Sports
Turkey Stearnes
1901–1979 · baseball player, center fielder
Hall of Fame slugger of the Negro-league Detroit Stars who made Detroit his home for more than fifty years; Hamtramck Stadium's field bears his name.
- Born
Nashville, Tennessee- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 78- Birth name
- Norman Thomas Stearnes
- Also known as
- Norman "Turkey" Stearnes
- Detroit years
- 1923–1979
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Stearnes came north from Nashville on March 1, 1923, after catcher Bruce Petway scouted him for the Detroit Stars. He joined the club at Mack Park on the east side and over nine seasons became the finest hitter in its history, hitting at least 140 home runs in fewer than 600 games while leading the Negro National League in homers several times. Like many Black ballplayers, he also held a factory job, first at Briggs Manufacturing, the company of Tigers owner Walter Briggs. When Mack Park's successor opened in Hamtramck in 1930, Stearnes played there too. He later starred in Chicago and Kansas City, returned to the Stars in 1937, and after retiring spent 27 years at Ford's Rouge plant. A regular in the stands at Briggs and Tiger Stadium, he died in Detroit in 1979 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Highlights
- Detroit Stars center fielder 1923–1931 and again in 1937
- Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000
- Hamtramck Stadium's field renamed Norman "Turkey" Stearnes Field in 2020
- Worked 27 years at Ford's Rouge plant after baseball
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 4
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Played here · 1923–1929
Mack Park (site)
Demolished
The east-side ballpark of the Detroit Stars in the 1920s; its grandstand burned in 1929 and the park was later cleared.
Memorial · 1930–1931, 2020–
Hamtramck Stadium – Norman "Turkey" Stearnes Field
One of the few surviving Negro-league ballparks; the Stars played here in 1930–1931 and the field was named for Stearnes in 2020.
Worked here · about 27 years after 1945
Ford River Rouge Complex
After his playing days he worked 27 years at Ford's Rouge plant.
Buried here · 1979
Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery
His grave is in this cemetery in Clinton Township, Macomb County.