London Tecumsehs
The merger of the Forest City and London Base Ball clubs to form the London Tecumsehs occurred in June 1868 with John Brown as president — a team sponsored by the Tecumseh House hotel on the southwest corner of York and Richmond streets, immediately north of today's Canadian National railway tracks, which was demolished in the 1920s.
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.
When Jacob L. Englehart, a wealthy pioneer London oil refiner from Cleveland, Ohio, (and future vice president of Imperial Oil), 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, catcher Phil Powers and infielder/outfielder Joe Hornung.
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 janitor at the collegiate institute.
The Association's by-laws and constitution required member teams to pay $10 to join the league (plus an additional $15 to compete for the championship) and fan admission was set at 25 cents.
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.
(compiled by Ray Nemec of the Society for American Baseball Research) London Tecumsehs 14-4-2* Pittsburgh Allegheny 13-6-0 Rochester (The Rochesters), New York 10-8-0 Manchester (The Manchesters), New Hampshire 9-10-0 Columbus Buckeyes 9-11-2 Guelph Maple Leafs 4-12-0 Lynn (Massachusetts) Live Oaks 1-9-0 * disbanded Although the 1878 Tecumseh home opener attracted 4,000 fans, the crowds subsequently started to drop off and the team fell into debt.
Despite a London Free Press account about the Tecumsehs on 21 June 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.
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 entire Dominion of Canada.
During U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the Library and Archives Canada building on November 30, 2004, he showed a special interest in these two early Canadian baseball books which were laid out for his perusal.
[1] A new Tecumseh team was resurrected in 1888 and 1889 in the International Association with Patsy Donovan one of its most notable outfield stars, and later in the 1920s in the Michigan-Ontario Baseball League.
Gibson thrills the locals by catching the opening inning with his 1909 battery mate Babe Adams and singling and scoring a run in his lone at-bat.
From a sociological-historical perspective, it could be argued that the name change from Tecumseh Park to Labatt Memorial Park highlights the dramatic shift from 19th-Century colonial Canada (where the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was immortalized throughout Canada West for siding with the British in the War of 1812) to more modern times where businesses such as the Labatt Brewing Company became very influential.
