Great look back at the Negro Leagues just before their decline. When Jackie Robinson was signed by the Dodgers to play for their Montreal Royals farm team for the 1946 season, attendance started to decline in the Negro Leagues because of the overwhelming interest in Robinson. Here are the Baltimore Elite Giants posing in 1947, the year Jackie Robinson broke the modern "color line." Within a few years, the Negro Leagues were barely hanging on, and they had disappeared entirely by the early 1950s. But there was still enormous talent on this Elite Giants team, which finished second in 1947. Junior Gilliam, a great second baseman who would go to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953 and become Rookie of the Year, is kneeling front and center. To Gilliam's left is Pee Wee Butts, a valued mentor to Gilliam, a terrific shortstop that Roy Campanella, a former Baltimore Elite Giant, thought was just as good as another player with the same nickname, Hall of Fame shortstop Pee Wee Reese of Brooklyn. But Butts was already over thirty years old in 1947 and he never was given a deserved opportunity to play Major League ball. Also playing for this Baltimore team in 1947 but not in the photo was another future Brooklyn Dodger, 1952 National League Rookie of the Year, pitcher Joe Black. Photo is in excellent condition. Photo measures 10.5x13.5". Fresh discovery from former Negro League player.