A slice of history in Chatham this past weekend as the descendants of the 1934 Coloured All Stars took to the field for the second annual Field of Honour baseball game.
Blake Harding, whose father and two uncles played on the ’34 team, says as the first all-black team to win an Ontario provincial championship, the All Stars deserve the recognition.
“They’re in the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, they’re in the Black Sports Hall of Fame in Philadelphia, they’re being inducted next month to the Canada Sports Hall of Fame, that’s the highest sports honour there is in Canada, and they’re still not in St Marys, which is the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame,” Harding says. “That’s what we’re pushing for. They deserve to be there.”
Noting there was some backlash after the All Stars were overlooked by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame last year, Harding is calling for a more positive tone before the 2023 inductees are announced.
“They have their selection process, we’ve got to trust the process, they’ll get there,” Harding says. “We can’t be bitter, we can’t be negative, that wouldn’t be a good reflection on the original team.”
Saturday’s Field of Honour event featured two games, one for players 50 and older, and the second for the younger generation, aged 18 to 49.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has teamed up with Major League Baseball to honour the team in the video game MLB The Show.
Officials from OLG were on hand to present the Chatham Kent Black Historical Society with a cheque for $25,000.