As the countdown to the MLB at Rickwood Field Game is less than two weeks away, Negro Leagues legends are being honored in a unique way.
FOX Sports and Fanatics Collectables/Topps have partnered to create a special Rickwood Field set of cards of Negro Leagues legends that are being featured in a tour of six cities. The cards on display are 24 feet by 16 feet and weigh 8,000 pounds.
A Jackie Robinson card was unveiled at FOX Plaza in New York City on Saturday. Negro Leagues icons Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Willie Mays have also had cards of themselves unveiled during the tour, which began in May.
The cards were designed and sketched by former MLB player Micah Johnson, who’s been focused on his artwork since he announced his retirement from baseball at the end of the 2018 season. Johnson told The Athletic that his father became a baseball fan and rooted for the Los Angeles Dodgers while living in Arkansas due to Robinson.
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The tour of the cards featuring the Negro Leagues legends began at the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City on May 23. A card of Paige was unveiled at the kickoff event.
In addition to Kansas City and New York City, the tour has made stops in St. Louis and Philadelphia. It will remain in New York City through June 12 before moving to Camden Yards in Baltimore on June 14. It’ll eventually make its way to Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, for the MLB at Rickwood Field Game on June 20, where the St. Louis Cardinals will take on the San Francisco Giants (5:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
“The greats of the Negro Leagues are larger-than-life figures in American history and the history of the great game of baseball and it is only fitting to have a larger-than-life unveiling at the Negro League Baseball Museum,” President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Bob Kendrick said in a statement announcing the creation of the cards in May. “We would like to thank our friends at FOX Sports, Fanatics Collectibles, and Major League Baseball for keeping the spirit of black baseball alive.”
“We are honored to partner with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and FOX Sports to celebrate the many contributions of the Negro Leagues,” Fanatics Collectibles CMO Ken Turner added in the statement. “Our trading cards serve as a way to tell and preserve heritage and we believe that all who experience this tour will have an opportunity to reflect on these baseball legends and understand the positive impact that they have had on today’s game.”
All four cards will be available to purchase on Topps.com.
In addition to the card, a new statue of Robinson will be unveiled in Wichita, Kansas, on Aug. 5, ESPN reported Friday. The previous statue of Robinson at the youth baseball league in Wichita was removed from its base and vandalized in January.
Rickwood Field is the oldest baseball field in America, opening in 1910. It was the home of the Birmingham Barons through 1960.
MLB announced in May that it would incorporate all Negro Leagues stats into its official record books.
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