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

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 featured a roster of players who drew fans to the field with their high energy, no holds-barred style of play while they confronted challenges both on and off the field. 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 tells the story of the first Black team to win an Ontario Baseball Amateur Association championship. More than a baseball story, this is a book about a neighbourhood, its citizens, and their pride in an astonishing team. Until recently, this vital story of Canada's racial history and the team's indefatigable spirit was preserved only in family stories, scrapbooks, and ephemera. 1934 introduces readers to these players and to the people who have worked to preserve and celebrate their legacy.

ISBN-13: 9781771964777

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Biblioasis

Publication Date: 06-06-2023

Pages: 281

Heidi LM Jacobs' previous books include the novel Molly of the Mall: Literary Lass and Purveyor of Fine Footwear (NeWest Press, 2019), which won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 2020, and 100 Miles of Baseball: Fifty Games, One Summer (with Dale Jacobs, Biblioasis, 2021). She is a librarian at the University of Windsor and one of the researchers behind the award-winning Breaking the Colour Barrier: Wilfred "Boomer" Harding & the Chatham Coloured All-Stars project. 1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars' Barrier-Breaking Year is forthcoming from Biblioasis in 2023.