Charlie "The Whip" Davis played in the Negro Baseball League for seven years.

Now, the 78-year-old Cincinnati man is thrilled people are showing an interest in the league. So he didn't hesitate when the Cincinnati Art Museum asked him and fellow player Chuck Harmon to greet people last Sunday for an exhibit at the museum artistically depicting the league's significance.

Although the Memphis Red Sox player has lived in Cincinnati since 1960, it was his first time at the museum.

"I loved it. It was really something great, and I plan to take my family," said Davis, who got his nickname from his roommate, player and later country singer Charlie Pride.

"Out at Home!: The Negro Baseball League" is a collection of nine lithographs by Joseph Norman on exhibit now through Sept. 22. The exhibit has lithographs depicting baseballs and bats with chains, ropes and nails as metaphors for lynching, chain gangs and segregation.

Harmon, 79, who played for the Reds from 1954 to 1956, has mixed feelings about renewed interest in the league.

"It all goes back to the race issue, and people see all the wrong that was going on back then," he said. "But it's a good thing that there are people publishing the records and the accomplishments of the players."

The Baseball Hall of Fame is conducting a comprehensive study of African-Americans in baseball from 1860 to 1960. And there has been increased emphasis on collecting data about the Negro baseball leagues while some of the players are still living.