Negro League Memorabilia

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Baseball memorabilia has become stunningly collectible in the 150+ years that the game has been played. A bat and ball are as iconically American as the stars and stripes. But one sub-section of baseball memorabilia that is rarely discussed and highly prized are items related the Negro Leagues of the 1920's to the 1950's. The golden age of the Negro Leagues effectively ended in 1947 when, as many baseball fans will jump to tell you, Jackie Robinson took the field with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Talent, it turned out, was capable of shattering the color barrier.

But before that, there are generations of lost legends. The Negro Leagues are full of regret-tinged tales of superhuman baseball: Everyone knows about Babe Ruth's called homeruns but, in the parallel world of the Negro Leagues, there was Satchel Paige, the cocky pitcher, who told his outfielders to go rest their feet in the dugout while he pitched nine consecutive strikes for a hitless inning. There was Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, another pitcher, who pitched through a solid double header. And James "Cool Papa" Bell, who was so swift that he would routinely double off of his bunts. Showboating-and backing it up-was almost as important in the Negro Leagues as the baseball.

Jim Riley, the director of the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, estimates that there are only "about two dozen" players still alive from that superhuman era of baseball, which makes baseball memorabilia from the Negro Leagues a very scarce commodity. Though the survivors are getting more attention as Major League Baseball looks back, it's the ones who died before they could cash in on the sports memorabilia boom that are most prized by collectors. Several Negro League players went on to the Hall of Fame, and these are especially sought after. A vintage -1944 autographed baseball from Satchel Paige recently went for $805.25, while modern signed baseballs go for $35-$300.

Which should offer a valuable insight into the historical appeal of Negro League memorabilia collecting. Both the players and fans were considerably poorer than their white counterparts. Start thinking about the chronology-the great depression and World War II-and one realizes that signing a perfectly good baseball was nearly unthinkable. Similarly, players were issued one uniform when signing with a team. The cost of their next one would be deducted from their salary. All of which makes any kind of vintage, game used items incredibly rare. A uniform belonging to Newt Allen, an infielder for the Kansas City Monarchs, sold for a staggering $20,000. Reproductions are available, but original uniforms are pretty much unattainable.

Similarly, baseball historians rabidly track down scorecards and programs. Local papers generally ignored the Negro League goings on, and often the only documentation of a game will be hand-scrawled, disposable score cards that have miraculously eluded the trash bin. Self-styled "baseball archaeologists" are now trying to piece together the lost history of the Negro Leagues with this scarce evidence. Similarly, The Baseball Museum in Kansas City is always seeking more items to buy. As this type of baseball collectible increases in value, beware of the usual forgeries and scams. If a player died in 1942, be suspicious if a modern, synthetic ball bares his signature.