Guelph Royals (baseball)
The Guelph Royals are a baseball team based in the downtown area of Guelph, Ontario, and are a member of the Southern Ontario-based Intercounty Baseball League. The club was founded in 1861 as the Guelph Maple Leafs, and after winning the "Canadian Silver Ball Championship" three times between 1869 and 1872, went on to become world semi-professional champions in 1874, and hold brief membership in the International Association for Professional Base Ball Players during the 1877 season, rivalling National League teams.
| Guelph Royals | |||||
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| Information | |||||
| League | Intercounty Baseball League (1919–present) | ||||
| Location | Guelph, Ontario | ||||
| Ballpark | David E. Hastings Stadium | ||||
| Founded | 1861 | ||||
| Nickname(s) | The Royals | ||||
| League championships | 9
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| Former name(s) |
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| Former league(s) |
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| Colours | Royal blue, white | ||||
| Ownership | Shawn Fuller | ||||
| Manager | Dino Roumel | ||||
| Website | www | ||||
| Uniforms | |||||
In 1919, they joined the Intercounty Baseball League, and underwent a series of name changes (the Guelph-Waterloo Royals in 1954; the Guelph Plymouths in 1957; the Guelph Merchants in 1958; the Guelph Royals in 1962; the Guelph CJOYs in 1964) before being officially renamed the "Royals". From 1861 to 1925, the team divided its home games between various ballparks in the city, before the construction of a stadium in Exhibition Park led them to permanently play there.
In 1986, they moved into a new stadium, David E. Hastings Stadium, also in Exhibition Park. In spite of only winning one Intercounty championship between 1932 and 1993, the team has done well in some subsequent years. However, a May 2018 news item stated that "the Royals haven’t been above .500 since 2012 and haven't won a league title since 2004". The team folded in 2017 but was re-started under new owners in 2018.