U.S. Mint Commemorative Negro League Coins Support Players, Museum, History
Thursday, January 6, 2022 at 06:10PM By Barry Janoff
January 6, 2022: The United States Mint today opened sales for the 2022 Negro Leagues Baseball Commemorative Coin Program.
This program commemorates the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Negro National League, with the U.S. Mint producing $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half dollar clad coins as part of the program.
The program was approved in September 2020 as part of the Negro Leagues Centennial Celebration.
Money raised after the cost of making the coins will go to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, located in Kansas City, MO.
The $5 Gold Coin obverse (heads) design features a portrait of Negro National League founder Rube Foster with his signature. Inscriptions include “Negro Leagues Baseball.”
The $5 Gold Coin reverse (tails) design depicts the “gesture of tipping one’s cap, an important sign of respect for players.” Inscriptions include “Their Legacy Plays On.”
The $1 Silver Coin obverse depicts a pitcher in mid-throw with the baseball in the foreground and baseball stitching as a border. The reverse has a player’s eye view of a pitch being thrown to the catcher.
The Half Dollar Clad Coin obverse depicts a Negro Leagues tour bus that “served as their home on the road when players were refused entry to hotels and restaurants”; and a batter who “exemplifies the determination to play the game he loves, regardless of challenging circumstances.”
The reverse shows a group of five Negro Leagues Baseball players.
A Jackie Robinson silver medal (pictured above) carries the same design as the Jackie Robinson Congressional Gold Medal produced by the Mint in 2003, which “honored Robinson as a baseball great, civil rights leader, and political activist.”
“Just as this game connects families and communities, every day, across the Nation, the Mint connects Americans through coins,” U.S. Mint deputy director Ventris C. Gibson said via the department.
“It is now our great privilege to connect America to the extraordinary legacy of Negro Leagues Baseball.”
All designs were created by U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program Designers and sculpted by United States Mint Medallic Artists.
“The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is thrilled to partner with the United States Mint on the release of these historic coins that beautifully captures the ‘winning spirit’ of the Negro Leagues,” Bob Kendrick, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president said via the organization.
“We hope that collectors and baseball fans alike will purchase these coins and support the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum efforts to ensure that the legacy and important life lessons of the Negro Leagues plays on.”
The Negro Leagues existed from 1920 through 1948.
In 2020, there was a year-long celebration under the auspices of MLB, the MLB Players Assn. and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues.
The seven leagues were the Negro National League (I) (1920-31), Eastern Colored League (1923-28), American Negro League (1929), East-West League (1932), Negro Southern League (1932), Negro National League (II) (1933-48) and the Negro American League (1937-48).
In 1971, Satchel Paige became the first player whose primary pro baseball career was in the Negro Leagues to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Following MLB’s decision in December 2020 to include player statistics from the Negro Leagues as part of MLB’s official stats, the Baseball Hall of Fame said Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues candidates would be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration for the first time in 15 years.
Buck O’Neil was elected by the Early Baseball Era Committee as part of the Class of 2022.
Bud Fowler, often acknowledged as the first Black pro baseball player, who pitched and played second base for teams throughout the late 1800s, also was elected by the Early Baseball Era Committee as part of the Class of 2022.
Players in the Hall of Fame based on their career in the Negro Leagues also include Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Martín Dihigo, Rube Foster, Josh Gibson, Monte Irvin, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, Pop Lloyd and “Bullet” Joe Rogan.
MLB’s decision to grant Major League status to the seven professional Negro Leagues meant some 3,400 players who participated in the Negro Leagues during that time period are “officially considered Major Leaguers, with their stats and records becoming a part of Major League history.”
“All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said via the league at the time.
“We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.”
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, located in Kansas City, Mo., is a “privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America.”
U.S. Mint Unveils Designs For Negro Leagues Coins
MLB Adding Negro League Stats To Official Records
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