CHAMPIONS SPEAK  -  2011 Hall of Fame Inductee Jimmy Rattlesnake - Athlete

Introduction of Jimmy Rattlesnake

by Sandy Kirstein Wright

Because his baseball career took place over 60 years ago, there is not much written history or information available about Jimmy Rattlesnake. Also, most of the people who watched him play or played with him are gone.  In writing his citation for the program and preparing this introduction tonight, my source for most of the information about Jimmy Rattlesnake was Willie Littlechild’s book that was published in 1988 and is entitled “To Run with Longboat: Twelve Stories of Indian Athletes in Canada”.  Jimmy Rattlesnake’s story was called “The Smilin’ Rattler”.  To get his story the researcher for this book interviewed players who played with Jimmy, friends of Jimmy’s from Hobbema, and some of Jimmy’s family members.  Tonight I’m going to relate a few more stories from that book to give you additional insights into the personality, character and abilities of Jimmy Rattlesnake. 

Joe Smallboy used to catch for Jimmy, Jimmy was the one who taught him how to play.  Because his pitches were so hard to catch and because he too had a bent finger from catching....with a catcher’s mitt....Joe moved from catching to first base.  That didn’t work out either as Jimmy’s throws to first were too hard....so Joe moved to centre field...that caused Jimmy to laugh, apparently Jimmy liked to laugh. 

Ralph Vold of Ponoka, who had a seven year career as a minor league pitcher in the US in the 1950’s was told by old timers that if he had a curve ball like Jimmy Rattlesnake he could really do something good on the mound.  When he was a teenager, Ralph made a special trip to Hobbema to meet Jimmy.  The two of them had a discussion about how to hold the ball when throwing a curve.  Ralph went home and tried his darndest to master Jimmy’s pitch but never could get it. 

Harold Northcott who played first base and pitched for five different Team Canada teams in the 80’s and then coached five more squads in the ’90’s, was nine or ten years old when his dad started showing him Jimmy Rattlesnake’s unique throw to first base.  Harold was left handed and Harold’s dad tried to model him after Jimmy as Jimmy was the best southpaw that his dad had ever seen.      

At age 40, when Jimmy quit playing ball he married Isabelle Morin and they had ten children. Jimmy’s children didn’t really know much about his baseball career, they simply knew he was their dad.  Jimmy’s wife and three of his children were interviewed for the book - remember though, the book was written over twenty years ago. 

Apparently, Jimmy’s brother and sister had all died from TB during the years that he was traveling the country playing baseball.  Jimmy’s wife Isabelle felt that by leaving the reserve and playing baseball and working away, Jimmy was able to avert the TB that killed everyone else in his family. 

Following are some excerpts of what Jimmy’s eldest son, Lawrence,  had to say when he was  interviewed for the book:      

He got me into ball, they only had fastball around here then, and when I was pitching he used to tell me, never mind the fans or the other players.  Do what you want to do and always try to plan ahead, think ahead to the next play.         

Only once does Lawrence remember Jimmy mentioning anything about playing baseball in the US.  Lawrence said, 

"If I can remember right, he told me Brooklyn.  He said he made the team but only pitched a few innings before he got in trouble with the manager and came back to Canada.  He never mentioned it again."