Known, first and foremost, as the father of the Negro Leagues, it's easy to overlook Foster's playing career during the first decade of the 20th century when he was the dominant pitcher of his time. It was said he got his nickname from defeating his white counterpart, the great Rube Waddell, in a game in 1902. He would later establish the first black baseball team dynasty, the Chicago American Giants, running the squad as player-manager in a fashion that was emblematic of his dominant personality. A decade later, he would establish the first black league in 1920, the Negro National League, acting as president and treasurer. However, despite his tenacity and brilliance as a player, manager and executive, Foster succumbed to a mental breakdown, and was institutionalized in 1926 at an asylum in Kankakee, Illinois; he never left there and died four years later.
My painting of him is bold in black and white contrast and devoid of any colorful additions. A cross in the upper right corner connotes his religious faith as well as his convictions surrounding baseball. There are screws at each corner of the painting, save for the bottom right, They serve as a visual pun for his mastery of the screwball as well as his mental state at the end of his life.