The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (French: Temple de la renommée du baseball canadien) is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates great players, teams, and accomplishments of baseball in Canada.
The museum was founded in November 1982 in Toronto at Exhibition Place and later moved to Ontario Place theme park. In August 1994, it was awarded to St. Marys, Ontario, and in June 1998 the doors officially opened in St. Marys. On November 23, 2017, construction began on a 2,500-square-foot (230 m2) expansion to the museum, including a secure archive facility, library, new entrance, and auditorium/exhibition space. The re-designed museum opened to the public on April 27, 2019.[1]
The Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated to preserving Canada's baseball heritage which dates back to June 4, 1838, when a game which very closely resembled today's game of baseball was played in Beachville, Ontario.[1] University of Western Ontario professor Bob Barney wrote the historical study which advocated for relocating the hall of fame from Toronto to St. Marys, Ontario,[2] and extensively researched and validated the Beachville game in 1838.[3][4]
In 2021, Helen Callaghan, who had played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), became the first woman individually inducted to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame; the Hall had previously inducted, as a group in 1998, all Canadian women who played in the AAGPBL.[5]
In early 2022, the Hall of Fame was criticized for not inducting the Chatham Coloured All-Stars, the first team of Black Canadians to win an Ontario Baseball Association title.[6][7][8]
Since opening, over 125 individual members have been inducted into the hall.[9] This includes professional and amateur players, builders, administrators, umpires, broadcasters, writers, and honorary members who have helped popularize the sport in Canada. Several teams or groups have also been inducted.[9] Multiple members of the hall have also been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, as players, managers, or executives. Several other inductees have been recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award or BBWAA Career Excellence Award.
In addition, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame awards the Tip O'Neill Award annually to the Canadian baseball player "judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to the highest ideals of the game of baseball" and the Jack Graney Award for Lifetime Media Achievement.[10][11]
The 32-acre (13 ha) facility in St. Marys also includes four baseball fields designed by landscape architect Art Lierman of London, Ontario.
The Pearson Cup—awarded to the winner of an annual exhibition game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos from 1978 to 1986—is on display at the museum.
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