Born October 4, 1918 in Devon, N.B., McIntyre was the first black Canadian to play organized baseball in the modern era. He led his local Devon team to the New Brunswick Junior Baseball championship in 1938. After a year of senior baseball with the Truro Bearcats of Nova Scotia’s Pictou County League, he played wartime baseball in Halifax. In 1945, he moved to Trois-Rivières of the Quebec Provincial League and attracted attention from the New York Cubans, who were undertaking a barnstorming tour of the province. When he signed a pro contract as a shortstop with the Sherbrooke Canadiens, a Class C farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1946, he was one of only six blacks in organized baseball. After 30 games in Sherbrooke, he voluntarily left the club. He played for Fredericton of the New Brunswick League in 1948 and 1949 and helped lead them to the provincial championship in 1949. He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. McIntyre passed away on June 13, 2011 in Candiac, Que.
Photo courtesy of McIntyre family.
