By Joshua Paskinov, Maja Sabljak, and Matthew Schinwald
Widely known in the Guelph community for his brewery and mayoral standing from 1880-1882 in the city (Kidd), George Sleeman is a prominent figure in our discussion about the integration, representation, and continuity of black presence in the realm of sports and the Guelph locale. Having previously played for the Guelph Maple Leafs baseball club as a pitcher in 1863 (Kidd), Sleeman eventually became president of the team and established himself as a leading figure in the development of professional Canadian baseball, forming the first league in 1876 (The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum).
In 1881, during Sleeman’s mayoral term, he scouted the talented black baseball player Bud Fowler to join their team. This was sixteen years after slavery was abolished in the United States and fifty-years after slavery was abolished in Canada (Ostroff ; Wickham). Although Fowler was an incredible baseball player, having earned many accomplishments early in his career, his trajectory in Canadian baseball was impeded by the colour of his skin. Despite Sleeman’s efforts, Fowler’s position within the Guelph Maple Leafs was denied after team members refused to play alongside a black baseball player (Humber 10). Following his departure from the Guelph Maple Leafs, Fowler moved onto play a number of games for a fellow Ontario team, the Petrolia Imperials (McKenna). Sleeman continued to vouch for Fowler, and signed Fowler once again to the Guelph Maple Leafs in 1885. Still, Fowler didn’t end up joining due to the discrimination he had previously faced by the team (Laing 70).
In 1887, Fowler’s career in organized baseball was severed when the International League drew the baseball colour line – banning contracts for all Black players within their league (Humber 10). Although Black people were technically free during this time, many would find themselves heavily confined and restricted, especially in the realm of organized sport. In fact, the first game the Guelph Maple Leafs played was against the Ku Kux of Oneida, a New York team financially supported by a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan (Laing 70). Understandably, there was significant resistance to the racial integration of baseball. Baseball fields were cordoned off to black athletes, and white baseball leagues remained impermeable to racial integration for decades to come. Despite the prohibition of Black athletes from playing on whites-only teams, many engaged with independently organized black baseball leagues – including the Page Fence Giants, which Bud Fowler helped to establish (McKenna). Still, there were limited opportunities for Black players at the time, and organized baseball withheld the careers of many promising athletes.
It’s important to remember Sleeman’s efforts, however, to scout, sign, and integrate Fowler into his team. He valued Fowler for his athletic talent and abilities, seeing beyond his race. Sleeman’s attempt to cross the colour line between whites and blacks is an important moment, as it allows us to trace racism and race relations in Guelph, Canada and beyond through the slow integration of Black people in the realm of organized sports. Perhaps it is Sleeman’s initiative that caused the Petrolia Imperials to position Fowler on their team shortly after his leave. Perhaps, it is Sleeman’s belief in racial integration that kept the Guelph Maple Leafs’ scouting and signing talented Black athletes, as evidenced in the photograph of a black player posing with his white teammates in 1891 (as pictured above). Although Sleeman and Fowler would never collaborate formally, they contested racial exclusion in sports and laid the foundations for integration for future athletes. They pioneered the acceptance of Black players into professional baseball, challenging the racial prejudices of white athletes and fans alike and mobilizing social change in Guelph and beyond.