Historic streak at London’s Labatt Park will continue

The game will go on at Labatt Memorial Park.

The London Majors will host an Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) exhibition game against the Guelph Royals on Friday, continuing a more than century-long streak at the historic ballpark.

It will be the first time the grounds will be in use since the middle of March, when the provincial government declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. That decision eventually led to the postponement and cancellations of sporting events across the world.

The IBL was forced to cancel the season, and all of a sudden a 144-year-old streak was at risk of being snapped. It was at that point that co-owner and manager Roop Chanderdat got the ball rolling for a potential exhibition game.

“We don’t want it to go down on our watch that somehow there was no game played at Labatt Park,” Chanderdat said. “This is not just a regular baseball game but a game to ensure the historic longevity of Labatt Park remains intact.”

He says the details were far more difficult to work out than your typical exhibition game, but Guelph stepped up and helped make it happen.

From there, organizers just had to make sure they had the players to suit up, which presented another challenge in itself.

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“There’s guys working, various commitments to family and just with everything going on, it was tough to put a roster together but I’m excited about the guys who are here. They want to play and are excited to play, and we’re all just looking forward to playing at Labatt Park again.”

Due to restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic, the game will not be open to the public, but up to 100 family members and staff will be in attendance.

Fans can still get their London Majors fix by watching the game on the team’s YouTube channel.

“Considering the current environment we are living in, this is a small win for our players and fans to participate in a special game, even if our fans will be supporting us through our YouTube stream,” said team president and co-owner Scott Dart.

First pitch is expected at 7:35 Friday night.