Where a Certain Lady Sang

Walking into St. Catharines Community Park, Aug-1996.

The park, including quirky scoreboard, in all its glory.

• Location: Seymour Avenue at Merritt Street, St. Catharines, Ont.
• Opened: 1986 (for pro baseball)
• Closed: 1999 (for pro baseball)
• Home team: St. Catharines Blue Jays (1986-94), Stompers (1995-99), New York-Penn League
• Capacity: 2,500

Chronological Tour: Stop 100

Rating: 2 baseballs

However, a community-based group bought the club and renamed it the Stompers, a fitting name because it was in Ontario’s wine country. They helped bolster attendance by clever promotion, including the introduction of a mascot of sorts. Alas, the club found itself on the opposite side of the Niagara River for 2000, completing a 400-mile (640 km) journey to become the second team within the limits of the City of New York.

You know the expression “It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings”, right? Well, here at Community Park, at least after the 1996 victory I saw, it wasn’t over until “a certain lady sings”. It was a garish-looking man in a get-up that was supposed to make him look like an operatic diva. The “lady” bounced through the stands, lip-syncing to an aria.