1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars’ Barrier-Breaking Year

by Heidi L.M. Jacobs

The true story of the first Black team to win an Ontario Baseball Amateur Association championship.


The pride of Chatham’s East End, the Coloured All-Stars broke the colour barrier in baseball more than a decade before Jackie Robinson did the same in the Major Leagues. Fielding a team of the best Black baseball players from across southwestern Ontario and Michigan, theirs is a story that could only have happened in this particular time and during the depths of the Great Depression, in a small industrial town a short distance from the American border, home to one of the most vibrant Black communities in Canada.

Drawing heavily on scrapbooks, newspaper accounts, and oral histories from members of the team and their families, 1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars’ Barrier-Breaking Year shines a light on a largely overlooked chapter of Black baseball. But more than this, 1934 is the story of one group of men who fought for the respect that was too often denied them.

Rich in detail, full of the sounds and textures of a time long past, 1934 introduces the All-Stars’ unforgettable players and captures their winning season, so that it almost feels like you’re sitting there in Stirling Park’s grandstands, cheering on the team from Chatham.

Genres: History, Baseball, Nonfiction, Sports

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2023

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

While many people know that when Black players were not allowed to play in the American Major Leagues and there were the Negro Leagues, very few are also familiar with teams of Canadian Black players. While the Canadian teams may not have had their own separate league, nonetheless they played competitive baseball. For one team, the Chatham Coloured All-Stars, their 1934 season in which they won the championship in their southern Ontario league was one looked upon fondly. Author Heidi LM Jacobs tells the little-known story of this team, their stories and their connections to baseball history.

Like in the United States, the records for Black Canadian teams were not well organized and therefore it takes a lot of work to get the records and statistics. For that reason, Jacobs relies on newspaper clippings and hundreds of interviews with family members of the team. For that reason, there is a lot of anecdotal history of the All-Stars but not a lot of hard factual data. With so many interviews and so many different names, the book can be a challenge to follow as, understandably, the dialogue shifts between different people. Jacobs does a decent job of trying to keep the book organized and breaking up chapters by the months of the 1934 season was a key part of this.

Even more than the history, the heartbreaking stories of the discrimination and racism the players faced and the excellent play on the field (all of which are similar experiences to those of their American brethren) the unexpected nuggets of interesting information were fascinating and what made this book enjoyable. The one example I will give is the brief mention of one particular player who only appeared in a few games for the 1934 All-Stars, yet is probably the most recognizable name – Ferguson Jenkins Sr. His son is the Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins Jr. It was very touching when Jacobs wrote about the tribute the junior Jenkins gave to his father during his Hall of Fame induction speech.

If a reader enjoys books about baseball’s Negro Leagues, then that person should pick up a copy of this book as well. The stories are similar, just the nations are different, and the baseball played by this special team is just as good.

I wish to thank Bibiloasis for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...

[Jason Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book about a remarkable group of men who brought a community together, broke barriers and changed the course for black participation in amateur baseball in Ontario.

The East End described in the book has always been the neglected and cast aside part of Chatham due to outright racism and this book brings to light many of those struggles, but also the hopes and dreams of the black families of Chathams east side.

Highly recommend!

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the story, low rating because of the cumbersome and repetitive writing style.
Very impressed with the level of athleticism in 1930’s SW Ontario.
I’m somewhat biased, being from Sarnia.
The Coloured All-Stars were very fortunate the get past the Sarnia Red Sox in the playdowns as Sarnia were unable to field a team in September 1934 due to “football scrimmages”.
Note that a majority of the Sarnia baseball team also played for the Sarnia Imperials football team. They gave a pass to Chatham in baseball and then won the Grey Cup in November 1934 and a second time in 1936
The Imperials are the last amateur team to win the Grey Cup. It’s also an amazing story…

[Hassan Zafar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the story behind this book. The concept is interestingly both niche and incredibly topical right now. The book does a great job compiling the author's research. I also really appreciated how collaboratively the author worked with the surviving family members and various other stakeholders. I do wish that the author would break away a bit more from the academic jargon and use a more personable story telling voice to relive the events of 1934. The story lends itself to that kind of writing, which I think was an opportunity lost.

[Paul Sutter]

You don’t have to be a die-hard baseball fan to appreciate 1934 THE CHATHAM COLOURED ALL-STARS BARRIER BREAKING YEAR. It is a most fascinating look into history, and how a baseball team comprised of talented Black athletes, took the Ontario Baseball Amateur Association by storm, and won the championship.
The team was the first all-Black baseball players in Canada. They experienced the usual racist attitudes, taunts, and threats, that has become commonplace in society at that time. This team came to the forefront over a decade before noted Black star Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in American sports. Heidi Jacobs has delved deeply into the history files, coming up with a very thorough and engaging tale of the trials and tribulations that the team experienced, but still they forged ahead, becoming one of the most notable and talented teams in 1934.
There were many talented athletes on this team, including Ferguson Jenkins Sr., who was the father of future hall of fame baseball star Ferguson (Fergie) Jenkins. There was evidence of Negro Leagues and teams in Detroit around this time. They did come over to Windsor on occasion to Wigle Park, and play before an enthusiastic crowd of people. They were the Detroit Coloured Stars, fielding an impressive group of talented athletes.
It was when the Chatham Coloured All-Stars took the field, that spectators got to view their style and finesse while playing. Such talented players as Flat Chase, King Terrell, Donald Tabron and many others, gave the fans something to cheer about, appreciating the way they played the game. The press did write about the team, but always made sure that rather than just talking about the team and players, they usually said they were “a team of coloured ball players.” Rarely were they referred to as a great team of ball players, without mention of colour.
One can imagine as the author notes, how fans were not always congratulatory to them, facing taunts and racial slurs frequently. The players truly turned the other cheek, letting their actions on the field speak louder than words. They had to deal with questionable calls from umpires on a regular basis, often favouring the other team of white players, blatantly showing their racist bias. When they played Penetanguishene Spencer Foundry Rangers for the Championship in 1934, and went to their home town, they were told the hotel they wanted to stay at was full. They found accommodations in Midland, not far from there, the owner of the hotel telling them the hotel owner lied, and there were plenty of rooms. The Midland hotel owner welcomed the team with open arms.
That championship season of 1934, definitely goes into the annals of Canadian baseball history, and the book offers a firsthand look at the team that not only broke the colour barrier in Ontario baseball, but also created an impressive legacy that takes us back in time to the ground breaking victories and accomplishments.

[Tom Axworthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Chatham Coloured All Stars were the first black team to win the Ontario Baseball Amateur Association championship in 1934: as the team members were inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 2022 it was noted" more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Colour barrier, the Chatham Coloured All -Stars were making a statement of their own in Southwestern Ontario".This book is not only a history of the team and the racial challenges they faced but it is equally a testament to local history and the need to preserve our stories.I first learned of the Chatham Coloured All- Stars when visiting the Chatham Black Historical Society: I noticed a poster that Fergie Jenkins Jr, the Canadian born Hall of Fame pitcher, would be visiting the city , then discovered that his father Fergie Sr.had played ball for the Chatham Coloured All-Stars team that made Canadian sports history in 1934.Volunteers in the museum told us stories of the long- established black community in Chatham- Kent ,( the first blacks arrived after the American Revolution and through the migration of the Underground Railway by the outbreak of the American civil war 28% of Chatham's population was black) and , among other exhibits,showed us newspaper sport clippings of their fabled 1934 team.That in turn led me to this excellent history of the team and their times.Anyone interested in baseball and/ or the social history of Canada would benefit from reading this book.

[Michael Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book surprised me in its amazing storytelling, research and first-hand accounts. You don't have to be from Chatham to appreciate a Black baseball team winning a provincial championship at a time when many of these men were persona non grata just about everywhere outside their own community. The author does an amazing job bringing together a fair bit of research from a number of sources to piece together a story of a team that, at another point in history, would have boasted more than a few major leaguers. I appreciate that, where the record is not clear at to what happened, the author makes it clear that she does not have the definitive answers. If I had one criticism, it's that the writing at times comes across as too academic and really takes away from the parts of the book that read more like a long newspaper article or magazine piece. I also found a few of her conclusions about Black migration to Canada to be overly dismissive of some the established historic facts. This is not to say that she doesn't have some points to question the accepted history, it's that she sometimes tends to minimize certain aspects of history that might take away from her overall narrative arc. But that is just my take as a former reporter. These small lapses of neutrality, in my opinion, are small blots in an otherwise rock-solid historic retelling of a team that should be more famous. This is required reading for anyone with a passion for Canadian history or baseball history.

[G.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-paced history of the Chatham All-Stars, all black amateur baseball team, and its struggles to break racial barriers here, in "tolerant" Canada. The best sports stories, perhaps stories of any kind, illustrate overcoming adversity to shine as champions, and 1934 accomplishes this with aplomb. The book shows the team's history as recorded by the (mainly white) media, shows how even huge All-Stars' supporters, such as Chatham Daily News sports reporter Jack Calder, occasionally(?) report one-sided reports of on-(and 0ff-)field shenanigans. (That old hockey cliché, the retaliation always gets called, comes to mind.)

The book leaves it up to the reader to decide whether the OBAA management treated the All-Stars with respect. And whether specific umpires had more personal reasons (AKA racist) for making some of the calls they made.

Ultimately, 1934 is a testament to the men who played for the All-Stars, and their families and friends. And the legacy of how their love of baseball and their tenacity earned them the respect of many white fans of the game.

[Mike Barat · Rating 5 out of 5]

How much did I like this book? First of all I'm proud that the writer who wrote this book Heidi LM Jacobs lives in the same city of Windsor, Ontario as I do. Also I never read the conclusion of a book, however in this case I made a very rare exception and read the conclusion and I'm glad I did, because without giving anything away it answered a question that I was wondering about. I bought a copy of this book for a friend of mine's birthday as well as myself. If you think racism was never a problem in Canada this book will quickly show you how wrong you are faster than a speeding bullet. This is not just a great baseball story, it's also a history story of Canada during the depression, it's a story about the strength of the human sprit, It's sociology, it's race relations, in short this book is everything. Just read this book, and you will be glad you did.

[Adrian]

Colourful local history. The Chatham team,an all black aggregation, won the Ontario Amateur League title in this year. Gathering information mostly from scrapbooks kept by descendents of the players Jacobs has produced an excellent history. It seems clear that several players on the team had the talent to have played pro ball starting with 'Fleet' Chase and Boomer Harding. The father of Chicago Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins played on the club. Jacobs does fine detective work to discover how much prejudice the team faced because the players didn't talk about it and neither did media. The All-Stars broke up for good at the end of the 1939 season. Their last game for a possible second championship they forfeited but you'll have to read Jacobs' book to find out why.

[Jonathan Dunkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book that came from the much larger Breaking the Colour Barrier project of which Jacobs was part at the University of Windsor. Through interviews, scrapbooks, and newspaper research, Jacobs tells the tale of this successful black amateur baseball team and the barriers and challenges they faced.

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sadly unknown story finally offered to the public.