Fred Thomas in Baseball
Fred Thomas in Baseball
By Heidi LM Jacobs
It wasn’t surprising that Fred Thomas played baseball given that he grew up in the McDougall Street area. At the centre of this neighbourhood was Wigle Park, a vibrant community gathering space and an active baseball diamond. It is highly likely that the young Fred Thomas watched countless organized and pick-up baseball games with some of the best ballplayers in Windsor, Essex County, and Detroit. It was said that Fred Thomas was first taught the basics of baseball as a child from postman and minister Clarence “Matches” Jones (1905-1978). It was probable that Thomas was able to watch the celebrated ball player Earl “Flat” Chase (1913-1954) play as well as his relative Ferguson Jenkins, Sr. He likely played baseball informally in Windsor while growing up. After graduating from Patterson Collegiate, Fred Thomas joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and played baseball in the military leagues.
After being discharged from the Air Force at the end of WWII, Fred Thomas’s name can be found in the 1945 Windsor Star sports pages. His name appears in write-ups about and rosters for local baseball and softball teams on both predominantly Black and integrated teams in Ontario and the US.
Outfielder Joins Freddie Thomas, 1948
On May 5th, 1945, for example, his name was on the roster for the Windsor Coloured Giants in the Essex County Baseball League’s season opener. Thomas also appeared on the roster for the Cock Brothers Seed Store team in the Windsor Softball League (July 19, 1945) on what was a mostly Black baseball team. On September, 1945, Thomas played for the American Auto Wreckers in a best-of-seven OBA series against the London Majors. The team was coached by his basketball coach’s Red Nantais’ brother Ross’s baseball team and the Auto Wreckers were the league leaders in the Essex County Baseball circuit (August 31, 1945). In October of 1945, Thomas can be seen playing for Windsor’s Dayus Roofing team in the Ontario Amateur Softball Association Senior B final series against the Toronto Firefighters.
In 1946, Thomas joined an All-Star barnstorming baseball team called the Cincinnati Crescents, a team owned by Abe Saperstein, who owned the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. The Crescents played one season in 1946. A July 25, 1946 article from the Harrisburg, PA Evening News called Thomas “the fly-chasing whiz from Windsor, Canada.”
In 1947, Thomas’ name still shows up in the local newspapers as he was playing for various teams. We know he played on all Black teams in Detroit and integrated teams in Windsor. 1947 was a key year in the history of baseball as it was in April of that year that Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in the American League and in July that year Larry Doby broke the colour barrier in the National League.
Cleveland Ball Club Signs Fred Thomas (detail)
Thomas’s own contributions to the desegregation of baseball came about in July 1948. In June of that year Thomas left Windsor to play right field for the Farnham Pirates who were in the Quebec Provincial Baseball League. In June of 1948, Thomas led the League in stolen bases and was batting .306. On June 28, 1948, the Windsor Daily Star reported that Thomas was leaving Farnham to join the Cleveland Indians’ farm team in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Thomas arrived in Wilkes-Barre on July 3rd, 1948 and when he stepped onto the field on July 4th, he was the first Black player in the Eastern League. In so doing, he [A1] made history for breaking its colour barrier. That day Thomas played in a double-header against the Scranton Miners. In the first game he was hitless, but in the second he got two singles, drove in a run, and stole a base.
Thomas’s time in Wilkes-Barre was unfortunately short-lived: he only played there between July 1, 1948 and July 19, 1948. In that short time, however, Thomas desegregated the Eastern Baseball League and made history for contributing to the desegregation of organized baseball.
For the remainder of his athletic career, Thomas played baseball and softball whenever and wherever he could. In the early 1950s, he played in Ontario’s Intercounty Baseball League. In 1951 while playing with the Kitchener Panthers, he won the Ontario Intercounty Baseball League batting title with an average of .383. In 2021, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
For more information about Thomas’ baseball career and Black baseball in the Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent region see:
Breaking the Colour Barrier: Wilfred "Boomer" Harding & the Chatham Coloured All-Stars (1932-1939)
“Fred Thomas in Baseball,” Heidi LM Jacobs, Journal of Canadian Baseball (2024)