1945 Negro League Pictorial Year Book - found a real one
 

In what might be of my best eBay pickups I just got an original Negro League 1945 Yearbook. For those not familiar with it , I would argue that it is the most substantial printed Negro League item. It was a very high quality publication put out by the Negro League sports writers. Has great articles that deal with both the history of the league and the realities of what integration will mean. If you look on eBay you see a ton of the Malloy reprints. Which were done in the mid 1990’s. I saw this one and noticed that it was slightly different then the reprint I already owned . Took a chance and for 35.00 I think I have the real thing. I think that buyers may have been scared off because the page which indicates reprint was not shown Articles and images on Gibson, Paige , Campanella and others . Posting images in different posts to get larger images

No reprint notice

Gibson, Dihigo and Bell

Campy

Very cool pickup Jason! Congrats!!

I promise this is the last photo I post (unless someone asks of course). I wanted to post this page because it helps to destroy the myth that there were no real stats kept in the Negro Leagues. This has lead to most people thinking about players like Bell and Gibson more in terms of folklore then in terms of statistical analysis. We think of Gibson not as the player with a 1200 OPS but as the player who hit a home run that landed in the next city a day later. I think we lose something when we do this. As this page shows there were real records kept and we can do the same baseball reference stuff for many of Gibson’s years that we can do for Babe Ruth.

Jason, great and interesting info. I'd love to see more photos.

Nice item! Thanks for the pictures

Jimmy

Congrats!

There seems be some interest so I will post one more set of photos from what I think is the most interesting article. Written by legendary sportswriter Sam Lacy the article contemplated whether black stars could make the jump to the majors. Very surprisingly Lacy says NO. He basically says that while there is a lot of talent all players would need a couple of years in the minors. He really points out all of the candidates weakness, even some which seem in true such as an allegation that Campy was a terrible defensive catcher and that Gibson couldn’t throw. He goes on to question the temperament of many Negro League players and their real desire to win. He does give high marks to Larry Doby. I really wonder if this was a true assessment or a strategy to look humble as a way to integrate. To swallow pride and day of course we need to go to the minors first because we have not proved anything yet.

Note for some reason I cannot post any more images- maybe the site is sending me a message. But I think the image and the text above give a clear indication of the article

Looks like this was published in Washington, DC by Sepia Publications, and one of the photos shows ads from a DC business. Are there other ads from DC businesses in this, and are there ads from businesses based on other cities? Thank you.