Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Percy Hatfield is calling for the 1934 Chatham Colored All-Stars to be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Relatives and supporters of the All-Stars were disappointed in February when the trailblazing team again failed to be elected to the national shrine in St. Marys.
“On this, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I say it’s never too late to correct an injustice,” Hatfield said Monday in a statement read in the provincial legislature.
The 1934 Colored All-Stars were the first Black team to win an Ontario Baseball Amateur Association championship.
They’ve been on the Hall of Fame ballot since 2017 and will remain eligible until 2026.
Their many descendants and fans have been working for years to get the team into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. They held a celebratory softball game for hundreds of spectators in October 2021 at Fergie Jenkins Field at Rotary Park.
The team is already in the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame and the Baseball Ontario Hall of Fame.
“It wasn’t uncommon for the Chatham All-Stars to have to fight their way out of another town when they won a game – or be ridiculed if they lost,” Hatfield said.
“Nobody would rent them a room when they drove to Penetanguishene for the OBA championship game in 1934. They had to go all the way to Meaford, about 60 miles away, where they were allowed to stay overnight in cabins, but the owner said they had to be up and gone before sunrise so his neighbors wouldn’t know they’d been there.”
He added: “Despite the racism, the prejudice and the bigotry, those players loved the game and not only were they good at it – they excelled.”
Chatham-Kent council endorsed the team’s induction last year and asked municipalities across Canada for backing.
“There’s no reason now that they couldn’t be named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame,” Hatfield said. “And I would hope – as I believe – every one of us here in Ontario’s legislature would be supportive of such an overdue recognition.”