'Great Places In Canada' is an online contest to nominate and vote
Home of baseball's London Majors is a wonderful treasure
By Mark
Schadenberg
The only good thing
about the Burlington Bandits victory today (Sunday), is that it
permits me good reason to finish my writing about Barry Wells, and
the home of Roop Chanderdat's diamond crew.
The London Majors lost
9-4 today to Burlington in InterCounty baseball playoffs, which means
Monday's Game 7 could be your last chance to watch the Majors this
season at Labatt Memorial Park at the forks of the Thames River in
London (Riverside Drive and Wilson Street).
First pitch is at 7:30
as the best-of-seven IBL quarterfinal is now knotted 3-3.
Dating back to 1877,
Labatt Park is the longest continuously used ball park in the world.
Lots of history can be doubted and debated, and some pundits may
point out the home plate has shifted significantly since the park's
inception 138 years ago, but in the final analysis, Labatt Park is
not only home for hardball, it's more than just a diamond or a gem of
a diamond, it's a destination to admire and enjoy.
Chanderdat is the
long-time field manager and co-owner of the Majors, half the
ownership tandem with Scott Dart.
Roop Chanderdat
Scott Dart
Who is Barry Wells
then? Wells, who called Woodstock home for much of his youth, is the
offensive leader of the Majors. Wells doesn't hit homers, steal
bases, bat cleanup or hit the ball into the gap for a ground-rule
double, but rather Wells is currently hitting a home run in promoting
Labatt Memorial Park as one of Canada's greatest destinations to
visit.
An online voting system
can be found at www.greatplacesincanada.ca,
and surprisingly three of the nominees this year are London landmarks
– Blackfriars Bridge, Meadowlily Woods, and Labatt Park.
Blackfriars might be historic but sadly has been reduced to being a
foot / bicycle bridge. Meadowlilly is a 300-acre green space of
significance, but it's not the place in London I'm voting for daily.
I'm voting for my
Labatt Memorial Park. As a long-time Rogers TV broadcaster
(volunteering often), I was the play-by-play voice for many majors
baseball games up to about 2010. During the Canada Summer Games in
2001, I also did baseball play-by-play.
Labatt Park – with
its many renovations and improvements of the years --- including
hosting Detroit Tigers AA baseball, plus the semi pro
independent-league Werewolves of London and many other clubs, both
pro and amateur.
Here's an excerpt from
the nomination Barry Wells wrote for the online contest – a voting
which can only be deemed positive as it promotes and pinpoints many
significant Canadian locales.
()()()()()()()()()
. . . baseball
is the park’s primary attraction, with the London Majors Baseball
Club, its longest tenant, calling the park home since 1925. In
addition, the park is regularly used by scores of local teams in
several different leagues, as well as the Western Mustangs and
Fanshawe Falcons baseball teams each Fall.
Labatt
Park won the prestigious “Beam Clay Award” in 1989-90 as the best
natural-grass baseball field in North America for cities less than
300,000 in population. On September 7, 2011, Labatt Park was named
“Canada’s Favourite Ballpark” by Baseball Canada after a
three-month long, online contest.
Unique
to Labatt Park is a treed picnic area just inside the park’s front
gates at 25 Wilson Avenue, featuring a towering sugar maple estimated
to be more than 150 years old (predating Confederation in 1867 and
the opening of the park itself in 1877) and a handcrafted, four-plex
birdhouse designed and built by London’s master birdhouse builder,
Gordon Harrison, a birdhouse commissioned by The Friends of Labatt
Park in 2013.
The
city-owned park is open to the general public seven days a week
during baseball season from late April to October, whether there’s
a baseball game on or not at the park.
At
the park are nine (9) historical plaques and seven (7) commemorative,
indigenous trees. Since the Spring of 2012, a pair of Osreys have
been nesting atop a light standard behind the 3rd-baseline stands,
attracting considerable media attention, as they soar overhead during
games and as they fish in the nearby Thames River.
()()()()()()()()()
Feel free to research
and study the other nominated points of interest from coast to coast,
including AA MacDonald Memorial Gardens in PEI and then westward to
Grizzly Plaza in Revelstoke, BC. If you reside anywhere near London,
you will quickly vote for Labatt Memorial Park daily – again and
again.
This contest or
balloting system is in conjunction with the national Communities In
Bloom contest which yearly rates cities and towns based on their
landscaping, cleanliness and municipal spirit.
Among the 2013 winners
in the Great Places contest was Wortley Village in London and also
Goderich. With the Lake Huron community of Goderich victim to an
extensive tornado in 2011, their win was a culmination of quite a
comeback as the town was renown for its unique circular downtown.
Last year, London's East Village was among the winners, along with
Antigonish in Nova Scotia, plus a neighbourhood in old Quebec City.
BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
In
the meantime, be sure to catch Game 7 of the Majors – Bandits
series as the winner will move on to the semifinals versus the
Kitchener Panthers.
As for the Majors, they
had an interesting season, winning their first seven contests back
in May, and winning five of their last six down the stretch, so with
a 20-16 mark overall, my quick math indicates the club was just 8-15
in the middle of their schedule.
With its proximity to
Budweiser Gardens, Covent Garden Market, Museum London, Harris Park,
Ivey Park, and naturally the Forks Of The Thames River, Labatt Park
is a must-stop for anyone. Owned by the City of London, the grounds
includes the historically-significant Roy McKay Clubhouse. In 1994,
the park was recognized by London city council under the Ontario
Heritage Act.
LINKS:
http://www.lfpress.com/2015/08/06/three-london-jewels-are-showcased-in-a-national-contest-for-great-public-places-in-canada-emanuela-campanella-looks-at-whats-behind-the-competition
Facebook:
London Majors Baseball
Twitter
@LondonMajors
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
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
Discussion
. . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination
