ABOUT POPPIES AND OLDTIMERS BASEBALL

I am particularly pleased with the poppies this year in my newly-created front terrace garden.

Oldtimers day at the ball park

A special honor has come my way in the form of an invitation to be included in the fifth annual "Oldtimers Day" presentations during halftime of an Intercounty Baseball League doubleheader at Labatt Park in London on Sunday, June 27.  I have old buddy Bruce Huff, founding president of the London  Oldtimers Sports Association, to thank for the invitation.

Joining me for the onfield presentations will be Tedd Bogal, Bobby Deakin, Al Robinson, Ken Benjamin, Dave Lapthorne and John Pegg (representing his father Chester who was a long-time sponsor of junior baseball in London).  It is interesting to note that Benjamin is a Chatham product who as a young pitcher, allowed Dresden Legionnaires to fatten batting averages in Western Counties junior baseball back in the early 1950s.  Ken stayed in the game he loves and has been extremely active in minor baseball and slow pitch circles in the London area.  His mother worked for my father as a hairdresser in Chatham during the 1930s, believe it or not.  I seem to recall that Ken, in fact, was named after my father.

Oldtimers Day is an annual event presented by the London Oldtimers Sports Association in conjunction with the London Majors baseball team.  It is the intention of the organizers each season to honour a different group of individuals who have contributed to the game over the years.

Many past honorees are former players in the Senior Intercounty Baseball League like myself (Bogal, Deakin and Lapthorne included).  The Majors will also be retiring the No. 5 jersey worn by Richard Thompson, a two-time I-C batting champion.

There is no way to count the number of times that I visited Labatt Park as a player with St. Thomas Elgins, as a member of a team in the old London City Fastball Leauge, as an I-C junior coach/manager and as an I-C junior and senior league umpire. 

The last time that I was in the historic, grand old park was in 1971 when I was plate umpire for a junior game between Kitchener and London, so there will be a lot of nostalgia involved for me on the 27th.