Editing Labatt Park (section)

==Bryce's 1876 and 1877 Baseball Guides==

This is the world's oldest baseball grounds still in existence. [[Image:Bryces Base Ball Guide 1876.jpg|thumb|left|Front cover to Bryce's Base Ball Guide 1876, published in London, Ont.]]
[[Image:Bryces Base Ball Guide 1876 socks.jpg|thumb|left|Baseball socks for sale in Bryce's Base Ball Guide 1876]]

A treasure-trove of information about early Canadian/Ontario "baseball" surfaced in 2002 when [[Library and Archives Canada]] purchased (for $10,000 from an [[Ottawa, Ontario]], bookseller) ''Bryce's Base Ball Guide 1876'' and ''Bryce's Base Ball Guide 1877'', two hand-coloured, 75-page booklets published by William Bryce of London, Ontario, which originally sold for a dime.

The two, four-inch (102&nbsp;mm)  by seven-inch guides are considered to be the first significant publications on Canadian baseball.

Bryce, a Scottish-born bookseller, newsagent and sporting goods distributor in London, had a small stake in the Tecumsehs, considered by many to be the finest ball team in the entire Dominion of Canada.

During U.S. President [[George W. Bush]]'s visit to the Library and Archives Canada building on November 30, 2004, he showed a special interest in these two early Canadian base ball books which were laid out for his perusal. See here [http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0412b&L=archives&T=0&P=6339]