Sam Gero – Baseball Player, Coach, Builder

Sam Gero was born at Amherst, NS, on August 31^st, 1930, the son of Ella (nee Cook) and Charlie Gero.  He had one sister Jennie, who married Robert Lee of New Glasgow. 

An athlete all his life, Sam had a particular facility on the ball diamond.  In the late 40s and 50s, he played senior baseball with the Amherst Blue Jays, the Memramcook Dodgers, the Moncton Keith Cubs, and the St. John Dodgers throughout the late forties and fifties. In those years, the calibre of ball played in the Maritimes was very high.  As an added bonus, players were paid. Sam recalls that the going rate was around $180 per week, plus room and board.  

In 1950, Sam went to play with the Montreal Royals, farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  His experience there gave him the opportunity to sign a seven game tryout with the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his time there, he happened to meet Jackie Robinson who would go on to establish a career of great renown, and who in 1946 had broken the colour barrier in professional baseball.  His time in New York was a tough experience for Sam – the racial taunts were unrelenting.  After the tryout, and discouraged with this experience, Sam returned to Nova Scotia on the train.

For one season in the late 50s, Sam played for the senior team Sydney, Cape Breton. During that time, he met fellow ball player Bob Brasset, an Antigonish native who was also playing in that city.  Both players were looking for a change and Bob invited Sam to Antigonish to meet D. G. MacIsaac, coach of the Antigonish Bulldogs Baseball team.  Sam signed with Antigonish in 1960, and played with them for the better part of a decade.  It was a competitive league, with teams based in New Glasgow, Truro, Westville and Stellarton.  Exhibition games were played at other locations, including Port Hood.  Teammates included Billy MacVicar, Red Kennedy, Donnie MacNeil, Les MacIntyre, Jimmy MacIntyre, Lauchie MacIsaac, Jimmy Hedges MacDonald, George Tellum, Andre Desjardins, Seaward Farrell, and Billy MacPherson (Hollywood Bill).  The management team included D.G. MacIsaac, George Grant and Frank McGibbon.  All home games were played at Columbus Field and the team proved successful for many years. (Photo below right of 1969 championship team. Courtesy of Bill McVicar)

During his first season in Antigonish, Sam attended a carnival where members of the work crew were from the Amherst area, Sam’s hometown.  An encounter at the carnival with Norm Phee resulted in an invitation to the Phee home off West Street.  There, Sam was introduced to Norm’s niece, Mary Ann.  Sam was smitten.  They were soon a couple that shared a love of baseball; Mary Ann too was a former member of a local women’s ball team. Sam and Mary Ann married in June 1963 and went on to have a family of four—two boys and two girls.

When he first arrived in Antigonish, Sam worked for the Town, then for a construction company building the glebe house on St. Ninian Street, before beginning a sixteen-year career at Eastern Auto. A thirty year career at the Antigonish Arena followed, during which he was also a respected referee at games across the region. Sam was also twice elected a councillor for the Town of Antigonish, becoming the first African Nova Scotian to hold that position in the municipality.

Despite work and family obligations, Sam did not give up baseball altogether. He continued to officiate at Little League ball tournaments, including in the Amherst area.  Many will remember Sam’s face at the Antigonish Arena where he was a referee for many of the Bulldog hockey games. Eventually, he transitioned from playing baseball to fastball, softball and then lob ball.  At age 79, he played his last game in the field in Pomquet (during which he hit a home run!), after which players from both teams enjoyed a ‘time out’ to celebrate his birthday.

Nearly 14 years since he “retired” from playing baseball, Sam continues to help coach Antigonish’s budding young baseball players each summer. He also plays darts three times a week at the Legion. In 2022, Sam’s name was added to the Fence of Fame at the Sandlot at Dr. J.H. Gillis Regional High School. (Photo: Sam with sister-in-law Joan Phee and three of his four children. Courtesy Antigonish Baseball Association)

Now almost 93, Sam prefers not to dwell on the challenges he faced as a young black ball player, when racist among some Nova Scotians made life pretty unpleasant at times. Instead, Sam focuses on the positive: coming to Antigonish and meeting Mary Ann, having his family, and making a lot of great friends during his more than 60 years as an athlete, coach and builder in our community.

Submitted by The Antigonish Heritage Museum