Exhibit at Eric Carle Museum pays tribute to baseball's first black players
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One of the most seminal years in baseball history was 1947, and even people who don't recognize that date likely remember the name associated with it: Jackie Robinson. It was during that year that Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first black player to break a long-standing color barrier in major league baseball.
Yet even as he opened the door to baseball for a wave of talented black and then Latino players - Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Minne Minoso, Orlando Cepeda - Robinson's ascent to the big leagues marked the beginning of the end of another thriving institution: Negro league baseball, a parallel world of the sport that since 1920 had showcased the national pastime for enthusiastic black fans in segregated America.
That world is being celebrated at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, in an exhibit that runs through June 10. "We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball" features 33 paintings, 13 sketches and other material by artist Kadir Nelson on the players, ballparks and highlights of black baseball before the sport was finally integrated.
The exhibit, now in its third year of touring under the management of Smith Kramer Fine Art Services of Kansas City, Mo., is drawn from a series of paintings that Nelson created for his 2008 children's book of the same name. The title was inspired by a quote by Andrew "Rube" Foster, a former baseball player and manager who started the first black baseball league, in 1920. Determined to build what were then called Negro leagues that would rival major league baseball in talent and drive, Foster declared, "We are the ship; all else the sea."
Nelson, of Los Angeles, has received widespread acclaim for his work. He is a two-time Caldecott Honor Award winner, an NAACP Image Award winner and a four-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. His paintings hang in the U.S. House of Representatives and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and his artwork is featured on the posthumous Michael Jackson album "Michael."
He says his goal with "We Are the Ship" was to recreate the richness of the black leagues and the lives of athletes who wouldn't let segregation stop them from playing the game they loved.
"I just found the story really inspiring," Nelson said during a recent phone call from his L.A. studio. "These guys played with a lot of pride, and they worked hard to build what they did ... It was a story that had been forgotten in a lot of cases, and I wanted to recreate it, bring it back to life."
Nelson was first drawn to the subject in the mid 1990s, when, as a student at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., he watched the Ken Burns documentary "Baseball," which featured a chapter on the Negro leagues and interviews with former players like Buck O'Neil, who played for and later managed the Kansas City Monarchs - a team that included Jackie Robinson for one season, before he signed with the Dodgers in late 1945.
Intrigued by the story, Nelson set out to learn more. He also did some initial paintings, including one of a legendary 1942 Colored World Series game in which ace pitcher Satchel Paige struck out slugger Josh Gibson - known as "the black Babe Ruth" - on three pitches in a key situation.
In his research, Nelson plumbed numerous sources: the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.; various written histories of the leagues and online resources; and former players. He met Buck O'Neil and Walt McCoy, who played with the Chicago American Giants in the late 1940s, at an old-timers event hosted by the San Diego Padres.
"Walt was like a walking encyclopedia," Nelson said. "He was a huge help, as was Buck O'Neil. They were great about sharing their stories with me."
Suiting up
Even with that information, Nelson had to rely heavily on his own imagination and skill to create his larger-than-life portraits of players from the Negro leagues. Although he had access to some team portraits, photos of many individual players were hard to find, or of poor quality. Nelson bought and donned a period baseball uniform, photographing himself in different positions so that he'd have a good sense of how the baggy uniforms from that era would have looked on players.
"It was kind of like putting a puzzle together," he said. "I thought it was really important to get the details right - how a [uniform] fold looked, how it draped on a leg or an arm. Players would notice those things."
The 46 paintings Nelson eventually created over a seven-year period evoke the era, with expressive portraits of the players set against slightly hazy backdrops of summer skies, crowded stands, the green grass of the fields and outfield fences lined with old-time advertisements.
"I was trying to capture the look of that time, like you'd see in old Coca-Cola ads," Nelson said.
In the portraits, the players generally come across as a serious, determined bunch, proud to be playing baseball despite the efforts of whites to keep them out of the game.
A portrait of catcher and power hitter Josh Gibson, for example, reveals muscles bulging along his arms as he holds a bat on his right shoulder and looks straight at the viewer. In another painting, lanky Satchel Paige, considered one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, looks about eight feet tall as he stands on the mound, staring toward home plate and preparing to deliver a pitch.
A larger work depicts a colorful scene from the early 1920s as members of Rube Foster's team, the Chicago American Giants, stand outside a railroad car, decked out in spiffy traveling clothes, including bow ties, suits, and straw boaters and derbies; a few young boys and other fans watch, perhaps waiting for autographs.
In addition, there are portraits of key figures in league management and ownership, like Foster and Gus Greenlee, the flamboyant owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords who also reportedly ran all the major numbers rackets in town.
Nelson says what he likes best about his work is "the look in the eyes of the players when they see these paintings - they're really proud and really happy that what they did has been recognized like this. And that's a thrill for me."
Innovations
In his paintings, as well as the text for his book, Nelson also explores the larger world the players moved in - one in which they often had to eat groceries and sleep on buses or in cars because there were so few places, particularly in the South, that would serve them food or let them stay overnight. One painting shows a large sign hanging against a wooded backdrop. The lettering says, "Bronzville Inn - Cabins for Colored."
As the book outlines, the Negro leagues introduced a number of innovations that were later adopted by the major leagues, such as night games and batting helmets; their games also featured an aggressive style built around baserunning that players like Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays would reintroduce to major league baseball, which for years had focused on scoring runs by hitting the long ball.
The book and exhibit also touch on the history of black baseball players before the formation of the Negro leagues, as well as the other ways players found a way to stay in the game: barnstorming across the country to play local semipro and professional teams, or playing exhibition games against white major leaguers. Some also played winter ball in Cuba and other Latin American countries, where they were welcomed with open arms.
The Negro leagues faded rapidly after Jackie Robinson and other players moved on to major league baseball and black fans began attending those games. Nelson's art celebrates the accomplishments of Negro league players who paved the way for future stars like Reggie Jackson and Ken Griffey Jr.
"I think the underlying theme for this was to recognize the contributions the players and the leagues made, and not bemoan that most of them never got to play in the majors," Nelson said. "At the end of the day, they lived out their dream - they played baseball for a living."
"We Are the Ship" will be on view through June 10 at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst. There will be a reception for museum members with Kadir Nelson Feb. 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. A public gallery tour and book signing with Nelson will be held Feb. 19 at 1 p.m.
On April 1, Nelson will join Sharon Robinson, daughter of Jackie Robinson, and Scott Simon, National Public Radio host, at the museum for a conversation about race and baseball. Nelson illustrated Sharon Robinson's children's book "Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson" (Scholastic Inc.), which is currently on display at the museum. Simon is the author of the book "Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball" (John Wiley & Sons).
Museum admission is $9 for adults, $6 for children under 18, or $22.50 for a family of four. Hours are Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays.
For more information, call 658-1100 or visit www.carlemuseum.org.
In honor of Black History Month and Abraham Lincoln's birthday, works by Kadir Nelson will be on display this month at the R. Michelson Galleries, located at 132 Main St. in Northampton. On view will be selections from six of Nelson's books, including his collaborations with Spike Lee, and illustrations from "Abe's Honest Words, the Life of Abraham Lincoln." For information, call 586-3964 or visit www.RMichelson.com.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.
