"View selected images from the National Baseball Hall of Fame that chronicle the remarkable history of baseball's Negro leagues and the challenges and success of African-American baseball players."

1. Pride and Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience Exhibition on View at Harris County Public Library Lone Star College-CyFair Branch July 14 - August 27, 2010 Selected Images from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York

2. Toledo, Ohio, American Association baseball team with Moses Fleetwood Walker, 1884.Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Catcher Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first African American to play professional baseball in a major league. After the Toledo team dropped out of the American Association in 1884, Walker continued to play in the minor leagues for several more years.

3. The Philadelphia Giants with player-manager Sol White (standing, third from right) and pitcher Rube Foster (standing, second from left), 1904 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Philadelphia Giants were an outstanding turn-of-the century black team. When Rube Foster joined them in 1904, he led them to the World’s Colored Championship over the Cuban X Giants. Rube Foster went on to pioneer the first successful professional black baseball league, the Negro National League, in 1920.

4. St. Paul Gophers, c. 1909Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The St. Paul Gophers were one of several independent, all-black teams to proclaim themselves “Colored World Champions” of 1909.

5. The Chicago American Giants, 1920 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Chicago American Giants with Hall of Famers Rube Foster (back row, center) and CristóbalTorriente (back row, far left).

6. Belt buckle celebrating Hilldale’s Eastern Colored League Championship, 1923Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The Hilldales, based in suburban Philadelphia, won the Eastern Colored League Championship three straight years from 1923 to 1925.

7. The Kansas City Monarchs, 1924 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Kansas City Monarchs, champions of the Negro National League, beat the Hilldales, champions of the Eastern Colored League, in the first World’s Colored Championship in 1924.

8. Baseball autographed by the Kansas City Monarchs, winners of the 1924 World’s Colored Championship Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

9. Broadside advertising the Kansas City Monarchs’ portable lighting system, c. 1930 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Kansas City Monarchs, one of the first baseball teams to hold night games, traveled with their own generators and light stands. By moving games to times when more people could attend, they greatly increased gate receipts.

10. The Pittsburgh Crawfords in front of their team bus at Greenlee Field, Pittsburgh, 1935Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Pittsburgh Crawfords were one of the few Negro league teams of the 1930s to own their own home field. For many years, their archrivals were the Homestead Grays, another Pittsburgh-based team.

11. The East squad from the 1939 East-West Game, with Buck Leonard (back row, far left) and Josh Gibson (back row, third from right) Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Beginning in 1933, the East-West Game put the best players of the Negro leagues in the spotlight at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. The game drew as many as 50,000 spectators. Chicago hosted the last East-West Game in 1953.

12. Jackie Robinson’s #42 Brooklyn Dodger jersey from the final year of his career, 1956 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum In 1997, Jackie Robinson’s #42 was retired throughout all levels of professional baseball, an honor never before bestowed on any player.

13. Emmett Ashford, first black umpire in the major leaguesCourtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library In 1966, Emmett Ashford became the first African-American umpire in baseball’s major leagues. Ashford worked in the American League from 1966 to 1970.

14. Satchel Paige at his 1971 induction into the National Baseball Hall of FameCourtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Satchel Paige was the first player inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame based solely on his performance in the Negro leagues.

15. Frank Robinson, major league baseball’s first African-American managerCourtesy of National BaseballHall of Fame Library Frank Robinson made baseball history when he was selected by the Cleveland Indians as their manager in 1975. The first African-American manager in the major leagues, Robinson went on to manage the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles, the Montreal Expos and the Washington Nationals.