Marquess Gallery Creates Jackie Robinson Commemorative Print

The Marquess Gallery, the nation's leading gallery for original photographic baseball prints shot by the acclaimed Don Marquess, has been commissioned by the Negro League Baseball Museum of Kansas City to create a work honoring the debut of Jackie Robinson.

The work, titled "Finally," was unveiled Sept. 11 at the Museum in an event honoring Buck O'Neil, and attended by Ozzie Smith, Frank White, and Don Marquess, who signed copies for attendees.

Marquess is best known for his high quality prints featuring arrays of baseballs, artistically photographed in a variety of settings or dramatically clustered with the glow of their white, untampered visage. Such is the case with "Finally," in which more than two dozen Rawlings baseballs lay in a scatter-shot design, with one dark ball just off center – stamped JACKIE ROBINSON, APRIL 15, 1947 – the date of his Brooklyn Dodgers debut. It was the date baseball's color line fell, and the game was never the same.

The high quality prints are 24"x18" and sell for $45. Members of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum receive signed prints. The prints can be ordered for $45 from the museum by calling (888) 221-NLBM (6526) or from the Gallery at (877) 977-7773. Major credit cards are accepted. The initial printing is 1,500 editions and is expected to raise nearly $35,000 for the Museum.