Ballpark Photos – London, Ontario

Labatt Park – London, Ontario

Baseball has been played on these grounds since 1877. The present name and structure date back to 1940. The most recent affiliated team to play home games here was the AA club of the Detroit Tigers, from 1989 to 1993.
Visiting Eastern League teams stayed at the Sheraton Armouries Hotel.
The lobby occupies an armoury dating back to 1905.

	The unmistakable wheels of today’s visitor, the Binghamton Mets.
It was a foggy day in London town, capped off by heavy thunder showers which ended about 20 minutes before the scheduled starting time. We thought it prudent to leave the camera in its case until our next visit. This strategy was thwarted when the team upped and moved to New Jersey after the season.
The historic field is a source of civic pride for local residents, allowing the city to maintain it well enough to be used for baseball at various levels, as well as other events. The game program contains a history of the Tiger years written by Fanshawe College journalism professor Jim Van Horne. His all-time favourite visiting player was Joey (later Albert) Belle of the Canton-Akron Indians, who hit five homers at Labatt Park in 1989, many of which soared “through the trees and into the Thames [formerly Aspenessippi] River” flowing behind the left field wall.

Player	Team (organization)	Seen here	Big league debut
Danny Bautista	London (Tigers)	6/19/1993	9/15/1993
Denny Harriger	Binghamton (Mets)	6/19/1993	6/16/1998 (Tigers)
Butch Huskey	Binghamton (Mets)	6/19/1993	9/8/1993
Jose Lima	London (Tigers)	6/19/1993	4/20/1994
Ricky Otero	Binghamton (Mets)	6/19/1993	4/26/1995
Rudy Pemberton	London (Tigers)	6/19/1993	4/26/1995
Shannon Penn	London (Tigers)	6/19/1993	4/28/1995
Quilvio Veras	Binghamton (Mets)	6/19/1993	4/25/1995 (Marlins)
Pete Walker	Binghamton (Mets)	6/19/1993	6/7/1995
Alan Zinter	Binghamton (Mets)	6/19/1993	6/18/2002 (Astros)

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