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<\/p>\nBy Simon Albaugh<\/p>\n
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. \u2013 It\u2019s been a long time coming, says Hamtramck City Council \u2013 a commemoration for one of Hamtramck\u2019s greatest baseball stars. Norman Thomas \u201cTurkey\u201d Stearnes will have the field at Hamtramck Stadium to honor his legacy.<\/p>\n
Turkey Stearnes was \u201cone of the Negro League\u2019s most feared hitters,\u201d says the Baseball Hall of Fame, even though he was inducted more than 20 years after his death. Many believe it was the racially segregated nature of sports that ultimately robbed Stearnes of notability.<\/p>\n
His batting average could\u2019ve put him near the top of the National League of the time. Stearnes was an all-around great player who could bat just as well as play the field and the bases. As part of the Detroit Stars, he played some of the highest batting averages of each season.<\/p>\n
But baseball being a segregated sport put a lot of hardships on Turkey Stearnes. For much of his career, he would move from team to team, eventually finishing his career with Kansas City. Many of the teams weren\u2019t able to pay Stearnes a salary.<\/p>\n
When Stearnes played for the Detroit Stars, he needed to work in an automotive factory in order to survive. The factory was owned by Walter Briggs, then owner of the white-only Detroit Tigers baseball team.<\/p>\n
While the white-only Detroit Tigers played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, the Detroit Stars played at Hamtramck Stadium. This is where the community effort to name the field starts \u2013 because over the years, Hamtramck Stadium became run-down and unusable.<\/p>\n
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Hamtramck Stadium is still a work in progress, but those involved with the project say that results are coming soon<\/em><\/p>\n The Conservation Effort<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve got something that you can’t make anymore, we’ve got a ballpark with a field where Negro League teams and great players played,\u201d said Gary Gillette, who\u2019s been working on the Hamtramck Stadium conservation effort and is co-founder of the Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are only a handful around. So I mean, we’re talking about a very, very small number of these historic venues that are left.\u201d<\/p>\n Councilman Ian Perrotta was writing for the Hamtramck Review back when he was first getting involved with the Hamtramck Stadium effort.<\/p>\n \u201cLike 10 years ago, I was writing for the Review and I started writing stories about the stadium about just that it could be used,\u201d Perrotta said. \u201cAnd so I put together a meeting to try and get people to help fix it up.\u201d<\/p>\n Eventually, the Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium was created. The group was able to secure funding from major philanthropic grants like the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation, the White Stripes singer Jack White, and a few other charitable donors.<\/p>\n Now, the Hamtramck Stadium is still under renovation, with the stadium seating still in desperate need of repair. The field, although pristine-looking as any baseball-ready field, is still not complete. Perrotta says that the work to be done is about to reach its final phase for completion after ten years of efforts to rehabilitate the facility.<\/p>\n This final phase involves a sort of partnership between Hamtramck City Council and the Public Schools\u2019 Board of Education. This would put both of the City Government\u2019s interest in the Historic Hamtramck Stadium and the Board of Education\u2019s interest in Keyworth Stadium into a separate organization called the Hamtramck Parks Conservancy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Creating New Recreation Opportunities<\/p>\n \u201cThere is an urgent need for green space and recreational facilities in the city of Hamtramck,\u201d said Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed. \u201cIt has among the least number of acres of park land per capita in the United States. Access to parks and nature is key to wellbeing, yet Hamtramck\u2019s lack of resources makes it a challenge to improve park amenities.<\/p>\n