President Trump signed into law Dec. 4 legislation for a three-coin commemorative program for 2022 marking the 2020 centennial anniversary of the founding of the Negro National League for professional baseball.

Legislation that became Public Law 116-209 was introduced in the House July 30, 2019, by Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver II, D-Missouri. The Senate voted its approval Nov. 16, 2020, with the bill sent to the White House for the president’s signature.

Public Law 116-209 authorizes the combined production in Proof and Uncirculated versions of no more than 50,000 gold $5 coins, 400,000 silver dollars and 750,000 copper-nickel half dollars.

Surcharges of $35, $10 and $5 are to be added, respectively to the purchase price of the gold $5 coin, silver dollar and clad half dollar, respectively.

After the United States Mint recoups all of its production and related costs, net surcharges are to be paid “to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for educational and outreach programs and exhibits.”

The museum was founded in 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri. The Negro Leagues were born out of segregation yet would become a driving force for social change in the United States. Jackie Robinson, a military veteran and former member of the Negro Leagues’ Kansas City Monarchs, would break Major League Baseball’s color barrier on April 15, 1947, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for other African-American and Hispanic baseball players.

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