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Bicycle Negro Leagues Cards

US Playing Card Co.

US Playing Card Co.

(Based on 1 review)
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is a privately funded, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the rich history of African-American baseball.

Bicycle's partnership with the NLBM means that 15¢ of every deck sold is donated to the museum. These unique cards feature tan rider backs with a vintage baseball motif on the front and a look of red stitching at two corners. 24 different logos are showcased on the cards, as well as four exclusive photographs of NLB Championship Teams.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Deck is printed on quality Bicycle card stock with air-cushion finish, and features original art on the front of each card. The logos and photographs have been used with permission from the NLBM. The decks are made in the USA at the United States Playing Card Company.

Reviews

Stuart Philip

Official Reviewer

Jan 22, 2015

I bought these not only because I love cards, but because of the history that I hoped would be contained within. I was not disappointed.

These light brown rider backed cards are printed on standard Bicycle stock and feel the same as your standard 808's. The faces of the Twos through Kings each contain a logo of one of the Negro League teams. The logos in this first series of Negro League cards include the Brooklyn Royal Giants, the Newark Eagles, the New York Black Yankees, the Philadelphia Stars, the Washington Black Senators and many others. The logos are assigned to each numerical value and repeated on like color. So, the Two of Hearts and Diamonds have the Indianapolis Clowns and no other card has that logo, while the Two of Clubs and Spades share the logo for the Atlanta Black Crackers. In total, there are 24 logos in this deck. The Aces each have an actual cropped portion of a photograph of one of the old team photos. These photos consist of the Homestead Grays (Pennsylvania), the Chicago American Giants, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Kansas City Monarchs.

The face of each card also has a mock sepia-toned aged look to it with red baseball stitching in the two corners that do not contain the pips.

15 cents of each deck sold will be donated to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I visited the website (www.NLBM.com) and learned that "In 1945, Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Jackie Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs." And, of course, Jackie Robinson was the first African-American ball player to play in the Major Leagues. Reading about the teams and and having a greater understanding of the Negro League was interesting and makes these cards more meaningful.

There is a rich history behind these cards and I anxiously await the second series to be released.
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