By Chris Duncan
The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - Willie Foster stands under a clear, blue sky in a sleek, black suit and wide-brimmed hat, a baseball bat at his side. Four children in tattered, drab clothes surround him, each holding a piece of baseball equipment. A red-brick shoe store and barber shop complete the urban scene.

The portrait of the former Negro Leagues pitcher, who was elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously in 1996, was painted by Kadir Nelson and is part of the "Shades of Greatness" art exhibit now on view at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

The 35-piece collection chronicles the Negro Leagues, which were created 84 years ago this month and existed into the 1960s, long after Jackie Robinson integrated the major leagues.

"This is history people should know," said Buck O'Neil, a former Negro Leagues home run champ who gained fame for his eloquent storytelling in Ken Burns' 1994 documentary, Baseball. "There are only a few of us left who can tell this story. They (the artists) did a beautiful job telling it."

Louisville is the first stop for the traveling show, which features works produced by 28 artists and was launched by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo.

"It's another way to introduce Negro Leagues baseball to a sector of the population who may not have been aware of the story before," said Bob Kendrick, the Negro League museum's marketing director.

In 1920, the Negro National League became the first fully organized baseball league for black players, who were shunned by the all-white majors; the Eastern Colored League was established in 1923. Robinson broke the major league color barrier in 1947, when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.

One of the works, "Sunday Best" by Keith Shepherd, is splashed with bright colors, portraying a well-dressed crowd wildly cheering the Kansas City Monarchs, who captured three Negro League pennants from 1923-25. The games became gatherings where spectators mingled, regardless of social standing, Shepherd explains in an accompanying caption.

"People, whether they were a farmer, mortician, homemaker, mechanic, barber or hotel owner came out in droves dressed to impress," it reads.

Artist Lonnie Powell said he was trying to convey the black struggle for acceptance in baseball as well as society in his piece titled "Looking Him Back." The work shows a lone pitcher concentrating on his task.

"The piece had to portray the dignity of a people forced to live through a shameful time in our history," Powell wrote.

Kendrick said the Negro Leagues museum gathered the artists in Kansas City in March 2003 and gave them a daylong lesson on the league's history. The rest was up to them.

"We really didn't want them to focus on photorealistic depictions. We wanted them to interpret what they saw, tap into their imaginations," Kendrick said.

Now 92, O'Neil is the subject of four grainy, black-and-white photographs taken in July 2003 by Steve Wilson. The pictures show O'Neil in a Kansas City Monarchs uniform with a ballpark as a backdrop.

Satchel Paige, a Negro Leagues star and pitching legend, is the subject of the exhibit's largest work. The 62-by-84-inch portrait by Steve Musgrave has a wood frame engraved with the colorful names Paige gave his favorite pitches: "Midnight Creeper," "Two-thump Blooper," "Little Tommy," among others.

All the works are displayed in the Pee Wee Reese Exhibit Theater at the museum. Reese played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and became well-known for his efforts to ease Robinson's transition from the Negro Leagues to the majors.

Robinson is shown walking out of a dugout - from shadows into sunlight - in a painting by Norm Bannister. O'Neil recalled meeting Reese and Brooklyn teammate Eddie Stanky at Ebbets Field.

"I say, 'Hey fellas, is Jackie gonna make it?'  O'Neil recalled. "They looked at me and said, 'We're going to see that he makes it.' "

About the exhibit

The Louisville Slugger Museum is the first stop for the traveling show, which features a 35-piece collection produced by 28 artists that chronicles the Negro Leagues, which were created 84 years ago this month and existed into the 1960s.

If you go

"Shades of Greatness" runs through July 11 in Louisville. The museum is located at 800 West Main St. Call (877) 775-8443 for information.