London Tecumsehs

Origins of the London Tecumsehs and Base Ball in London, Ontario, Canada

Adapted from the British game of rounders -- and by extension, cricket -- the game of base ball or "townball" became popular in the early 1800s in Southwestern Ontario (then Canada West/ Upper Canada), New York State and New England.

The first documented evidence of a base ball game in Canada comes from a letter published in Sporting Life magazine in 1886, a letter by Dr. Adam E. Ford of Denver, Colorado, formerly of St. Marys, Ontario and Beachville, Ontario, about a game 48 years earlier in Beachville on June 4, 1838 -- Militia Muster Day (King George IV's birthday).

Originally, the rules of the game were informal in nature and often modified to reflect regional preferences.

Later, rules were codified as formal leagues were formed with professional players, such as the fledgling five-team Canadian Association of Base Ball in 1876 (London Tecumsehs, Hamilton Standards, Guelph Maple Leafs, Kingston St. Lawrence and Toronto Clippers) and the 16-team International Association in the winter of 1876-1877, made up of London, Guelph, Ontario, and 14 U.S. teams and created as a rival to the National League.

Byrce's Base Ball Guides

A treasure-trove of information about early Canadian base ball came to light in 2002 when Library and Archives Canada purchased (for $10,000 from an Ottawa, Ontario bookseller) Bryce's Base Ball Guide of 1876 and Bryce's Base Ball Guide of 1877 two hand-coloured, 75-page booklets published by William Bryce of London, Ontario, which were originally sold for a dime.

The two, four-inch by seven-inch guides are considered the first significant publications on Canadian baseball. Bryce, a Scottish-born bookseller, news agent and sporting goods distributor in London, had a small stake in the Tecumsehs, considered by many to be the finest ball team in the Dominion.

According to George Railton's 1856 London directory, the "London Base Ball Club" comprised of 22 members with J.K. Brown, Dr. J. Wilkinson and J.D. Dalton as its officers, played regularly on the military reserve that is now Victoria Park.

The merger of the Forest City and London Base Ball clubs to form the London Tecumsehs occurred in June of 1868 with John Brown as president -- a team named after the Tecumseh House hotel on the southwest corner of York and Richmond streets, immediately north of today's CN railway tracks.

In 1868, the Tecumsehs lost to the Woodstock Young Canadians 89-46 in a five-hour game. Woodstock later defeated Guelph Maple Leafs 36-29 to win the Canadian Silver Ball Championship.

During the early 1870s, the major rivals of the London Tecumsehs were the Guelph Maple Leafs who were sponsored by brewer/ sportsman George Sleeman, proprietor of Silver Creek Brewery, and the Woodstock Young Canadians. The Guelph Maple Leafs were the first Ontario team to hire professional ball players from the U.S. to strengthen their team.

When Jacob L. Englehart, a wealthy pioneer London oil refiner from Cleveland, Ohio, became the president and financial backer of the Tecumsehs in late 1875, he too began looking for professional players from the U.S., later signing four Americans: first-baseman/ manager George "Juice" Latham, pitcher Fred Goldsmith (believed by many to be the inventor of the curveball) of New Haven, Connecticut, catcher Phil Powers and infielder/ outfielder Joe "Dutchy" Hornung from Carthage, New York.

After the military reserve was donated to the City for a public park in 1874, public protests in 1875 against the Tecumseh's use of a fenced area of the park prompted the club to move their games to the old Fair Grounds northeast of today's Central Avenue and Wellington Street, where they played until the end of the 1876 season, during which they defeated Guelph for the Canadian championship.

Goldsmith's first complete game with the Tecumsehs occurred on May 24, 1876, when London played Guelph before 6,000 spectators at the old Fair Grounds (Wellington and Pall Mall in London), a contest that London won 8-7 in 10 innings, largely due to Goldsmith's "scientific pitching," using his "skew ball."

Tecumseh Park

For the 1877 season, the Tecumsehs moved into the newly outfitted, six-acre Tecumseh Park in the village of Kensington at the forks of the Thames River (now the City-owned Labatt Memorial Park) with Richard Southam, brother of William Southam, founder of the Southam newspaper chain, the team manager (London-born George "Mooney" Gibson, catcher for the 1909 World Series Champions, was a nephew of the Southams).

The first regular season game played in the new stadium took place on Saturday, May 5, 1877, against the Hartfords of Brooklyn, New York.

The new field was lauded for its many amenities, including a 600-seat grandstand, piped-in water for maintaining the grass and facilities for scorers, telegraph operators and reporters. London won the International Association championship series in 1877 by defeating the Pittsburgh Alleghenies 5-2.

Although the 1878 Tecumseh home opener attracted 4,000 fans, the crowds started to drop off and the team fell into debt.

Despite a London Free Press account about the Tecumsehs on June 21, 1939 ("Fred Goldsmith Invented The Curve Ball"), that stated the team defeated the Chicago White Sox in three straight games to win the title series in 1878, it appears the writer was in error, instead referring to a two-game series in 1877 between the Tecumsehs and the Chicago White Stockings. On August 22, 1878, the club folded due to insufficient patronage.

A new Tecumseh team was resurrected in 1888 and 1889, and later in the 1920s. Despite the absence of professional teams in London during these lapses, the park remained in use by a variety of City league teams, much in the way the London Majors of the Senior Intercounty League continue on in the absence of pro ball clubs such as the London Tigers, Werewolves or Monarchs.

On December 31, 1936, Tecumseh Park was donated to the City of London by the Labatt Brewing Company along with $10,000 for improvements, on the proviso that the park be renamed the "John Labatt Memorial Athletic Park."

Today, Labatt Park is believed the world's oldest baseball grounds in continuous use in its original location. The park was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1994.

References

Diamonds of the North: A Concise History of Baseball in Canada by William Humber (Oxford University Press, 1995).
Old Time Baseball and the London Tecumsehs of the late 1870s by Les Bronson, a recorded (and later transcribed) talk given to the London & Middlesex Historical Society on February 15, 1972. Available in the London Room of the London Public Library, Main Branch.
Journal of Sport History (1988), A Critical Examination of a Source in Early Ontario Baseball: The Reminiscence of Adam E. Ford by UWO Professor Robert K. Barney and Nancy Bouchier.
The Beaver, Exploring Canada's History October-November 1994, Baseball's Canadian Roots: Abner Who? by Mark Kearney.
The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way by Bob Elliott (Sport Classic, 2005).
'The 1948 London Majors: A Great Canadian Team by Dan Mendham (unpublished academic paper, UWO, December 7, 1992).
An Eight-Page Indenture/ Instrument #33043 between The London and Western Trusts Company Limited, The Corporation of The City of London and John Labatt, Limited, dated December 31, 1936, and registered on title in the Land Registry Office for the City of London on January 2, 1937, conveying Tecumseh Park to the City of London along with $10,000 on the provisos that the athletic field be preserved, maintained and operated "for the use of the citizens of the City of London as an athletic field and recreation ground" and that it be renamed "The John Labatt Memorial Athletic Park."
Heritage Baseball: City of London a souvenir program from July 23, 2005, celebrating the history of Labatt Park and London, Ontario's 150th anniversary as an incorporated city.

External Links

To take a virtual tour of Labatt Park (1) or learn about the 1876 and 1877 Bryce Baseball Guides (2), log onto: [1] [2]