An Intercounty Baseball League trophy has re-surfaced after not being seen for 63 years.
The championship trophy, used by the IBL from 1920-1956, has now been donated to the London Majors' Alumni Association.
Sandy Wagter, a niece of Canadian Baseball Hall-of-Famer Frank Colman and daughter of Jack Colman, who were co-owners of the Majors from 1956 to 1960, donated the trophy to the association earlier this month.
"In '56 they won that trophy, and (my father) stored a bunch of stuff, and it stayed there (in her mother's basement) until 1990. It kind of just got forgotten there," Wagter says.
She says she took the 100-year-old trophy because she's interested in baseball history.
She worked in the small concession booth near the clubhouse when her father and uncle had the team. She was also a pitcher in one of the ladies' city leagues.
"I had it fixed once. Then I put it back in my basement. It's really significant to me. No one showed interest that the alumni did," Wagter says.
The Colman's London Majors won the Sr. IBL Championship in 1956 and then competed in the Great Lakes-Niagara District Baseball League for one season in 1957. The team won that championship as well before returning to the Sr. IBL in 1958.
Dave Perkins, a pitcher is believed to be the last member of the 1956 team, still alive talked about what baseball in the city was like at that time.
"Back in those days, Friday night baseball was the thing. We used to average 8,000 people a game. Its hard to say what I think about (the trophy)," Perkins says. "Its an old tropohy, that's for sure."
The Alumni Association plans to show each team in the league the trophy. But it will stay in possession of the association, who will and take it to Labatt park as often as they can.
