SIGNED BY 43 NEGRO LEAGUE PLAYERS, INCLUDING HALL OF FAMERS LEON DAY, MONTE IRVIN AND BUCK LEONARD
(BASEBALL). Negro League Autograph Sheet signed. Baltimore, October 13, 1990. One sheet, measuring 11 by 17 inches, printed and signed on the recto. Floated, matted and framed, entire piece measures 16 by 22 inches. $6500.
"Autograph sheet" from the Negro League Baseball Players Association reunion in Baltimore in 1990, signed by 43 Negro League players, including Hall of Famers Leon Day, Monte Irvin and Buck Leonard.
The Negro Leagues developed after the Civil War due to a "gentleman's agreement" among MLB higher-ups to keep Black players out of the league. After a long period without an organized circuit, Andrew "Rube" Foster founded the Negro National League (NNL) in 1920. The Negro leagues thrived in the 1920s and then again after the Great Depression, but popularity began to wane in the late 1940s when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the MLB by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers and other star Black players started to shift over to the MLB.
This autograph sheet is signed by many of the biggest names to play in the Negro leagues. Hall of Famer Monte Irvin was one of the first Black players to break the color line, joining the Giants in 1949. Buck Leonard played for the dynastic Homestead Grays from 1934 to 1950, a team that won nine straight pennants and three Negro World Series titles. In 1999, Sporting News ranked him number 47 on its list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Hall of Famer Leon Day played most of his career with the Newark Eagles; as a pitcher, he was consider the equal of, if not better than, his more famous contemporary, Satchel Paige. Signed by 43 players: Col. Jimmie Crutchfield, Monte Irvin, Gene Benson, Verdell Mathis, Josh Johnson, Marlin Carter, Clyde McNeal, John "Mule" Miles, Mahlon Duckett, Wilmer Fields, Harry Barnes, Wiley R. Griggs, Max Manning, Elmer Knox, "Piper" Davis, Bob Thurman, Josh Gibson, Jr., Freddie Shepard, Double Duty Radcliffe, Lyman Bostock Sr., Willie Pope, Cowan "Bubba" Hyde, Leon Day, Jake Sanders, George Giles, Quincy Trouppe, Stanley Glenn, Nap Gulley, Jehosie Heard, Armando Vazquez, Jim Cohen, Bob Harvey, Frank Evans, Lester Lockett (2), Bill Byrd, Claro Duany, Thomas Sampson, Larry Kimbrough, Rodolfo Fernandez, Willie (Pat) Patterson, Wild Bill Wright, Buck Leonard and one unidentified player. With JSA Authentication #YY80730 sticker.
One small stain, beautifully framed.