From the Town of Huntsville
The Town of Huntsville has launched a community survey to provide an opportunity for the public to vote on whether they support a proposal to rename a baseball diamond at the McCulley Robertson Recreation Park in honour of George Selkirk.
As part of the Commemorative Naming Program for Town Assets, community members have submitted an application to commemorate George Selkirk, for his outstanding contributions to the game of baseball, by renaming Diamond ‘F’ to “Selkirk Diamond”.
The survey will be open from July 24 until August 22 at 4:30pm at myhuntsville.ca.
George ‘Twinkletoes’ Selkirk played Major League Baseball from 1934 to 1942 and won five World Series Championships. Of the approximately 280 Canadians to play Major League Baseball, Selkirk is the only one from Huntsville. He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Huntsville Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. He is also credited with the invention of the warning track. Through his exceptional performance in baseball, Selkirk brought considerable honour to the Town of Huntsville, the Province of Ontario, and Canada.
Town staff will be reviewing the survey results and bringing the community feedback to General Committee in September 2025 for Committee’s consideration and determination.
The Commemorative Naming of Town Assets is to recognize, on an exceptional basis, significant contributions that individuals or organizations have made to public life and the well-being of the people in Huntsville. To learn more about the program, please visit huntsville.ca .
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox so you don’t miss anything!
Click here to support local news
Putting myself in the shoes of a 10 year old ball player, I’m not sure that I would be inspired by the names of the volunteers and builders that made baseball an integral part of growing up in our town.
Yes, the parents would and should be grateful for their passionate dedication to the sport and how it benefits their families, but a young boy or girl , I’m pretty sure would be more in awe of some kind of memorial to a 5 time World Series Champion. For them to know that Twinkle Toes left town at 3 years old might not mean much.
I’m not saying that the names of McCulley and Robertson be replaced or made less prominent that they now are. I worked with Alex for many years in minor hockey. He was just as important to kids hockey as he was to baseball and deserves the recognition that he is given by the town and that definitely should not be minimized. ( the same for Bob McCulley)
Please correct my history if incorrect but a Selkirk was the a partial town founder and should likely be part of a much bigger commemorative. Captain Hunt, married Sarah Selkirk. Captain Hunt’s cousin also married a Selkirk.
Captain Hunt, his upbringing in the Greek Island of Corfu and the marriage to Selkirk from Montreal plus the later success of a family member making it to the World’s top sports franchise might be worth putting under another unbrella entirely besides baseball.
Hunt was most well known for bringing the train through Huntsville so maybe something historic by the train station or where the original Hunt cabin was built would be more appropriate and having Twinkle toes mixed in with a family remembrance would be a grand slam.
Those names currently at the diamonds represent something special. Baseball really owes thanks to C.O Shaw. I believe he bankrolled the local baseball league and development.
I think locals and tourists would be interested in the bigger story of how Huntsville got its name which includes Twinkle Toes.
I was kidding about a statue for Selkirk. My suggestion was to have a “wall of honour” with the names of the people or organizations or companies that have coached ,played, umpired or supported ball in Huntsville. It will be a substantial list!
And by the way ,I voted no to Selkirk and don’t even live in Huntsville. Maybe the voting system is flawed.
I kind of like William Kidd’s proposal. Honouring Selkirk in some kind of public forum, would let young ball players in Huntsville know that it’s possible to be born here and reach the big leagues while still celebrating the efforts of McCulley and Robertson.
Why not just put a statue of Selkirk beside the statue of Tom Thomson? What did Tom ever do for Huntsville? But seriously, Huntsville has a large group of local women and men that have contributed to baseball and softball in Huntsville. There aren’t enough diamonds to honour all of them. Maybe a wall of fame at the ball park with their names could be created.
How long will it be before George Selkirk’s name is in turn summarily dumped in favour of the next baseball legend?
What might I ask did George Selkirk contribute to local sport, other than the notoriety provided by some local opinion pieces. He may have filled in after Ruth, but that’s it. He had numbers far in the distance behind the Babe! But he might have discovered the warning track. Whoop de do!! Didn’t do it here in Nothing here in Huntsville except “eat and greet and sleep” as my Mother-in-law said of those ‘wee uns’.
Robertson called balls and strikes and sometimes “Yer outta there.” Selkirk never saw a ball or strike in Huntsville. Outta here when he was about three.
McCulley burned it in and showed others how to do it. Here in Huntsville. Selkirk. Not at all. Never took a solid cut at a ball in this town.
Stan could ‘lay it down Ziggy’ and smile as he put you away. And my boys played on teams Stan coached. Lots of trips away in ‘Stan’s tan van’. I don’t think Selkirk offered tips to local boys. Unless you can show me otherwise.
The local hero bar is getting pretty low if all we can come up with is a ‘Yankee’ who happened to be born in this town. Good for him. He owes us! But try acknowledging one of our own rather than dragging on the coat-tails of someone who never was one of us.
And it doesn’t have to be a man. Or does it?
Lets find another park for Selkirk
I vote NO
I can’t see where Mr Selkirk made any significant contribution to our town. However I do agree with Mr Markle and his suggestion if a name change is inevitable.
No thank you. Bob McCully was a mentor to so many of us and devoted countless hours guiding and working with young and old players. He promoted fair play, clever strategies and years of wise advice. Bob and Alex are legends in our community and personally I think things an are just fine the way they are. No disrespect to George or any of his amazing accomplishments.
Absolutely NO. This council and Mayor have lost all focus as this is what they are spending their time and our money on.
Absolutely NO. Why are you wasting time and money on this?
Good choice. Would support
I vote no..leave ir as it is.
Anyone but another self serving politician.
I vote NO!
The commemorative naming statement reads, in part “significant contributions that individuals or organizations have made to public life and the well being of the people in Huntsville”. George Selkirk may have been a hell of a ball player, but was gone from Huntsville by the time he was two or three. He never swung at a slider or hit a homer in Huntsville. He became an American, played in the U.S. and was an American to the end. His remains are still there. Is there even a record of him coming back to town and hitting big in a pick-up game?
There must have been a few people who were gone from Huntsville by the time they were three and never played ball in our town. Don’t see as they should have a ball diamond named after them either.
There is a person who, in my opinion worked as hard on the Huntsville ball programs as most of them did,
but a woman. Wanda Lumley worked alongside the rest. And she did it here in Huntsville, for the benefit of the town and is still in Huntsville.
This is not just a guys game, So, as I’ve written before: “C’mon Huntsville. Give her a diamond.”