Fergie Jenkins baseball.
The museum is not large and I know that as I had seen many photos of it's exterior previously, but did
not realize the second floor did not feature exhibit space as its
truly storage and employee-only access.
The findings are predictable including
a hallway that boasts plaques of all previous inductees. It's not
easy to take a photo in a narrow walkway of the shiny commemorative
plaques with a story or bio attached below.
The St. Marys location includes three
'field of dreams', which are utilized often, especially for youth
baseball camps.
Inside, the hall of fame includes
historic jerseys, recognition of the back-to-back World Series titles
by the Blue Jays, a synopsis of the Montreal Expos (including a life-size cardboard Larry Walker), an overview of
the dozens of Canadians who played in the All-American Girls'
professional women's baseball league (1943-54) made famous by the
movie A League Of Their Own, and tons of memorabilia in all forms –
programs, ticket stubs, signed baseballs, newspaper clippings,
posters, vintage equipment, copies of the World Series rings earned
by the Blue Jays, a base from the last MLB game at Exhibition Stadium
in Toronto, and a look back at Jackie Robinson breaking the colour
barrier when he played AAA with the Montreal Royals before his
promotion to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
The Canadian ball hall also displays
lots of trophies, baseball cards, lineup cards, photos and renderings
of stadiums from yester-year, bats and home plates, bobble-head dolls
and a mini Expos' Youppi mascot, and a unique-looking contraption as
an antique pitching machine.
In my mind, the artifacts I wanted to
explore would be three-fold – Tip O'Neill of Woodstock, who was a
baseball star in the 1880's, MLB pitcher Oscar 'Lefty' Judd of
Ingersoll, and writings and the display pertaining to the first-ever
recorded game in Beachville in 1838.
Judd was inducted in 1986 in just the
third such ceremony and before the St. Marys museum existed. Judd's
best year in MLB was 1942 when he went 11-6 with an ERA of 2.90 for
the Boston Red Sox. With over 200 games played, Lefty had 99 starts
and a career 3.90 ERA. I interviewed Oscar, likely in 1993. He died
in 1995 at the age of 87. If I could remember exactly when I visited
with Judd at his Canterbury Street home, I would go to the library
microfilm and acquire a copy of the bio.
As an almost-lifetime resident of
Woodstock, I have always had admiration for James Edward 'Tip'
O'Neill and his astonishing 1883 season with a .435 batting average
(225 hits in 124 games) and winning the triple crown with 14 homers
and 123 RBIs. The asterisk of the 1883 campaign has always been that
they counted walks as hits that season, so some annals have his
average at .492. His St. Louis Brown won the 1886 World Series with
O'Neill hitting a pair of homers in Game 2 and completing the series
with the highest batting average at .400.
O'Neill died on New Year's Eve in 1915
at the age of 57.
O'Neill – The Woodstock Wonder –
was among the inaugural inductees in 1983, and since 1984 the top
Canadian in the majors each year has been recognized with the Tip
O'Neill Award. Last year's winner was Justin Morneau, while other
winners include Larry Walker (9 times), Joey Votto (4), Morneau (3),
Jason Bay (3), Eric Gagne (2). Current Jays catcher Russell Martin
earned the distinction in 2007 with the Dodgers.
If and when your family SUV ventures
near St Marys, stop by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
It's a national landmark with many treasures to observe and learn
from.
Phone: (519) 284-1838
LINKS:
http://www.townofstmarys.com/discover/attractions/attractions.aspx?id=4326
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty Brokerage
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519)
537-1553, cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Facebook:
Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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