It Happened in Cambridge

12/26/2023

Two new prints are now available on the It Happened in Cambridge site: ithappenedincambridge.com. Check them out and let me know what you think!

http://ithappenedincambridge.com

02/22/2023

An iconic photo of baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins and Bill “Spaceman” Lee at Cambridge’s Dickson Park in the 1990s.

I saw Jenkins last fall, and mentioned I once had an old photo of him that I had taken at Dickson Park, but noted that the photo had been lost to time. Some weeks later the photo turned up, after being missing for more than two decades. Jenkins, a Chatham, Ontario native, was the first Canadian to win the Cy Young Award (1971). He told me that although he played two seasons for London in the Intercounty following his retirement from the Majors, he had never played a game at Dickson Park.

He retired from the Majors in 1983, which was the last year the Terriers, one of the Intercounty’s founding members in 1919, played in the InterCounty. They won the league title that year and then folded, ending a remarkable 60-plus year tenure that included 13 league championships.

In the early years of the Intercounty, future Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson, and his brother Vaughan, played with the Guelph Maple Leafs at Dickson Park; though he was an all-round athlete, baseball was Pearson’s true passion. Later he won the Nobel Prize.

Many great players have played at Dickson Park, including homebrews like Rob Ducey, Scott Thorman, Jason Gooding, Tex Kaiser and Bob McCullough. Others include Jim Bagby, the pitcher who ended Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, and Manchester, New Hampshire’s Tom Padden, playing coach of the 1949 Galt Terriers. Padden had gone up to the Majors with the New York Yankees when Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey were his teammates. Other prominent players included Negro League pitching star Jeff Shelton from Buffalo, who also played for the Terriers, as did Toronto native Goody Rosen. Rosen led the Dodgers in batting in 1945–he led the NL for most of that season—and finished with a .325 average.

In 1950 a young player by the name of Bill Horne came to town to play with the Terriers. His real name was Bill Hornsby and he was the son of baseball immortal Rogers Hornsby.

There are many others of note, including Jesse Orosco, who pitched a no-hitter in 1977 for the Terriers in a 15-0 win over Guelph, and went on to a stellar Major League career in which he held the record for most games pitched.

Many of these players are chronicled in my book Terrier Town: Summer of ‘49 (WLU Press, 2003).

The photo of Jenkins and Lee, taken at Dickson Park, was captured during a Legends promotional tour, so even though Jenkins didn’t play a league game at the famed Canadian park, he was there for one day in the late 1990s. With the two Major League standouts was another by the name of Vida Blue.

02/07/2023

Starting in 1953, Bobby Hull spent more than a year in Cambridge pursuing his hockey dreams. Visit YouTube, and read more about those days here.

http://ithappenedincambridge.com

https://youtu.be/2LMoyUpJ64g

01/28/2023

https://youtu.be/uyhde1DFSWo

A black and white video clip of swirling clouds over the Grand River in Cambridge, Ontario.

It Happened in Cambridge www.ithappenedincambridge.com

Black and white video of a picturesque winter afternoon sky along the Grand River at Cambridge, Ontario, with a flock of Canada geese flying high overhead.

01/27/2023

01/24/2023

The full story about Edward VIII and Millicent Milroy, the Canadian schoolteacher. Stanley Baldwin, the British PM, confirmed to Canadian PM Mackenzie King in 1927 that the prince had a “Little Canadian Miss.” Was it Millicent?

https://ithappenedincambridge.com/millicent-milroy-1

01/24/2023

If you’ve seen the YouTube documentary and want to learn more about Edward VIII and Canadian schoolteacher Millicent Milroy, read this in-depth feature story about the pair:

https://ithappenedincambridge.com/millicent-milroy-1

Check it out and let us know what you think! .

Learn about Cambridge, Ontario through its stories, history, writings and artwork.

01/23/2023

https://youtu.be/jXJmmhHpMzY

01/09/2023

Late afternoon near St. George, Ontario.

12/29/2022

One of only a handful of steam engines still in operation across Canada—Engine No. 9–takes young and old on a Vintage Christmas aboard the North Pole Express. It’s a mood-lifting trip you won’t want to miss. It happened in nearby Waterloo-St. Jacobs. All aboard for a memorable Vintage Christmas!

https://youtu.be/hU7Cb0c9fEQ

12/29/2022

A late December sunset transforms a typical Canadian scene into a magical reflection of the holiday season.

For more magic relating to the Cambridge area, visit www.ItHappenedinCambridge.com

And view our YouTube channel to see our latest videos, including a recent trip in nearby St. Jacobs on the North Pole Express:

https://youtu.be/hU7Cb0c9fEQ

12/29/2022

https://youtu.be/hU7Cb0c9fEQ

Take the Waterloo Central Railway Steam Engine #9 to the North Pole and experience a Vintage Christmas of yesteryear with all the accompanying sights and sounds. ”All Aboard” the North Pole Express!

Take a train ride with the Waterloo Central Railway on Steam Engine Number 9 to the North Pole and experience a Vintage Christmas like no other.

12/14/2022

https://youtu.be/cMsT68lRBNQ

Margaret Hamilton McCabe was the first female president of Thomson Newspapers, and as such, a pioneering Canadian businesswoman and role model to countless young women. This revised video addresses some audio issues in the original video story.

Margaret Hamilton McCabe was a pioneering mid-twentieth-century Canadian businesswoman who rose to the pinnacle of the Thomson newspaper empire through intel...

12/13/2022

She was a pioneering mid-twentieth-century Canadian businesswoman who rose to the pinnacle of the Thomson newspaper empire through intelligence, talent, hard work and an inner strength that was the envy of many other aspiring businesswomen. Her inner strength not only earned her the position of president of Thomson Newspapers—she was the first female to ever hold the position—but made her a role model to countless other young women and girls. She was Margaret Hamilton McCabe.

https://youtu.be/1R3lD4NB-Yo

12/13/2022

https://youtu.be/1R3lD4NB-Yo

Margaret Hamilton McCabe was a trailblazing Canadian businesswoman with Thomson Newspapers, which she eventually headed as the first female president of the ...

11/30/2022

https://youtu.be/gj9Z_i6-_dI
The story of George Pringle is a poignant tale of an early Scottish Canadian from Edinburgh who raised 10 outstanding children in Galt (Cambridge) Ontario, several of whom became well-known Canadians.

For additional stories, visit www.ithappenedincambridge.com

George Pringle and his twin brother ran away from home in Edinburgh, Scotland, early in the 19th century and joined the British Army. They were shipped out t...

11/20/2022

Learn how a photograph from a 1911 Galt Collegiate football team has a connection to the Galt War Memorial.

11/11/2022

The story of Galt’s war memorial and the talented woman who sculpted it: https://ithappenedincambridge.com/galts-war-memorial

11/09/2022

Proudly presenting the latest story on ithappenedincambridge.com about a famed Canadia artist and her timeless testament of remembrance. Check it out and let us know what you think!

http://ithappenedincambridge.com

11/04/2022

Proudly presenting the latest story on ithappenedincambridge.com. Check it out and let us know what you think!

http://ithappenedincambridge.com

11/04/2022

Queen’s Square, Cambridge

11/02/2022

A little-known statue on the library grounds at Queen’s Square in Cambridge (Galt) commemorates the Navy’s HMCS Conestoga and the nearly 7,000 women who came to Galt to do their basic training during World War II. Read the story of these trailblazing women and see their photos while in Galt at https://ithappenedincambridge.com/jenny-wren-statue

Check it out and let usknow what you think!
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http://ithappenedincambridge.com