Money Museum exhibition highlights Negro Leagues
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James E. Brunson III, a historian of Black baseball, at the Federal Reserve of Chicago's Money Museum's new Negro Leagues exhibition. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
Black baseball is hitting it out of the park this year, especially in Chicago.
What's happening: In May, Negro Leagues stats were finally merged with those in the rest of Major League Baseball, and this week a new exhibition on the leagues debuted at the Chicago Fed's Money Museum on LaSalle Street.
Driving the news: The showcase is based on collectible coins released in 2020 to commemorate the league's 100th anniversary.
Zoom in: One coin depicts the "father of Black baseball," Chicagoan Andrew "Rube" Foster.
- "He not only put Black baseball in Chicago on the map in the early 20th century but more was the architect of the establishment of the Negro Leagues in 1920," baseball historian James E. Brunson tells Axios.
Yes, but: "Black baseball was played in Chicago all the way back in 1867, and it played uninterrupted right down to the time that Jackie Robinson was admitted into the major leagues with the Dodgers," Brunson says.
The bummer: These coins sold out super-fast. But you can still find some on the secondary market.
If you go: The Money Museum is free and open most weekdays outside bank holidays. The Negro Leagues exhibition will run through spring 2025.
- Other attractions at the little-known financial district museum include a station where you can determine if your money is real or fake, a retrospective of historical currencies, and three displays of a million bucks in different denominations.
