Labatt Park - London Tecumsehs

London Tecumsehs

The founding of the London Tecumsehs Baseball Club in 1868 ultimately led to the creation of Tecumseh Park in 1877. According to the London Advertiser of May 4, 1877, the first game at the new baseball park was held on May 3, 1877, with a contest between the London Tecumsehs and its junior team, the London Atlantics. The Tecumsehs won 5-1.

To wit: "The first regular game of baseball of the season was played yesterday afternoon in the presence of fully a thousand people. The new grounds are the most complete of every respect of any of the kind in Canada, and but few American cities have a convenient playing field."

On May 4, 1877, the Tecumsehs met the Hartfords of Brooklyn in their first International league game. Phil Powers, the Tecumsehs' star catcher, was out with a broken finger. The London nine were defeated 6-2.

On May 24, 1877, before 8,000 fans, the National League champion Boston Red Stockings played the London Tecumsehs of the fledgling International Association with its star pitcher and later Chicago White Stocking stalwart, Fred Goldsmith. Boston narrowly defeated London, 7-6.

Created by London china merchant W.J. Reid, Tecumseh Park was named after the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh who fought alongside the British during the War of 1812 and who died in the Battle of the Thames near Chatham, Ontario, in October 1813.

Jacob Englehart, the Cleveland-born oil tycoon, a future vice president of Imperial Oil and the Tecumseh's president/principal owner, moved the team to Tecumseh Park in 1877.

Englehart soon began looking for professional players from the U.S., later signing four Americans:

• first-baseman/manager George "Juice" Latham
• pitcher Fred Goldsmith of New Haven, Connecticut (believed by many to be the co-inventor of the curveball along with Candy Cummings of Ware, Massachusetts)
• catcher Phil Powers and
• infielder/outfielder Joe Hornung (nicknamed "Dutchy" and "Ubbo Ubbo") from Carthage, New York.

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

After the Tecumsehs, Goldsmith went on to pitch for the Troy, New York Trojans in 1879, National League's Chicago White Stockings from 1880 to 1884 and the American Association's Baltimore Orioles, also in 1884.

In addition to Englehart, the Tecumsehs' back-room movers and shakers consisted of London newspaperman Harry Gorman; Ed Moore, manager of the Tecumseh House; Richard Meredith, a future chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario; William Southam, who was to found Southam News and to add an egalitarian touch, Jim Jury, a custodian at the collegiate institute.

The following year in 1877, the Tecumsehs played in the International Association, a rival of the National League. That year, the Tecumsehs defeated the National League's Boston Red Stockings in an exhibition game at Tecumseh Park and later in the season they defeated the Pittsburgh Alleghenies 5-2 to win the International Association pennant. More than 6,000 people attended London's pennant-winning game in a park built to seat 600.

After the season, the Tecumsehs were offered membership in the National League, but declined. The Tecusmsehs subsequently folded on August 22, 1878, due to financial difficulties compounded by a questionable game lost by the Tecumsehs and the International Association floundered a few years later. Both were resurrected in 1888 and 1889.

Among its more notable stars in 1888 was outfielder Patsy Donovan who went on to an outstanding career in Major League Baseball as both a player and a manager.

The Tecumsehs also played at the park pre- and post-1920, with Charlie (Mechanical Man) Gehringer playing with the 1921-1924 Tecumsehs before he went on to a stellar career with the Detroit Tigers. Gehringer was subsequently inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

American baseball historians Bill Weiss and Marshall Wright have placed the 1920 London Tecumsehs on the list of the Top 100 Minor League Baseball Teams of all-time—coming in at #52, with a record of 86 wins and 32 losses.

On September 15, 1920, with Ty Cobb in the lineup, the Detroit Tigers defeated the London Tecumsehs 5-4 before 3,000 people at Tecumseh Park in exhibition baseball. Reserved seating for the game was $1.

The 1920 Tecumsehs clinched the first-place pennant with 15 games to play and London led the Michigan-Ontario league in attendance, with an astonishing 100,686 people watching them play.

On May 9, 1921, under manager George (Mooney) Gibson, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the London Tecumsehs 8-7 at Tecumseh Park before 3,500 people in an exhibition baseball game. Before the game, Gibson and his team were presented with a silver loving cup by the London Kiwanis Club. Gibson thrilled the locals by catching the opening inning with his 1909 World Series-winning battery mate Babe Adams and singling and scoring a run in his lone at-bat. London Mayor Sid Little entertained the team that evening at his home.

On September 14, 1921, the Tecumsehs won the Michigan-Ontario Baseball League championship, 1-0 over Bay City, Michigan, before 1,000 people at Tecumseh Park. London scored its lone run in the first inning when third baseman Doc Shay, playing his first game of the series because of illness, tripled and scores on a sacrifice fly. In three games of the series, London pitcher Frank Herbst of London allowed six hits and only one run in 33 innings. London advanced against Ludington, Michigan, champions of the Central League.

On September 28, 1921, London won the best-of-seven series against Ludington 4-3, taking Game 7 10-7 at Grand Rapids, Mich. The Tecumsehs were down 3-1 in the series. A few days later, London manager Buzz Wetzel was presented with a gold watch to commemorate the win. The normally reserved Wetzel spoke, saying, "I tried to do what was right and give you the best I had and I honestly believe that the fans here have a right to be proud of their baseball team."

On May 23, 1923, Washington's pitching ace Walter Johnson was in uniform but did not pitch as the Washington Senators defeated the Tecumsehs 13-9 in an exhibition baseball game at Tecumseh Park.