Don't expect the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame to make their hall of fame ballot results public anytime soon.
The Chatham Coloured All-Stars have been shut out of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame over the last few years and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame has not responded to repeated requests about how far away the team was to being inducted into the hall or why the voting results are not made public, until this week.
Director of Operations for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Scott Crawford was in Blenheim on Thursday for a networking event hosted by Chatham-Kent's new Intercounty Baseball League team and told CK News Today he doesn't see the current practice of keeping the votes secret changing.
"We've always kept it if you're in the hall of fame you're in and if you don't get the 75 per cent [vote requirement] you don't get in. We don't specify how many votes people get and what not. It's either you're in or you're out," said Crawford.
Crawford said different halls of fame do different things.
"It varies between a lot of hall of fames. Cooperstown announces their ballots and their totals. We've chosen that we don't do it, but it's definitely split. Some museums and hall of fames do it and some don't. We just keep it how it is and go from there," he added.
The Chatham Coloured All-Stars have been on the ballot for several years and still have a few years left of eligibility. All qualified nominees remain on the ballot for up to nine years.
The team was the first black team to win an Ontario Baseball Association championship in 1934. The legendary team has been honoured with a children’s book, baseball cards, comic books, at the University of Windsor, the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame, and most recently was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Crawford hopes the new team in Chatham-Kent will inspire more young people to play minor league baseball in the area.
(with files from Matt Weverink)
