Extremely Last Minute Gift Idea For All You Fellow Procrastinators

Not for other people, for you. You deserve a nice present, right? No coal for my readers, I'll put a good word in for you all with the Fat Man. Sometimes it's hard to convince people that what you'd really like for a gift is a box of cards. Most people are bewildered that anyone would want such a thing, especially when you tell them there's no gum anymore. But no one, absolutely no one, will argue with giving a book for a present. Well, do I have a book for you. It's like three presents in one!

Heroes of the Negro Leagues is a baseball book created by a couple of comic book veterans, Jack Morelli and Mark Chiarello. This beautiful Aaron painting above is by Chiarello, who has previously worked on Star Wars projects and was the first colorist on Mike Mignola's Hellboy. This book features 60 different paintings by Mark all featuring prominent Negro League stars. The book description states that the watercolors were first used for a trading card set in 1990. They all look very much like old Goudey cards, although so far I haven't been able to find the original set online or in any price guide. Rare as it is, It's a great looking set that is blown up to 6 by 4 1/2 inches for this book and has new painting created for the book. The paintings aren't all there is, as you can see from this spread of Rome, Georgia's own "Dr. Cyclops", Max Manning:

Jack Morelli writes a brief biography of each player that is filled with interesting facts and anecdotes of his playing days. The write ups, while not incredibly detailed, are a good introduction to the players especially those that are not as well known. The effect is like a giant trading card of these Negro Leaguers, it's almost a shame the bio is on the page facing the card. You almost want to take apart all the pages and put them in card sheets. This is a really neat book for baseball card fans and people interested in the Negro Leagues. That's not all there is though.


You also get a DVD of the PBS documentary Only The Ball Was White narrated by Paul Winfield, based on the landmark book that details the oral history of black baseball. It's a book, a card set and DVD all in the same package. I got this for my birthday this year and I've really enjoyed it. If anyone else out there has procrastinated too long on buying a gift for a baseball fan this is a really nice gift (and cheap - you can pick it up for under 20 bucks). Or just let it kind of slip in your basket while you're buying presents for others. Hey, Christmas shopping is hard work, you could use a treat.