RICHMOND — When Nat Bates acquired a name that he was being inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Corridor of Fame, he didn’t have a speech ready, tears in his eyes or household gathered for such a coveted event.
Reality be informed, the time he spent on the Indian Head Rockets — certainly one of Canada’s first all-Black skilled groups throughout the Nineteen Fifties — is a chapter of his life that just about disappeared from his reminiscence.
“We had been 20 years previous in 1952,” Bates mentioned, recalling his time on the pitcher’s mound representing a city greater than 1,200 miles north of Richmond, the place he has known as dwelling since he was a baby. “We had no concept such an honor can be bestowed upon us. When impulsively, 70 years later, somebody calls and says, ‘Hey, you’re going to — as a workforce — be inducted,’ that was fairly superb.”
Bates and fellow Richmond resident Willie Reed, each 91, had been among the many 500 or so Black and Cuban baseball gamers — cherry picked primarily from Florida and California groups — who trekked north within the Nineteen Fifties to hitch the Western Canada Baseball League. Right this moment, they're two of the workforce’s final three recognized surviving gamers.
“It’s incredible that they'd dig down to this point again and embody us of their historical past,” Reed mentioned. “It's a nice honor.”
Final month, physician’s orders stored Reed stateside, however Bates, a longtime Richmond metropolis councilmember who's working for mayor in November, returned to the province of Saskatchewan for the induction ceremony.
On the journey, Bates marveled over the exhibit on the Indian Head Museum that commemorated their former workforce with images, autographed baseballs and a duplicate jersey.
The go to rekindled recollections of the times when he and Reed — alongside associates and fellow ball gamers Calvin Winters, Emmett Neal and Elijah “Pumpsie” Inexperienced — traded of their Bay Space “sandlot” groups to play in entrance of stands filled with Canadian spectators, who usually snacked on concessions whereas dressed of their Sunday greatest. The league’s annual event drew as much as 30,000 followers.
“Vehicles can be lined up in centerfield, proper area and left area watching the sport,” Bates mentioned. “Often somebody would get fastball and ship it on the market and break windshields.”
Native farmers flew individuals to the video games in crop planes, based on historic accounts, and prepare automobiles filled with sleeping cots arrived for spectators staying in a single day. Vehicles got here with license plates from each province in Canada.
“I suppose it was like a vacation or one thing,” Bates mentioned, “as a result of they'd all present up out of nowhere.”
Robyn Jensen, president of the Indian Head Museum, spent greater than two years cataloging the historical past of the league. She used sudden downtime at work throughout COVID to attempt to fill the holes of the gamers’ careers by connecting with baseball specialists and monitoring down the final residing members of the workforce.
“Serendipity and collaboration performed an enormous position in researching, which makes me suppose that this story was ready for the suitable time to come back again into the limelight,” mentioned Jensen, 48. About 80 gamers had been inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Corridor of Fame, representing each roster of the Rockets between 1950 and 1954. “To have Nat come up, and see him stand in entrance of everyone — clapping and cheering — that was simply so particular.”
The Indian Head Rockets had been removed from the one Black baseball gamers to discover a wealthy baseball group in Canada.
Jackie Robinson credited his time taking part in for the Montreal Royals in 1946 with enabling him to make historical past as the primary African American to interrupt into the MLB with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. However as Robinson kicked off integration into different U.S. groups, the Negro Nationwide League folded in 1950. Taking part in worldwide ball was ultimately one of many few remaining choices.
Scores of different African American ballplayers had the expertise to comply with his lead and succeed, too. However workforce administration solely signed on a handful of gamers, and the Black gamers who did make it needed to “look and act the half,” Bates mentioned, to snag a spot.
Earlier than touchdown a spot on the Indian Head Rockets’ roster in 1952, Bates and Reed first ventured to Canada in 1951 to play for the built-in Drugs Hat Mohawks, hoping to catch a scout’s eye for a significant — or minor — league contract.
The gamers solely discovered the Rockets had been an all-Black workforce after they arrived.
Race didn’t appear to create any points for the Canadians on the time. As a substitute, Reed mentioned the crowds cherished watching the American and Cuban gamers’ baseball prowess and energy.
“They had been slightly bit forward of the time, to be trustworthy with you,” Reed mentioned, explaining how Canadian households usually hosted dinners for the athletes after the final pitch was thrown and frolicked studying about Black tradition. “Right here within the States within the 50s, we struggled — we didn’t know what the end result was going to be as a result of there was a lot prejudice and racism. However up in Canada, we may very well be ourselves and had been solely judged on what we produced.”
The duo from Richmond, nonetheless, needed to put aside their baseball mitts and aspirations of going professional again within the U.S. a lot sooner than anticipated.
“After the 1952 season, I got here dwelling and I had an enormous brown envelope prepared for me,” Bates mentioned, “and it mentioned to report back to Fort Ord (in Monterey Bay) for induction into the Military.”
The then-22-year-olds shipped to Seoul, South Korea, throughout the Korean Battle. By 1955, they every had households to develop and handle, bringing their baseball-playing years to an in depth.
Bates’ fellow councilmember Demnlus Johnson — 62 years his junior — felt like he was speaking to Forrest Gump the primary time he heard tales about Bates’ skilled sports activities profession.
“This most positively feeds into the entire narrative that Richmond has constantly produced nice baseball gamers,” he mentioned, referring to a listing that features massive leaguers Loyd Christopher, Dale Sveum and Ricky Jordan. “I used to be enamored of the truth that Nat is part of that historical past.”
That’s why individuals like Jensen are attempting to make sure recollections of the Western Canada Baseball League don’t fade away.
“I stared at these males’s faces for months — I swear I noticed them in my goals,” Jensen mentioned. “It was so vital for me to ensure that they had been recognized, as a result of that’s a technique of making certain they've a voice in their very own story. Perhaps some relations will see their names and discover a lacking piece.”