The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame announced its new inductees on Wednesday, but the Chatham Colored All-Stars were not among the inductees, again, despite their place in history dating back to 1934.
It was then that the All-Stars defeated the Penetang Shipbuilders in the Ontario Provincial Amateur Baseball Association championship and are credited with becoming the first black team to win the title, 13 years before Jackie Robinson crossed the color barrier in MLB.
Eighty-eight years later, the team was finally accepted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 2022. But they are still waiting to be recognized by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
This year, the players who will be inducted at a ceremony on the grounds of the Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., on June 17 include:
- Denis Boucher, former left-hander of the Montreal Expos (Montreal).
- Rich Harden (Victoria), former Oakland right-hander A.
- Jesse Barfield, former right fielder for the Blue Jays.
- Joe Wiwchar, longtime Manitoba baseball coach and executive.
Ferguson Jenkins Sr. played for the All-Stars as an outfielder in the years after their historic victory in 1934. His son, Fergie Jenkins, is a retired MLB pitcher.
“Unfortunately, they have to fight a lot of modern players who have been in Canadian baseball, or who have played in Toronto or Montreal, and they are on the same ballot,” Jenkins said on CBC Radio. Afternoon driving.
“And unfortunately my dad’s team just didn’t get enough votes to get in.”
Jenkins, a Cy Young Award winner who became the first Canadian to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, in 1991, said he would be “extremely proud” to see his father’s team honored.
“I know it’s been a long time, but some of the parents and family members who still live in Chatham [Ont.] are still extremely proud of what their grandfathers did when they played in the 1930s,” he said.
Blake Harding, now 70, is also among those close to All-Stars members who have been pushing for years to get them into the Hall of Fame.
Blake was not born when his father, Wilfred (Boomer) Harding, was one of the star players for the Chatham team. But he grew up hearing stories about the challenges the team faced because of the color of his skin.
Harding said waiting for the team to get the Hall of Fame recognition it deserves has been disappointing, but dealing with adversity is nothing new for the All-Stars.
“They held their heads high. They didn’t complain, they didn’t complain when they struggled to play in 1934 and 1935,” he said. “It was hard. They were spat on. Six-year-old children were throwing stones at them, encouraged by their parents.
“The team now, to get into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, is probably going through an equally tough time.”
Harding said the team deserved recognition for their historic impact.
“It wasn’t just about baseball. It was how they changed the community. It opened doors for my generation, my kids, my grandkids and the local community.”
Harding’s two uncles, Len and Andy Harding, were also All-Stars.
Long list of honors
To be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, individuals must first be nominated by a member of the public. After that, a selection committee (made up of media, past inductees, historians, and executives) votes for the nominees in an annual ballot. Those who obtain at least 75% of the votes are inducted.
the Hall of Fame website cites the accomplishments of those chosen for this year’s class, an announcement made on the first day of Black History Month.
“Each of this year’s inductees has had a significant impact on the game of baseball in Canada in their own way,” said Hall of Fame Chairman Jeremy Diamond.
Blake Harding, now 70, was not born when his father, Wilfred (Boomer) Harding, was part of the Chatham Colored All-Stars team. He grew up hearing stories about the challenges the all-black team faced due to the color of his skin. He hopes the All-Stars will be recognized in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, even though the team was not inducted this year.
Harding, however, noted that the All-Stars have received notable recognition from other organizations.
“What we don’t understand is that they were accepted into the local Chatham Sports Hall of Fame. They were accepted into the Negro Hall of Fame in Philadelphia in the United States a few years ago. Then they were accepted last year, in 2022, into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, which was phenomenal,” he said. “They paid for all our expenses, rolled out the red carpet, the whole nine yards.
“So the fact that this team isn’t accepted is really disappointing,” Harding said, referring to the Hall of Fame.
The 1934 champions were also brought back to life in the MLB video game MLB The Show ’22.
In 2016, the University of Windsor received a $72,500 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to create an oral history project, called Breaking the Color Barrier: Wilfred “Boomer” Harding and the Chatham Colored All-Stars (1932-1939)to preserve and share the team’s history.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to stories of success within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project that Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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