2010 Negro Leagues Baseball

The baseball league that helped spark integration of American professional sports was honored on a 44-cent U.S. postage stamp set issued at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

The Negro Leagues Baseball stamps pays tribute to the all-black professional baseball leagues that operated from 1920 to about 1960. Considered the “father” of Negro leagues baseball, Andrew “Rube” Foster (1879–1930) established the Negro National League in 1920, the first successful league of African-American baseball teams. He served as president of the league until 1926 and established the slogan, “We are the ship, all else the sea.”

The Negro leagues operated across the country from 1920 to about 1960. Drawing some of the most remarkable athletes ever to play baseball, the leagues galvanized African-American communities, challenged prevailing racist notions of athletic superiority, and ultimately sparked the integration of American sports.

The two se-tenant stamps feature a scene painted by Kadir Nelson, San Diego, California. A total of 80,000,000 stamps, 40,000,000 of each, were issued at 44¢ for a total value of $35,200,000. (Stamp ID# Scott 4465 and Scott 4466).

Negro Leagues Baseball Folio

This colorful folio pays tribute to the Negro leagues and their “father”, Andrew “Rube” Foster, of Negro Leagues Baseball, which from 1920 to about 1960 drew some of the most remarkable athletes ever to play baseball and ultimately sparked the integration of American sports.

The folio was sold at retail for $16.95 and includes illustrations by stamp artist Kadir Nelson, a historical timeline of the Negro leagues, plus a list of its “all star” players, and a pane of 20 Negro Leagues Baseball stamps.

Negro League Baseball Stamps & Artwork

This artwork card came in the USPS commemorative stamp book for Negro League Baseball.

Kadir Nelson began drawing at the age of three, displaying artistic acumen before he could write or spell. “I have always been an artist,” he explains. “It’s part of my DNA.” A graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Nelson’s work has been exhinbited in galleries and museums throughout the country and abroad. Other stamp designs by the artist include Richard Wright and Anna Julia Cooper, both issued in 2009.

Negro Leagues Baseball Stamps Package

This special package from the U.S. Postal Service includes We Are the Ship, an 88-page hardcover book by Kadir Nelson, plus a pane of 20 Negro Leagues Baseball stamps that retailed for $18.95. You can buy the 2020 Negro League Centennial Edition of the book directly from kadirnelson.com today!

Stamp Stats

Value: 44¢
Issue Date: July 15, 2010
First City: Kansas City, MO
Quantity Issued: 80,000,000
Designed by: Kadir Nelson of San Diego, California
Printed by: Avery Dennison (AVR)
Printing Method: Gravure

2010 Negro Leagues Baseball