Museum goes beyond baseball

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The stories have been told and retold of the stars, games, owners and history of Negro League baseball. For many years, those stories were the only source documenting its rich tradition.

That was before the building of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum at legendary 18th and Vine in Kansas City, where much of the league’s history took place. The museum – a $2.5 million, 10,000-square foot facility – is a testament to the teams and players who made the leagues famous and a chronicle of the social climate of that era.

The museum is more than stats and photographs, more than bronze sculptures and memorabilia. To those who lived those times and played those games, it is proof of life.

“You didn’t have a chance to learn this story while you were in school,” said Bob Kendrick, the museum’s director of marketing. “It wasn’t in history books. People love to have the opportunity now to learn about it.”

The development of the museum began in 1990, with former Negro League player and manager John “Buck” O’Neil and others leading the charge. They rented a one-room office in Kansas City and kept the effort alive until the dream was realized.

“This doesn’t happen without Buck O’Neil,” Kendrick said of the museum chairman (a voluntary position), who spends many days at the museum or traveling the country in support of it. He signs baseballs and bats, greets visitors, shares stories and sometimes even leads tours of the exhibits.

O’Neil, now 93 but looking more like 73, was the first black coach hired by a major-league team and was manager for some of the best Kansas City Monarchs teams. He was a fine player himself, leading the Negro National League in hitting in 1946.

In 1997, the museum building – which also houses a jazz museum – opened to the public.

“This is the history of the country during that period,” O’Neil said. “That history is why we had the Negro Leagues in the first place.”

Symbolism is evident, especially in the Coors Field of Legends display, the museum’s centerpiece. It features life-size bronze sculptures of an all-star team composed of Negro League players who have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., based on their Negro League play.

The exhibit, which places each sculpture at its position on a mock diamond, is the first thing visitors see on the tour.

The team includes Satchel Paige as pitcher, as well as catcher Josh Gibson, left fielder James “Cool Papa” Bell, third baseman Ray Dandridge, shortstop William “Judy” Johnson, first baseman Buck Leonard, right fielder Leon Day, center fielder Oscar Charleston, second baseman John Henry “Pop” Lloyd and batter Martin Dihigo. The manager of the team is Andrew “Rube” Foster, who developed the Negro Leagues. The final sculpture, of O’Neil, is located behind a chicken-wire fence “on the outside looking in,” Kendrick said. O’Neil has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“The exhibition is built around the diamond but segregates you from the diamond,” Kendrick said. “You can see it, but you can’t get on the field. You don’t get access on the diamond until you have heard the story, basically until you have earned the chance to be there.

“There’s a lot of symbolism. Even the chicken wire is symbolic because chicken wire was used to separate the black fans from the white fans at some ballparks.”

Kendrick said the museum was never intended to be a black hall of fame. “We are a museum built with the purpose of preserving the story and presenting the history of the Negro Leagues. … This is a league born out of segregation that would be a leading force in our country for social change.”

Time is running out to collect information on some aspects of the Negro Leagues. It has been difficult to get some statistical data, for example.

“Fortunately, historians have done a great job of going back and documenting facts,” Kendrick said. “Prior to that, most knowledge of the league was by word of mouth. We’re trying to collect oral histories now from the surviving players.

“But they are aging at an alarming rate and the ones who are still alive played at the tail end of the leagues. The guys of Buck’s era, there are only a handful still around. We’re dealing with a finite piece of history.

“Still, whether they were a cup-of-coffee guy in the Negro Leagues or a great star, it makes no difference to us. They are special because they played in the Negro Leagues.”

As part of its broader focus, the museum features a time line that runs the length of the exhibits.

Information above the time line is related to baseball and the leagues, while that below deals with the country’s history, both social and political.

Some exhibits reflect the times and interests of blacks during the period. That includes the 18th and Vine area of Kansas City, which Kendrick said was “jumping” in the 1920s through the 1950s.

“This area generated a need for black business,” Kendrick said. “There were black hotels and restaurants and clubs. If you were a Negro League player in Kansas City, or any black celebrity, you came to 18th and Vine. The only area comparable to 18th and Vine was Harlem.

“Lionel Hampton loved the Negro Leagues and the players loved jazz music. Cab Calloway, too. It’s funny: All the baseball players wanted to be musicians and all the musicians wanted to be baseball players. Everyone hung out here. It was the place to be.”

The Negro National League was formed in 1920 by Foster at the Paseo YMCA, just down the street from the museum.

The league was the third-largest black-owned business at the time and many of its stars were household names in the black community. Jackie Robinson was a Negro League player before becoming the first African-American to play in the majors. Hank Aaron played in the Negro Leagues for the Indianapolis Clowns before his contract was bought by the Braves.

The museum displays uniforms of the Negro League teams, as well as baseballs, bats and memorabilia. One photograph features Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, at 102 the oldest living Negro League player. Another shows Paige with his “all-stars” about to board an airplane.

That barnstorming team traveled the country playing exhibition games against a major league all-star team, which was usually put together by Dizzy Dean.

Two films are shown: a 15-minute presentation narrated by actor James Earl Jones that features vintage film footage of Negro League players, and a shorter informational piece narrated by former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw.

Near the end of the exhibit is a collection of baseballs signed by celebrity visitors, including former President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, actor Billy Dee Williams and comedian Sinbad.

Another baseball has the autographs of Negro League standouts Roy Campanella, Joe Black, Robinson and Jim Gilliam on one side and the autograph of Ty Cobb on the other.

“It’s a fascinating story in which baseball is really just a part of the story,” Kendrick said.

“It shows America at its worst and at its best.”