Labatt Park - Frank Colman and Tom Burgess

Frank Colman and Tom Burgess

Other London notables to graduate to the Major Leagues from Labatt Park during the 1940s are Tom (Tim) Burgess (1927–2008) and Frank Colman (1918–1983).

In 1936, Frank Colman started out at Labatt Park with the London Majors of the Senior Intercounty Baseball League, winning the Most Valuable Player award, batting title and Intercounty Baseball League championship. Colman was 25 when he broke into the major leagues as a right fielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing with them from 1942 through 1946, before he moved to New York to play with the Yankees. He played with the Yankees in 1946 and 1947, where he roomed with Yankee catcher Yogi Berra. He finished his six-year major league career with 571 at-bats, 15 home runs and 106 RBIs.

Colman returned to London in 1954 after playing in the minor leagues and being the player/coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the AAA International League from 1951-1953. He bought the London Majors and, as player/ owner, won the Intercounty League title in 1956 and the Great Lakes championship in 1957 before returning to the Intercounty League in 1958 and selling the team in 1959.

Colman is also a co-founder of the Eager Beaver Baseball Association (EBBA) in London which has provided competitive league play for thousands of youngsters since its founding in 1955. In 1984, a year after Colman's death, the EBBA's all-star day in mid-July was renamed "Frank Colman Day."

Colman was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in 1999 and the London Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

In a letter to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999, Yogi Berra wrote that he visited Colman at his home in Canada on several occasions.

"I've made a lot of friends in baseball through the years, but I'll always remember Frank as one of the most decent and genuine people that I ever met", Berra wrote. "I was proud that he was my friend."

Tom Burgess first signed a pro contract with St. Louis in 1946 and played right field and first base for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1954 to 1961 and right field and first base for the Los Angeles Angels from 1962–1963.

Since 1968, Burgess has been involved in Major League Baseball in a variety of managing, coaching and instructor capacities with several organizations, including the St. Louis Cardinals from 1968 to 1975, the New York Mets from 1976 to 1977, the Texas Rangers from 1980 to 1984, the Detroit Tigers from 1985 to 1987, the Kansas City Royals from 1987 to 1995. From 1996 to the present day, Burgess has been an instructor with both Baseball Canada and the Ontario Baseball Association. He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in 1992 and the London Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.