The U.S. Postal Service today will release stamps honoring the Negro Leagues, and to mark the occasion, Ed O’Keefe at the Washington Post takes a look at the agency’s only remaining employee who played for the all-black baseball teams.
Cleophus Brown, 76, was a southpaw pitcher with a 100 mile-per-hour fastball for the Birmingham Black Barons and Louisville Clippers. Today, he drives a mail truck for the Postal Service in Birmingham and told O’Keefe he has no plans to retire. Brown said he usually doesn’t collect stamps, but he plans to get copies of the two stamps being released today.
One stamp depicts Andrew “Rube” Foster, who founded the first of several Negro Leagues in 1920, when segregation barred many talented black ballplayers from the game. The other shows anonymous black players and an umpire calling a play at the plate.
The Postal Service has previously released stamps honoring other Negro League players such as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Jackie Robinson.
