Five Pittsburgh Negro League legends are getting their own bobbleheads.
Pittsburgh, considered at one point as the center of Negro League baseball, was the only city to host two Black Professional Teams – the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. The players include Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard and James Thomas “Cool Papa” Bell of the Grays as well as Judy Johnson and Oscar Charleston of the Crawfords. Together, they join a collection of figures in a limited-edition Negro Leagues Field of Legends Bobblehead set.
The idea for the collection came from the Field of Legends at the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo. The Field of Legends features 13 life-size bronze statues of instrumental figures from the Negro Leagues. In addition to the five Pittsburgh players, Negro Leagues' founder Rube Foster and members from the Kansas City Monarchs and Baltimore Black Sox also stand on the field and in the bobblehead collection. The museum partnered with the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, and NegroLeaguesHistory.com for the project.
In addition to Black History Month, the release coincides with the founding of the Negro National League in 1920.
"We’re thrilled to be releasing the Negro Leagues Field of Legends Bobbleheads today to celebrate Black History Month,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “The Negro Leagues Bobbleheads are a great way to keep the legacy of the league and its players alive, and we think this is the perfect bobblehead series to accomplish that mission.”
