Displayed is a circa 1951 Luke Easter original photograph, by noted sports photographer William Jacobellis, that was used for Easter's 1954 Bowman card #116. Before signing with the Cleveland Indians, Easter played semi-pro baseball for years and then two seasons with the famed Homestead Grays of the Negro National League. A very large, powerful man at 6'4" and 240 lbs., he was a first baseman who batted left-handed and had prodigious power. He hit sky-high home runs that became known as "Easter eggs." He was signed by Bill Veeck for the Indians and played briefly in 1949, one of the early African Americans in the Major Leagues. His true rookie season was in 1950, when at 34 years of age, he batted .280, with 28 home runs and 107 RBIs. He had another amazing season in '51, hitting .270, with 27 homers and 103 RBIs. Because of advancing age and leg injuries, Easter only played five seasons in the majors, all with Cleveland. He kept playing in the minors until he was 48 years old, including batting .307, with 38 home runs and 109 RBIs with Triple-A Rochester in 1958, when he was 42 years old. Sadly, Easter lost his life in 1979 when he was working and transporting five thousand dollars in company checks, and he attempted to foil a robbery by two assailants. Famed baseball statistician and writer Bill James believes that Easter was the second-best first baseman to ever play in the Negro Leagues, behind only Buck Leonard, and in 2001 James wrote that "if you could clone him [Easter] and bring him back, you'd have the greatest power hitter in baseball today, if not ever." The offered 4x5" black and white photo has a William A. Jacobellis stamp on back and written by an unknown hand in pencil on back is "CLEVELAND LUKE EASTER" and also on back, in an unknown hand in pen is "Bowman - JC." The offering comes with a PSA LOA (Cert. 1PO8643) that certifies the photo as Type I.