Contact: Jeff Morgan, Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov, (515) 281-3858

(DES MOINES) – The State Historical Museum announced today it will open a new exhibit this month that explores the history of Negro leagues baseball.

“Shades of Greatness: Art Inspired by Negro Leagues Baseball” is a traveling modern art exhibit organized by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo. The exhibit has been on display in venues and museums across the country – including the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. – and reflects the history and social thread of the Negro leagues (1920-1960) in a mixed media presentation from paintings to sculpture.

The exhibit will be open June 24-October 28, 2007 at the State Historical Museum, 600 E. Locust Street in Des Moines’ Historic East Village. The museum is open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and Noon-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

“We are very proud to bring this exhibit to Iowa this summer and to have it here until the World Series,” said Cyndi Pederson, director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the State Historical Museum. “Our state has a long history with and great love for the game, and we’re excited to help Iowans and others learn more about the Negro leagues and Iowa’s historical connections to baseball.”

The first-ever collaborative professional art exhibit inspired by Negro leagues baseball, “Shades of Greatness” offers a new interpretation of the story of the Negro leagues, one that differs from the painted portraiture that has dominated Negro leagues art. In developing the exhibit, the NLBM brought together a group of artists to tour the NLBM, view presentations by former players like Buck O’Neil and read about the Negro leagues. The group of artists created the 35 pieces included in the exhibit.

“This exhibit brings non-baseball fans into the history of the Negro leagues,” Pederson said. “People who are interested in art and culture will appreciate the art, and baseball fans will get a deeper understanding when they see the exhibit. Visitors will have a chance to move beyond what they would normally see in a typical sports art collection like giant baseball cards. They’ll see something original and creative about the Negro leagues.”

The exhibit pieces are mixed media, from cubist paintings of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and James “Cool Papa” Bell to bronze sculptures of batters’ hands, including those of Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe. Some works focus on individuals, like Jackie Robinson, while others are symbolic, generic figures representing Negro league ball players and their experiences. A third group works many known figures into the same piece while giving each player equal status.

The history of African-Americans playing baseball on military, college and company teams dates to the late 1800s. Eventually, they found their way to professional teams with white players. But racism and “Jim Crow” laws forced them from these teams by 1900. As a result, African-American players formed their own teams, “barnstorming” around the country to play anyone who would challenge them.

In 1920, an organized league structure was formed under the guidance of Andrew “Rube” Foster – a former player, manager, and owner for the Chicago American Giants. In a meeting held at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Mo., Foster and a few other Midwestern team owners formed the Negro National League.

Soon, rival leagues formed in Eastern and Southern states, bringing the thrills and innovative play of African-American baseball to major urban centers and rural country sides in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. The leagues maintained a high level of professional skill and became centerpieces for economic development in many African-American communities.

In 1945, Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs to be the first African-American to play on a Major League roster.

While this historic event was a key moment in baseball and civil rights history, it prompted the decline of Negro leagues baseball. The best African-American players were recruited for the Major Leagues, and African-American fans followed. The last Negro leagues teams folded in the early 1960s, but their legacy lives on through the surviving players and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

The Iowa Connection

While Robinson is the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues, it was Bud Fowler who made U.S. sports history as one of the first African-Americans to play professional baseball. He played for numerous teams across the country, including a six-month stint in Iowa with the Keokuk Keokuks in 1885.

Born in 1858 in Cooperstown, N.Y., Fowler played and managed baseball teams until 1909, when he died of pernicious anemia in Frankfort, New York. His grave was unmarked for 74 years until the Society for American Baseball Research placed a memorial stone on the site in 1987 to commemorate his achievements as professional baseball’s first African-American player.

In conjunction with “Shades of Greatness,” State Historical Museum staff will display an exhibit called “Black Baseball in Iowa.” The exhibit will include a number of artifacts from the museum’s collection or on loan, including:

• 3 autographed baseballs in individual plastic cases – Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and various Negro league ball players



• 5 baseball cards – Roy Campanella, Gene Baker, Joe Black, Ernie Banks, Satchel Paige, Art Pennington



• Envelope signed by Buck Leonard



• Photo of Art Pennington and Hank Aaron



• Softbound book by Jackie Robinson



• Louisville Slugger Jackie Robinson baseball bat



• Framed photo of “Ray Bagg Collection”



• Framed photo of Satchel Paige



• Book “Pitchin’ Man” by Satchel Paige



• 2 photos on foam board – the Memphis Red Sox and Pittsburgh Crawfords



• 3 vintage baseball gloves



• 2 vintage baseballs



• A.J. Reach vintage baseball bat



• Pipe tobacco tin



• Framed panoramic photo of the First Colored World Series



• Framed print, Kansas City Monarchs



• Vintage catcher’s mask



• Framed poster with signatures of Negro leagues players



• Framed photo of Savoy Beers Iowa black baseball team



• Kansas City Monarchs cap



• Kansas City Monarchs shirt



• Bob Feller uniform and photos – Feller’s participation in barnstorming tours with Satchel Paige helped to set the stage for the integration of the Major Leagues



• Iowa Colored Cowboys booklet



• Indianapolis Clowns game poster (Dubuque)



• Negro Heroes comic from 1940s



• Hot-N-Tots softball shirt, the 1951 black softball team that won the state championship; Johnny Bright was on the team

Shades of Greatness Programming

June 24
The exhibit will open with a celebration of baseball from 4-7 p.m., and will feature ice cream, a baseball pitching speed machine, miniature golf, Field of Dreams ghost player(s), a screening of the Negro league baseball episode from Ken Burns’ “Baseball” series, and free Negro leagues baseball cards.

July 14
A program featuring a documentary by Thomas Ritchie about the Sioux City Ghosts (an African-American softball team) with a video and presentation. Additional details to be announced.

August 25
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Education Director Ray Doswell will give a presentation about the history of the Negro Leagues. Time and admission to be announced.

September 22 & 23
A baseball collector’s show and sale featuring dealers and baseball collectors from across the Midwest. Details to be announced.

The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is responsible for developing the state’s interest in the areas of the arts, history and other cultural matters with the advice and assistance from its two divisions: the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council. DCA preserves, researches, interprets and promotes an awareness and understanding of local, state and regional history and stimulates and encourages the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts and public interest and participation in them. It implements tourism-related art and history projects as directed by the General Assembly and designs a comprehensive, statewide, long-range plan with the assistance of the Iowa Arts Council to develop the arts in Iowa. More information about DCA is available at www.culturalaffairs.org.

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