Port Arthur Stadium finishes second in contest

Port Arthur Stadium was nailed at the plate trying to steal the title of Canada’s favourite ballpark away from Labbatt Park in London, Ont.

Baseball Canada on Wednesday announced the southern Ontario stadium was the winner of its nationwide search, a contest that originally began with 40 parks in the running before eventually being whittled down to the final pairing.

Larry Hebert, president of the Thunder Bay International Baseball Association, said Thunder Bay had nothing to be ashamed about finishing in the runner-up position.

“Congratulations to London, who did a great job,” Hebert said, about half an hour after learning the 60-year-old Port Arthur Stadium’s fate.

“They have a great park there as we do here. We’ll carry on from this. Our idea with the TBIBA is certainly to promote baseball and we think we’ve done that and hopefully it will help out the Border Cats and baseball in general.”

In the end, that’s what it was all about, said Hebert, who also serves as an at-large councillor for the City of Thunder Bay.

“We had a lot of fun with this contest and we want to thank the media who really got on board and supported us,” he said.

John Cameron, a tourism officer with the city, said second out of 40 parks is still a pretty good finish, something they can definitely use to sell Thunder Bay in other markets.

“It’s a great promotional tool for us to be in this national competition and be in the final. I think it puts Thunder Bay back on the map as far as being a great host for sporting events in Canada and when it comes to bidding on another baseball event like the World Junior Baseball Championship, we’re going to be a front-runner because everybody knows where Thunder Bay is and that we have great facilities,” Cameron said.

More than 19,000 people cast votes in the final round, though Baseball Canada did not immediately release the exact vote totals for each of the finalists.

“We believe that quality ballparks and baseball facilities across Canada play a major role in promoting out sport. Labatt Park is all of that along with having a rich history that many ball players, not only in London but across this country, have had the experience of living first hand,” said Jim Baba, director general of Baseball Canada.