What's Happening in London, ON…

London’s Labatt Memorial Park will be hosting a new series of public tours in the summer months, as part of a broader initiative to highlight the area’s baseball heritage.

The park is the oldest still-standing baseball diamond in the world. It first opened in 1877 as the home of the London Tecumsehs, and it has played host to a variety of teams, most notably its current tenants the London Majors of the Intercounty Baseball League and the Western Mustangs Baseball Club. The tour will provide visitors with exclusive access, demonstrating how a ballpark is run, showcasing artifacts of the town’s baseball heritage and educating about the many famous players who have played in London, like Satchel Paige, Ty Cobb and Deion Sanders.

The new tour is sponsored by the provincial government and is part of a larger program showcasing Southwestern Ontario’s baseball history. Tourists and locals can purchase a Southwestern Ontario Baseball Heritage Pass, which will include the Labatt Memorial Park tour and visits to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the Beachville District Museum.

Deals like this are one of the tools used by historic sites, alongside practices like brochure printing and road sign placement, to help attract visitors and remind locals of their history.

The Labatt Memorial Park tour and the Southwestern Ontario Baseball Heritage Pass will both launch in summer 2021, with more details to be announced.