James "Jim" Master

Year Inducted: 1978

In his day he was known as “Mr. Baseball”.  He was born in Hungary on March 9, 1889 and came to Port Huron in 1924.

Jim started his career in the national pastime in 1926 by managing a team known simply as Jim Master’s team.  In 1927 he formed the Holmes A.C. Team, which was sponsored by the Holmes Foundry Company, for whom he worked.  He also managed a team for the Port Huron Thresher Company for one season.  After a period as skipper of the Baumann A.C. Club, he went back to managing his won team known as the Port Huron Independents – later to gain fame as the “Cardinals”.  Jim was recognized and respected as an outstanding promoter of independent baseball in Prot Huron.  He had the ability to recruit many of the finest players in the Blue Water Area to play on his team.  Those who played for him were very loyal and dependable.

Jim Master spent thirty-six years as an active participant in local baseball leagues.  As a promoter, sponsor and manager, he contributed a great deal of time and energy to keep baseball active in our area for many years.

Lack of funds forced Jim to close shop with the Cardinals, then a member of the Michigan-Ontario Baseball League, on June 20, 1962.  It marked a sad day for baseball, as that, for all intents and purposes, marked the death-knell of the game in Port Huron.  Minus Jim’s time, energy and money, the game could not go on.