Finals are here in battle for ballpark bragging rights being waged online

Home of London Majors and Welland Stadium in the running to be voted No. 1 yard in Intercounty Baseball League

Will the home of the Majors be saluted at the end of the day? Or will youth wind up being served after all the ballots are counted?

After two rounds of voting, an online fan poll to choose the best ballpark in the Intercounty Baseball League has come to the oldest and youngest stadiums in the eight-team league.

Labatt Memorial Park, built in 1877 and home of the London Majors since 1925, is considered the “oldest continually operating baseball grounds in the world.”

Welland Stadium, constructed in 1989 specifically to house the Welland Pirates of the Class-a New York-pennsylvania League, joined the

IBL lineup when the Burlington Herd relocated to Niagara, becoming the Welland Jackfish.

Labatt Park and Welland Stadium

advanced to the final round by eliminating David E. Hastings Stadium, home of the Guelph Royals, and Arnold Anderson Stadium, home of the Brantford Red Sox, in the semifinals.

Second-round voting wrapped up Thursday with Labatt outpolling Hastings Stadium 67 per cent to 33, while the home pond for the Jackfish was the preference of 62 per cent of respondents compared to 38 per cent for the Brantford ball yard.

Ballots can be cast online at theibl.ca/news/ibl-best-ofthe-ballparks until 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Bernie Arbour Stadium, home of the Hamilton Cardinals; Coates Stadium, which houses the Barrie Baycats; Dominico Field at Christie Pits, where the Toronto Maple Leafs play; and Jack Couch Park, home of the Kitchener Panthers, were all eliminated by Arnold Anderson Stadium, Hastings Stadium and Welland Stadium, respectively, in the quarterfinals.

Labatt Park, with a leaguehigh seating of 5,200, and Welland Stadium, which can accommodate 2,500 fans, are among the largest ballparks in Canada’s oldest amateur baseball league.

Whether the IBL will play this year has yet to be determined.

COVID-19 has already postponed the start of the regular season — a 36-game schedule originally set to start in midmay — and not every team wants to return to the diamond this year. Guelph, Hamilton, London, Toronto and Welland want to play, while Barrie, Brantford and Kitchener have opted to come back in 2021.