Around The Ball Park


Baseball from the Negro Leagues East-West all-star game of 1937.  Buck Leonard, first baseman for the Homestead Grays, hit a home run to help the East win, 7-2, and kept this baseball as a souvenir of the game.

In 1947, when racial integration of major-league baseball effectively ended the need for the Negro Leagues, this baseball became a piece of history. Leonard, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, saved this ball for nearly forty-five years before finally donating it to the Smithsonian in 1981.

1942 East-West All Star Game Ticket Stub

August 25, 1934 ticket to see the Monarchs play the Grays

Sept. 19, 1947 - Negro World Series Ticket to a game between the NY Cubans and the Cleveland Buckeyes

1930’s broadside boasts the coming of “The Original Negro Whiskered Ball Club.”

1945 Broadside.  The Negro baseball leagues were formed in reaction to the ban of African Americans from Major League baseball dating back to 1887. This ad, printed in 1945, was the year that Jackie Robinson signed with the Dodgers, marking the beginning of the end of the Negro Leagues.

1943 Broadside. The Zulu Cannibal Giants were formed in 1938, a concept inspired by the war in Ethiopia. Hoping to draw a white fan following, the team would get into role while playing in grass skirts, painted faces, and even bare feet. This team was home to some of the best talent in the Negro League, among them the likes of Howard Easterling and Buck O’Neil.

1946 West Coast Negro Baseball League broadside announcing game between the Seattle Steelheads and the San Diego Tigers.

1940’s Broadside announcing an upcoming game between the Memphis Red Sox and the Kansas City Monarchs.

John Durr Wise and his brother, Robert V. Wise donated some land in Hazlehurst, Mississippi to build Hazlehust Ball Park. The Wise family found this original broadside poster in an old building that the family built in 1917.


John Durr Wise and his brother, Robert V. Wise donated some land in Hazlehurst, Mississippi to build Hazlehust Ball Park.

The Wise family found this original broadside poster in an old building that the family built in 1917 (click to enlarge).

For a limited time, you can contact John D. Wise III to order reproduction copies of this ad.  Cost is $15 plus shipping.