The Hamilton Tiger-Cats will mark the 150th anniversary of the franchise's origin during Saturday night's home game against the Toronto Argonauts.

So, here is a handful of historical highlights extracted from Spectator files and the meticulous research of Ticats' historian, Larry Robertson.

The Tiger-Cats placed a commemorative plaque at the location of the original meeting which created the Hamilton Football Club on Nov. 3, 1869 in a room above George Lee's Fruit Store.

The club, wearing black and orange, played its first game against members of the 13th Battalion on Dec. 18 that year. No score was recorded for the game at Hamilton Maple Leaf Baseball Grounds, which was located just south of what is now the Hunter Street GO Station.

The team was not referred to as The Tigers until 1873, when they changed colour schemes from black and gold to yellow and gold to honour the city's official flower, the yellow Chrysanthemum.

Hamilton Spectator file photo of Angelo Mosca presenting the Grey Cup to spectators at Ivor Wynne stadium after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 13-10 on an Ian Sunter 34 yard field goal on the last play of the game in 1972| Hamilton Spectator File Photo

Home sweet home

By the 1870s, the Tigers were using the city's Cricket Ground on Charlton Avenue. Remarkably, as early as September 1898, the Tigers were practising there at night, under artificial lights.

In 1910, the football club bought a one third-interest in the grounds for $10,000 and changed the site's name to Hamilton Amateur Athletic Association (HAAA) grounds. In a bit of foreshadowing, the field was rotated from east-west to the current north-south orientation, and new stands were to be erected to seat at least 6,000 fans.

The Tigers played at HAAA until 1930 when they moved into Civic Stadium (renamed Ivor Wynne Stadium in 1971) which had been built for the inaugural British Empire Games. But the team continued to practice at HAAA, even after the Tigers and the Wildcats merged for the 1950 season to become the Tiger-Cats.

When Ivor Wynne was razed after the 2012 season, the Ticats played one season in Guelph, then moved into their current home at Tim Hortons Field in time for the 2014 Labour Day Classic.

It hasn't always been a drought

Ticat legend Angelo Mosca is drenched in champagne by defensive back John Williams(left) and defensive Gary Inskeep after Hamilton's 13-10 Grey Cup victory over Saskatchewan in 1972. | Toronto Star File Photo

The Tigers and Tiger-Cats have won a combined 13 Grey Cups, plus the 1908 "Dominion Championship" the year before the first Grey Cup.

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If the Ticats don't capture the Grey Cup this year, it will mark just the second decade since the start of the 20th century that the franchise hasn't won a national title at least once. Their last win was 1999. Nine of the 11 Grey Cup games from 1957 through 1967 included the Tiger-Cats, who won four of them.

The newly-formed Tiger-Cats (from the Tigers and Wildcats) prior to game day on Nov. 17, 1950 at the HAAA Grounds on Charlton Avenue. | Superior Engravers Photograph , Hamilton Historical Collection Courtesy of Local History & Archives

Pick a number, Mr. Young

In 1913, the ORFU allowed numbers on the back of the players' jerseys for the first time. The Tigers' numbers ran from 1 to 30, with the legendary Sam Mason claiming No. 1.

Wearing No. 8 and playing "centre scrimmage" was James Vernon Young, better known as "Billy" Young, the grandfather of current Ticat owner Bob Young. Billy Young went on to be a First World War hero with the 13th Battalion, which had provided the Hamilton Football Club's first opponent more than 40 years earlier.

Way ahead of the "American Experience"

Long before the CFL included various U.S. teams from 1993-95, the Hamilton Tigers and Ottawa Rough Riders took the innovative Canadian rules to New York City for an exhibition game in December 1909, at the behest of the New York Herald Newspaper. The game, won 11-6 by Hamilton, attracted 15,000 fans to Van Courtland Park.

And the first regular-season CFL game played outside Canada came on Aug. 23, 1958. The Tiger-Cats beat the Rough Riders 13-7, at Philadelphia's Franklin Field, shifting their "home" opener during a dispute with the city over Civic Stadium renovations.

smilton@thespec.com

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