Kadir Nelson: Hi. This is Kadir Nelson, and I'm the author and illustrator of We Are The Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.

The paintings for this book were rendered in oil on canvas and many of the paintings are much larger than those that I've done for other books. Many of these paintings are about 3 feet wide, 6 feet wide. One's even about 8 feet wide. And the reason I painted them so large is because I wanted them to be exhibited in museums and galleries across the country because I feel that the history of the Negro Leagues is an epic piece of history, so I wanted the paintings to have that type of feeling.

I'd like to read a passage from We Are The Ship and this is from the fifth inning. The title of the chapter is The Greatest Baseball Players in the World - Negro League All-Stars.

If you ask most people what they know about the Negro Leagues, they probably won't be able to tell you much. They might name a few players like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, or maybe Cool Papa Bell, but that's usually about it. These guys were excellent players, for sure, but the Negro Leagues were much more than just a few ball players. Satchel, Josh and Cool Papa were great athletes because they played against other great athletes.

Satchel Paige was one of our finest pitchers but we had other guys who threw just as hard and even harder.

Josh Gibson was a powerful hitter but we had other fellows who could hit just as far.

The Negro Leagues are full of guys who are stars in their own right. Many of our guys would have rewritten the record books if they had been given the chance to play in the majors.

We had a fellow names George "Mule" Suttles who played for the Newark Eagles. He was a biggun'. He used to say he hit the ball like a mule kicks. Fans would yell, "Kick, Mule! Kick!" And he'd take a great big swing like Babe Ruth. He'd even thrill you when he struck out. Darn near screwed himself into the ground when he missed. But when he connected, he'd send it high and far. He killed curve balls. They would have to stop the game to measure how far they went.

One of our best hitters was Norman "Turkey" Sterns. He was a quiet but peculiar fellow who used to talk to his bats. Turkey said his nickname came from the potbelly he had as a child that made him look kinda like a little turkey. He had an odd batting stance and would choke up on the bat, but he sure could bust 'em. He had more home runs than anyone in the League.