Chalk up another first for the Chatham Colored All-Stars.
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The first Black team and first Chatham team to win an Ontario baseball championship is now the subject of the Chatham-Kent Heritage Network’s first historical plaque.
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Relatives of the trailblazing squad joined historians and dignitaries Nov. 21 for an unveiling ceremony at Stirling Park, the All-Stars’ east-side home in the 1930s.
“They were our heroes and now, with this plaque in the right place, we in this community share our heroes with the rest of the world,” said Dorothy Wallace, president of the Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society’s board.
The All-Stars made history in 1934 by winning the Ontario Baseball Amateur Association intermediate B championship. They overcame racism on and off the field to become the first Black baseball team in Canada to win a provincial title.
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They’ve been inducted into the Chatham Sports, Baseball Ontario and Canada’s Sports Halls of Fame.
Sam Meredith, executive director of the Black historical society and Black Mecca Museum, loves telling the All-Stars’ tale. She had a long list of nominees for the historical plaque program, but could only submit one this year, so she chose the All-Stars.
“They’re one of my favorite stories to share with visitors at the museum,” Meredith said.
Heritage network chairperson Lisa Gilbert said “many” more plaques are coming over the next four to five years.
The network, made up of Chatham-Kent historical and heritage groups, is working with the municipality on the program to honor significant people, events and locations.
Mayor Darrin Canniff wants the program to educate citizens on their history so they can build on the progress that’s been made. It’s fitting the All-Stars are on the first plate, he said.
“That’s what this is all about, so that we can pass on the history of Chatham-Kent,” he said.
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