1952 Pittsburgh Courier All-Time All-America Team.

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Courier naming an All-Time All-Star team.

The Courier was an African American Weekly with a lot of baseball coverage.  In 1952 the paper surveyed 31 of the top baseball men in the country 

On April 19th 1952 they published the results: 

As part of our latest ArtCard Project we have taken the 1952 Courier Selections and created cards for several of the players using the 1976 Topps All-Star subset. 

Battery

First we have the Battery. LHP John Donaldson was a showman who created a blueprint of how to make money outside of segregated MLB - this same idea would be adopted by Satchel Paige. To show this relationship we added a nod to Paige in the form of a US postage stamp behind Donaldson. Smoke Joe Williams and Biz Mackey who played for the Philadelphia area Hilldale Daisies round out the battery selections. 

Infield

The Infield is let by Jackie Robinson who we show here "Breaking Barriers" of the card/frame. We don't know a lot about Oliver Marcelle but his nickname was ghost, an image we added above his right shoulder. Above his left shoulder we have his son Ziggy Marcell who played in the 1930s era Negro Leagues. 

Outfield 

We conclude with the Outfield. Both Cristobal Torriente and Martin Dihigo are natives of Cuba and we have added the countries flag for each. There flairs on Monte Irvin's card represent the day that he went out to purchase a saxophone but instead came home with a baseball glove.

If you want to delve more into the Pittsburgh Courier selections here is the full page from 1952. You will need to click on the image and expand it to read the details.

Sources and Links

Pittsburgh Courier 1952 April 19 

SABR Bios

Negro League eMuseum

Radcliffe Bailey: Mound Magician

If you do take in the SuperBowl or promotional programming today you may hear the name Radcliffe Bailey. No he is not a player or coach, he is an Atlanta based artists who has a marquee work in the Mercedes-Benz stadium which is hosting tonight's game.

Bailey has done a few baseball themed works including a piece titled "Mound Magician":  

Mound Magician: Radcliffe Bailey (Nelson-Atkins art museum)

The canvas of the collage is shaped like a baseball field with a #25 in a star at the center which represents Satchel Paige. The number was worn by the future Hall of Famer while a member of the Kansas City Monarchs. Similarly Josh Gibson #20 his shown at home plate. There are a number of other baseball references throughout the picture included a black & white photo in the second base area.

Conduit of Contact: Radcliffe Bailey Atlanta.Net

Radcliffe Bailey's work at Mercedes-Benz stadium is an 84 foot mixed-media behemoth which chronicles the journey of football at Atlanta Historically Black Colleges.  However that is just part of the artwork which also tells the much broader story of the black experience and African-American history.

Sources and Links
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Atlanta Magazine
Atlanta.Net