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Hometown Heroes
Baseball has been part of the history of St. Thomas and area for as long as most can remember. Local ball players like Joe Knight, Bob Emslie and Jack Graney, along with the generations of boys and girls hoping to follow in their footsteps and step onto the hallowed fields of Major League Baseball, are embodied in the ‘Hometown Heroes’ sculpture created by artist Scott McKay.
The local story that rises above the rest is that of St. Thomas native John Gladstone ‘Jack’ Graney. Born in the Railway City in 1886, Jack Graney excelled as a pitcher and eventually transitioned to the outfield, spending his entire major league career with the Cleveland franchise, which included playing as part of Cleveland’s first World Series Championship team in 1920, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 5 games to 2 in what was then a best-of-9 series.
Throughout his baseball career, Graney is perhaps best remembered as a man of many firsts. In 1914, less than a month after his 28th birthday, Graney stepped up to the plate and entered the record books as the first hitter that Red Sox Pitcher Babe Ruth faced in the major leagues. Almost two years later, he would be the first major leaguer to bat wearing a number on his uniform and in 1908 was part of the first All-Star team to tour Asia. After his career was over, Graney also became the first former player to become a baseball radio broadcaster performing radio play-by-play for Cleveland from 1932 to 1953. Inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987, Graney’s achievements were so notable that an award was named in his honor and is presented to a media member who has made a significant contribution to the game of baseball in Canada through their life’s work. Winners of the ‘Jack Graney Award’ include such notable personalities as Tom Cheek, Ernie Harwell, Jerry Howarth and W.P. Kinsella.
Jack Graney's character and performance endeared him to baseball fans everywhere. Author Barbara Gregorich, in her book ‘Jack and Larry’, wrote a heart-warming account of the special relationship between Graney, the team's dog Larry (Cleveland's first mascot), and Cleveland fans. Whenever Jack realized that Larry was becoming tired from his pre-game antics, long road trips and train rides, Jack sent the well-recognized Bull Terrier to St. Thomas for a much-needed rest.
Jack would take Larry to the Cleveland dock and put him on the midnight steamer northbound across Lake Erie. Arriving in Port Stanley the next morning, Larry would trot down the ramp, run over to the waiting Traction Line trolley-car bound for St. Thomas, board it, and jump off at his stop. There he would scamper down Elgin Street to Jack's parent's house, announcing his arrival with a loud bark and scratching at the door.
Today, with every crack of the bat and ball meeting glove, Jack’s legacy lives on through all those who continue to play the game he loved so much, here in St. Thomas and beyond.
