Heinz ball team remembered

By C. Scott Holland

A little known fact about the former Heinz Canada factory in Leamington, is that they had their own baseball team, as well as a diamond on which they played their home games.

A century ago, the northwest corner of the factory’s property was developed into a top-notch baseball diamond, situated at the corner of Sherk and Oak streets. The Heinz team began playing exhibition games, but by 1920, were involved in a league that featured teams sponsored by various businesses in Essex and Kent counties.

Among their opposition were squads from Windsor and Chatham. They would often play a special contest against a team from Detroit - usually called the Stars.

In 1921, the Heinz players complained to the company that they needed a clubhouse and change room. The company had one built and this move certainly raised the ire of the visiting teams. So the company rectified that the following year, when a similar facility was erected for the visitors.

The Heinz ball team after a game at Jack Miner’s, with Mr. Miner on the far right.

For just over a decade, the Heinz 57s were as powerful a team as the town’s junior squad and often the two would play one another. Some of the players actually played on both squads during a season until formal rules curtailed that around 1924.

One can only imagine watching the weekend contests while work continued at the factory on Saturdays.

With the expanding tomato production and perhaps a lack of interest in the ‘business league’, the Heinz team played their final games in 1932, although an alumni team would play occasionally usually during the Heinz picnic weekends in later years.

Those young men — most of whom slaved at their Heinz jobs during the week — became stars and heroes in games on the weekends and their skill is now just a footnote in lost time.