I got to meet my personal hero, John “Buck” O’Neil, when his wonderful voice boomed out from the back of the darkened room at the end of the introductory movie at the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City. (Right next to a nice Jazz Museum, both wonderful.) Surprise, those of us who happened to be there on that ordinary Tuesday got a tour from the man himself.
Buck was always humble, never bitter and full of kindness and forgiveness. He lived into his 90s and died in 2006.
Few Negro League Players are alive today to see it, but finally Major League Baseball is beginning to realize that both the fans and the players are from many countries and not just white males born in the USA.
From today forward, this statistics laden game will count stats coming from Negro Leagues games;
Here’s the link:
www.washingtonpost.com/...
My father learned the game watching Buck O’Neil’s Kansas City Monarchs, and the Monarchs beat the New York Yankees many times, in exhibition games — which were often played outside the USA.
You can show the Negro Leagues Museum some love at this link:
nlbm.com/...