Original All-Stars strike out with championship, then film deal

Original All-Stars strike out with championship, then film deal

It's the kind of story they make movies about. A team of young boys was denied the opportunity to play baseball because of the color of their skin. There is a movie being made, but the men who made up the famous Cannon Street All-Stars say they weren't consulted. Augustus Holt and Vermont Brown are like walking encyclopedias when it comes to local little league history, and Brown himself is a legend. On the biggest stage of his young life, Brown and the rest of his team, the Cannon Street All-Stars, were left out from the 1955 National Little League Championships because of their race. Over the years the team's story spread; Holt says even Disney's inquired about making a movie. So when some independent filmmakers created a script and started production on a short film called the "Cannon Street Boys," the All-Stars and Holt took offense and felt slighted. The filmmakers did ask the YMCA for permission; Paul Stoney, president of the Cannon Street YMCA, supports the project. However, telling the story about the All-Stars, instead of with them, has raised comments about injustice and disservice. Now, more than 50 years after the original snub, some players feel it's happened again.