ATHLETE LEGEND
Chase, Earl “Flat”
1910 – 1954
SPORT | Baseball
POSITION | All Positions
YEAR OF INDUCTION | 2001
Earl "Flat" Chase was born in 1910 in Buxton, Ontario but moved to Windsor when quite young. He lived across the street from a ball park and all his spare hours were spent there, participating and learning the skills of the game at which he became very proficient. From the 1920’s to the 1950’s, inspired by Babe Ruth, baseball was king in North America as every city and town had a mens’ baseball league and every city and town played other communities. Chatham was no exception. “Flat” was a very versatile player as he could catch, pitch, and play all infield positions. Although he led many leagues in batting in his career, he became renowned as a long homerun hitter as he held records for the longest balls hit in Sarnia, Strathroy, Aylmer, Welland, Milton, and Chatham.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1934 – 1939
1934 – came to Chatham to play for the Colored All-Stars – began to build a legend that quickly spread throughout baseball circles in Ontario and beyond – led city league in hitting with a .525 average – with his pitching and hitting led team to OBA Intermediate “B” Championship – in final series against Penetang, was winning pitcher in final 2 games against Phil Marchildon who went on to star for the Philadelphia athletics
1935 – member of the 1935 Colored All-Star team that won the OBA Intermediate “B” Championship
1939 – starred for London Majors who won the Amateur World’s Baseball Championship by beating all teams they faced from the Baseball Congress of America
1949 - 1949
1945 – member of Chatham Arcades that won the OBA Intermediate Championship
1947 – member of Chatham Shermans that won the OBA Intermediate “A” Championship – led city league in hitting with a .471 average
1949 – member of Chatham Hadleys that won the OBA Intermediate “A” Championship
Flat died in 1954 in Windsor at the age of 44.