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Exhibition Baseball Americana

Baseball Americana

Negro League Alumni All-Stars

Ernest Withers, photographer. All-Star Game, Pelican Stadium, New Orleans, 1952. Left to right: George Crowe (Boston Braves), Joe Black (Brooklyn Dodgers), Hank Thompson (New York Giants), Sam Jethroe (Braves), Larry Doby (Cleveland Indians), Roy Campanella (Dodgers), Monte Irvin (New York Giants), and Harry “Suitcase” Simpson (Indians). Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (118.00.00)
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Negro League Alumni All-Stars

Known for his Negro League baseball and Civil Rights movement photographs, Ernest Withers snapped this image of Roy Campanella’s All-Stars—black major leaguers who faced off against Negro League All-Star teams—during an autumn swing through the South. These exhibition games drew thousands of African-American fans, but as the Waco News Tribune reported in announcing an upcoming contest, there would be a segregated section for white spectators. Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Don Newcombe also headlined off-season, all-star squads.