KANSAS CITY — Former big leaguer and current artist Micah Johnson was tasked with the impossible — and he stayed awake for over 26 hours at a time on numerous occasions to accomplish it.
His task? Honoring the great Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Josh Gibson, Larry Doby, Monte Irving and Willie Mays through art on 3-1/2-inch-by-2-1/2-inch trading cards.
On Thursday at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., those six cards were unveiled, along with the first of four 24-foot-by-16-foot cards, to promote the upcoming MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues game on June 20 in Birmingham, Ala.
Paige’s gigantic card was the first to be revealed during the opening stop of an eventual five-city tour that will end in Birmingham ahead of the historic game. The ceremony included local athletes from the Kansas City MLB Urban Youth Academy, who were able to tour the museum and play catch at the adjacent Buck O’Neil Tribute Park, where the unveiling took place.
Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, opened the event by speaking to the importance of the Rickwood Field game and MLB’s continued effort to honor the Negro Leagues.“This is the first time Topps has released a set dedicated to the Negro Leagues — this is monumental,” Kendrick said. “The day that will take place at Rickwood will be one of the seminal moments in Negro Leagues history, as the collective eyes of the baseball world will be paying tribute, tipping their cap, to salute the Negro Leagues.”
