MOOSOMIN - The 1950s all black baseball team—The Rockets—a team that contributed to Saskatchewan’s rich baseball heritage, is being inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame, and an exhibition on the team's history will be opening at the Indian Head Museum to honor the team.
“Baseball was huge, I think it was even bigger than hockey in the early part of the last century. People appreciated when they got to see high class baseball,” said Robyn Jensen, president of the Indian Head Museum.
She said explained why The Rockets are so significant to the community of Indian Head.
“Well if you think about what was going on in the States, from the history of the 1950s, there was still a lot of racial segregation going on in the States. There was a lot of stuff going on there so a lot of the black players, they didn’t get a lot of time to play in the major league (of baseball). There was Jackie Robinson, he was one of the few players that went on to play in the MLB, Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Greene, they got to play for the Cardinals and the Red Sox.”
“But a lot of them played in the ‘Negro Leagues’ down in the States, and that’s as far as they got and these players were Class A players, like unbelievable players. Imagine if Wayne Gretzky and his team came, and played at the rink in Indian Head, that’s the caliber of baseball that came up to Canada, to Saskatchewan to Indian Head. We were getting rural class baseball in these small communities.”
For a while now, the museum has been collaborating with Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum (SACHM) and the Society of Baseball Research (SABR) on collecting Rockets research and stories.
Jensen said she hopes the upcoming exhibit of The Rockets, teaches people about the history of the team.
“Well I think people need to understand what took place here. This is a story that needs to be told, people need to know that when this community got together they made things happen,” she said.
“They (The Rockets) brought 25,000 to 30,000 people to the town. They brought in CP rail cars with sleeping cots to accommodate the extra visitors in town. Local garages would open up their space for sleeping, people would actually just say ‘hey, do you want to come over to our house and sleep here?’ They would bring in so much local economy, the money that was generated in this town during the tournaments were astronomical. It’s a story of a little community that could, and then a story of the class of baseball that was brought to Saskatchewan that people had the opportunity to see.”
The museum’s vice-president, Janine Moses-Randle, said it is important for people to know the history of The Rockets.
“I think part of it is when you think back to what society was like in the 1950s and we still are, but there was a lot of racism, there was a lot of racial tension and the community (here) was able to look beyond their prejudices. They welcomed these young boys into their homes and into their community, so I feel like it’s a story that we can all learn from,” she said.
“Those young boys, I’m sure they weren’t sure how they were going to be perceived up here, coming from down in the states, but everyone embraced them, and why can’t we do that nowadays, to look beyond that.”
“The community saw them as young boys, they saw them as baseball players, they welcomed them into their homes. I think it’s something we can all learn from, we need to accept people for who they are and not judge them by the color of their skin,” said Moses-Randle.
This year The Rockets will also be inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame in Battleford.
Jensen said the story of The Rockets is significant to the month of February– Black History Month.
“Well, we’re working with the Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum and Carol La Fayette-Boyd said, ‘a lot of people just don’t know that this happened, being part of Black History Month is to just share their story. To say this happened and that they were here, they contributed to the history of baseball in Saskatchewan and in Western Canada. It just needs to be remembered.’”
“I think it’s one of those things because it happened 70 years ago, it’s kind of that precipice where the story could get lost to the fans of that time,” Jensen said.
The Rockets originally came from Jacksonville, Florida to Indian Head Saskatchewan in the 1950s. Jensen said one of the players from the team Nat Bates, is still alive
“I think Janine and I both felt that we need to collect as much information as we can now, because Nat Bates, who was a pitcher in 1952, I mean he’s 91 years old. We didn’t think that we would ever find someone to talk to that was a Rocket, we were so blessed and grateful that we could actually connect with him.”
Jensen said sharing the history of The Rockets is important to the community of Saskatchewan.
“We’re trying to work with the high schools, when kids are young it’s good for them to see and hear these stories. For them to know that you can do this, you can do this as an individual, you can do this as a community, and you can do this as a baseball player,” she said.
“The ball players that came up here, they came from adversity in the States and they pursued their passion of baseball, regardless of the unknown. Like Janine said, they didn’t know what it was going to happen when they came up here but something fantastic happened and they just pushed through all those insecurities and just kept going.
“As a community you know if you can get a group of people together, magical things can happen and that’s what happened in this town. The Rockets all pulled together and they brought in world class baseball and 25,000 to 30,000 people into this town. It’s an incredible story.”
Jensen said digging into research about The Rockets, has been a learning experience.
“I’ve learned a lot, I’ve been talking with people all across Canada in pursue of information for the exhibit and everyone I talk to is just absolutely fascinated with the story, and people want to hear more about it. People said please let us know what you find, it really is a story that is attracting a lot of interest and attention.
“There’s just incredibly kind people out there who just genuinely want to help you.”
Janine Moses-Randle said the exhibit of The Rockets at the Indian Head Museum should be open by the last weekend in June of this year.
“When we have our parade day, we’ll be doing an opening of the exhibit that weekend.”
