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The responsibilities of Blue Springs Mayor Carson Ross should never be underestimated or discounted, but Ross’ schedule almost crept up on him Thursday.
Ross had been invited by Gregory D. Baker, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, to a special postage stamp unveiling ceremony at the historic baseball shrine in the 18th and Vine District in Kansas City and almost forgot about the engagement.
“I’m on an advisory committee for Greg Baker to help promote the Negro Leagues Museum,” Ross said after Thursday’s first day of issue ceremony for two commemorative stamps paying homage to the Negro Leagues. “He called me earlier this week and said: ‘Are you coming? And I said: ‘To what?’ I had missed the e-mail. So, I went on and registered so I could come down here and support it.”
Ross joined an overflow crowd at the museum’s Coors Field of Legends to help celebrate the release of the stamps that depict Andrew “Rube” Foster – considered the “father” of Negro Leagues baseball – and a runner sliding into home plate with a catcher waiting on the ball and an umpire giving an empathetic “safe” call.
“I think it’s great,” Ross said of the stamps. “I like to look for unique stamps anyway – I’m big on the military, so I look for veteran stamps – now my focus will be on this and those will be the stamps that I’ll buy.”
Baker said the stamps were “bold and powerful” and gave a huge nod to stamp designer Kadir Nelson of San Diego, who was in attendance.
“Kadir, you’ve really caused a stir,” Baker told Nelson. “Let them (Negro Leagues ball players) all be winners, that’s what they really are.”
Nelson said he was honored to be assigned the project.
“I came across a documentary on baseball by Ken Burns and I fell in love with the Negro Leagues and I fell in love with Buck O’Neil,” Nelson said of his admiration for O’Neil, the former Kansas City Monarch star player and manager. “So it was an honor to capture the likeness of Rube Foster and the action of Negro Leagues Baseball.”
David Failor, executive director of stamp services for the United States Postal Service, said Thursday was a “special day” and Thurgood Marshall Jr., vice chairman for the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors and son of the first black Supreme Court justice, agreed.
The responsibilities of Blue Springs Mayor Carson Ross should never be underestimated or discounted, but Ross’ schedule almost crept up on him Thursday.
Ross had been invited by Gregory D. Baker, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, to a special postage stamp unveiling ceremony at the historic baseball shrine in the 18th and Vine District in Kansas City and almost forgot about the engagement.
“I’m on an advisory committee for Greg Baker to help promote the Negro Leagues Museum,” Ross said after Thursday’s first day of issue ceremony for two commemorative stamps paying homage to the Negro Leagues. “He called me earlier this week and said: ‘Are you coming? And I said: ‘To what?’ I had missed the e-mail. So, I went on and registered so I could come down here and support it.”
Ross joined an overflow crowd at the museum’s Coors Field of Legends to help celebrate the release of the stamps that depict Andrew “Rube” Foster – considered the “father” of Negro Leagues baseball – and a runner sliding into home plate with a catcher waiting on the ball and an umpire giving an empathetic “safe” call.
“I think it’s great,” Ross said of the stamps. “I like to look for unique stamps anyway – I’m big on the military, so I look for veteran stamps – now my focus will be on this and those will be the stamps that I’ll buy.”
Baker said the stamps were “bold and powerful” and gave a huge nod to stamp designer Kadir Nelson of San Diego, who was in attendance.
“Kadir, you’ve really caused a stir,” Baker told Nelson. “Let them (Negro Leagues ball players) all be winners, that’s what they really are.”
Nelson said he was honored to be assigned the project.
“I came across a documentary on baseball by Ken Burns and I fell in love with the Negro Leagues and I fell in love with Buck O’Neil,” Nelson said of his admiration for O’Neil, the former Kansas City Monarch star player and manager. “So it was an honor to capture the likeness of Rube Foster and the action of Negro Leagues Baseball.”
David Failor, executive director of stamp services for the United States Postal Service, said Thursday was a “special day” and Thurgood Marshall Jr., vice chairman for the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors and son of the first black Supreme Court justice, agreed.
“This is a wonderful museum and this is a wonderful occasion,” Marshall said. “It’s an honor to be here.”
Ross said he enjoyed the ceremony that included a presentation of colors by the Buffalo Soldiers and honored guest Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and Cleophus Brown, both former Negro Leagues players.
“It was good,” Ross said of the ceremony. “To see Thurgood Marshall Jr. – I didn’t know he was vice chairman of the Postal Service, so it was an educational thing for me. I think it’s a culmination of a lot of great things coming together – Buffalo Soldiers being the honor guard, having these Negro Leagues baseball players that are still alive and their descendants here, I think it’s a great story.”
