#Shortstops: Breakfast of Negro Leagues Champions

The connection continued to grow, and on Feb. 16, 1996 the company unveiled their commemorative box to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. Featured on the front of this historic Wheaties box are Negro League greats Josh Gibson, Leroy “Satchel” Paige, and James “Cool Papa” Bell, all Hall of Famers.

The famously orange box features “Wheaties – The Breakfast of Champions!” as well as the official logo for the Negro Leagues 75th commemorative year. Beneath all of this, on the bottom half of the box, are three pictures, one of Gibson, Paige, and Bell. Additionally, on the back of the box, each player is featured, with another photograph, as well as a brief biography.

The idea to feature the Negro Leagues on a Wheaties box came about during conversations between General Mills, the company that owns Wheaties, and Major League Baseball executives about a Cal Ripken, Jr. Wheaties box. The thought was to tie the Negro Leagues edition in with Black History Month.

The men honored on this box were not alive to see it for themselves, but their loved ones were touched by the gesture. Bell’s daughter, Connie Brooks, said in a March 4, 1996 Washington Post article that "he would be delighted…He was a very humble man."

At the unveiling in February, she described a scene from her childhood, as recounted in a Feb. 16, 1996 New York Times article:

“She and Cool Papa Bell sat in the kitchen of their St. Louis home over breakfast one morning and let their imaginations soar. At least she did. Brooks said she pointed to the box of Wheaties on the table and asked her famous dad if he ever thought his face would be on the box. Cool merely shrugged. She ran into an adjoining room, grabbed a photo of Bell out of an album, came back to the kitchen and pasted the photo on the orange box. ’I said, ‘Ta-da…Fast than a speeding bullet, Cool Papa’s on the Wheaties box.’”