
NEGRO LEAGUES CENTENNIAL TEAM BOBBLEHEAD SERIES: Rube Foster

Item Number: | 2076443 |
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Item Description
The Negro League Centennial Team (1920-2020) is comprised of 30 of the greatest African-American and Cuban players from 1895-1947 plus a manager and a team owner. Each individual is depicted on a baseball-shaped base with replica of Kansas City's Paseo YMCA, the site where the Negro National League was organized on February 13th, 1920. The bobbleheads are officially licensed by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and approved by the families when applicable. Each player is individually numbered to only 2,020. This bobblehead is of Rube Foster, a member of the Chicago American Giants. Rube was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Foster, the son of a Methodist minister, found his personal salvation in baseball. While becoming one of the top pitchers of his era, Foster developed a keen mind for the business of baseball. His experience in the California Winter League, an integrated league of segregated teams, provided him a model for integrating Organized Professional Baseball (OPB). These hopes were thrice dashed as player shortages caused by the Federal League (1914-1915), World War I (1917-1918) and the Flu Pandemic (1918-1919) could not overcome racial animosity. Shunned by OPB, Foster formed the Negro National League on February 13, 1920 in keeping with Brooker T. Washington's philosophy of racial solidarity, accommodation and self-help. "We are the ship, all else the sea."
Foster, the son of a Methodist minister, found his personal salvation in baseball. While becoming one of the top pitchers of his era, Foster developed a keen mind for the business of baseball. His experience in the California Winter League, an integrated league of segregated teams, provided him a model for integrating Organized Professional Baseball (OPB). These hopes were thrice dashed as player shortages caused by the Federal League (1914-1915), World War I (1917-1918) and the Flu Pandemic (1918-1919) could not overcome racial animosity. Shunned by OPB, Foster formed the Negro National League on February 13, 1920 in keeping with Brooker T. Washington's philosophy of racial solidarity, accommodation and self-help. "We are the ship, all else the sea."