KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of their first conversations together occurred inside an office building, the two men starting, to their surprise, what became a life-changing friendship. In 1993, Bob Kendrick asked Buck O’Neil, the famous former Negro Leagues first baseman and manager, a question that helped change his career: Why do you want to create the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum?
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O’Neil, then age 81, used his charming voice to respond with only one sentence.
“So that we would be remembered.”
Earlier this year, Kendrick kept thinking of that moment, especially last year when he was in attendance when O’Neil, who died at age 94 in 2006, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Kendrick, the president of the museum, kept hearing O’Neil’s answer, which led to the museum’s principal purpose.
Kendrick recited O’Neil’s words Tuesday when he announced the museum’s next campaign, a transition to a new facility to house as much of the history of the Negro Leagues as possible.
“It’s always daunting to take risks,” Kendrick said. “You can never be afraid to dream. That’s where we’ve reached, that place where we now understand fully that for us to be as effective as we would like to be, we need to grow. It’s about creating something that will be truly special. This is the right time and the right opportunity for us to move forward with a very ambitious plan.”
Buck O’Neil our late Chairman and Founder dedicated his life to teaching us about the heroes of the Negro Leagues and demonstrating to the world that you could get further in life with love than you could with hate.
Today, we honor his legacy. We know that he would be so proud. pic.twitter.com/HYotOsWonj
— Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (@NLBMuseumKC) May 2, 2023
Within five years, Kendrick hopes the museum’s artifacts, replica jerseys and photographs will be viewed by visitors in a state-of-the-art facility. The plan is for the museum’s new home — which will still be within the city’s famous 18th & Vine district — to be built adjacent to the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center, which will be inside the old Paseo YMCA building, the historic landmark where Andrew “Rube” Foster, a talented black pitcher, and seven other men in Feb. 13, 1920, established the Negro National League, each man becoming a club owner.
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The 30,000-square foot venue, Kendrick said, will ensure that the museum is able to honor O’Neil’s wishes by having every part of the Negro Leagues remembered and shared with the public.
“So often in our society, we don’t really celebrate the bridge builders,” said Kendrick, who started as one of the museum’s first volunteers before being mentored by O’Neil. “We celebrate the people who cross over the bridge. This museum celebrates the people who built the bridge.
“That remains the task of this museum, to make sure that those who sacrificed tremendously to play the game that they loved, who built the bridge, as Buck O’Neil would say, across the chasm of prejudice, that allow Jackie Robinson and others to move, both Black and Brown, into the Major Leagues so that they won’t be forgotten.”
Bob Kendrick in 2022. (Vivien Killilea / Getty Images)In the past 33 years, the museum, a nonprofit organization that was established by O’Neil, teaches visitors and promotes the Negro Leagues in the manner, Kendrick said, that should’ve been told decades ago, such as the rise and fall of the leagues, the contrast between racism and perseverance, an important part of America’s civil rights history within the context of America’s pastime.
“I do believe our visitors walk away with a greater appreciation of why diversity, equity and inclusion are so important,” Kendrick said. “Those are the pillars to building a bridge for tolerance and respect.”
Tuesday’s announcement served as the first day of the museum’s “Pitch For the Future” campaign, an initiative to raise at least $25 million in funding to build the new facility. The first donation for the project — through a check presentation of $1 million — was given by Bank of America, one of the museum’s partners.
Kendrick hosted a crowd Tuesday — which included Royals club owner John Sherman, mayor Quinton Lucas and Royals Hall of Famer Frank White — at the museum’s Field of Legends, a carpeted field in the center of the museum that features 10 bronze statues, lit up by spotlights of the Negro Leagues’ greatest players. Kendrick loved that the day was a significant anniversary for the Negro Leagues, as the first game in the Negro National League was played May 2, 1920. He retold the summary of the game, that the Indianapolis ABCs defeated the Chicago Giants, 4-2, with Ed “Huck” Rile throwing the first pitch.
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“How fitting is it that we, on this historic date, start to make our pitch for the future?” Kendrick said to the crowd.
Having spent over a decade as a neighbor, I was so proud today to join @nlbmprez and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for the announcement of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum campus. Thanks to Bank of America for the initial $1M of the $25M expansion. Buck would be proud. pic.twitter.com/dhEQm5ouXU
— Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) May 2, 2023
A few minutes later, Kendrick explained that the reason the museum needed a new building was simple: There’s no longer any open space in the current 10,000-square-foot operation.
The museum in the past few years has added new exhibits, such as “Beauty of the Game,” which celebrates the three women — second baseman Toni Stone, pitcher Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and second baseman Connie Morgan — who played in the Negro Leagues, the only women who have ever played professional baseball with and against men. Another exhibit, Barrier Breakers, celebrates the first Black or Afro-Latino player on each major-league team. On multiple occasions, the museum has hosted the “Black Baseball in Living Color” art exhibit, which includes Graig Kreindler’s 5×7-inch oil portraits of more than 230 people who were prominent in the Negro Leagues.
“This is Kansas City’s gift to the rest of the world,” Kendrick said of the museum. “Every time that I want to tell a new story, I literally have to tear something up. That is not the ideal way. If we were to acquire a significant collection — and I hope that we will — we wouldn’t have proper space to really be able to showcase it. It signifies how valued this museum has become through the years.”
Kendrick is optimistic that the museum, as part of its campaign, will receive a sizable donation from Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association. Three years ago, the two parties agreed to make a joint $1 million donation to the museum to help complete the research center.
Sherman promised Kendrick that the Royals would make a donation. Sherman, along with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, is expected to encourage other MLB owners to make a donation.
“I’ll never say no to Bob Kendrick,” Sherman said. “This is one of my favorite places in Kansas City. Major League Baseball has a complicated history with race. We probably have a scar that will never totally heal. The story (of the Negro Leagues) is about creating opportunity.
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“In fact, Frank White is always the symbol for me. I can’t imagine Frank White not being a Royals’ All-Star, an eight-time Gold Glove winner, a World Series champion because he wasn’t allowed to play in that league, despite his talent, because of the color of his skin. This is something that Major League Baseball should never forget. But this story transcends baseball. This story of the museum, really going back to Buck, is a story of entrepreneurship.”
In the Negro Leagues’ prime years, Kendrick has told visitors that the five-story Paseo YCMA building was the place where iconic boxer Joe Louis and Robinson trained, before Robinson broke the majors’ color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Growing up in Kansas City in the 1960s, White played baseball on Friday nights in the same area where the city’s MLB Urban Youth Academy was built. In the winter, he spent hours inside the building developing his skills.
Following his 18-year career with the Royals, White helped O’Neil pay the rent for the one room inside the office building, which was just enough to house a few artifacts and newspaper clippings before the museum’s eventual home opened in 1997. During that time, White began friendships with Negro Leagues players such as Connie Johnson, Alfred “Slick” Surratt, Leroy “Jeff” Williams and Don Motley, the museum’s first director.
“I’m sure that all those guys (are) looking down on this now really excited about where we’ve gone with this museum,” said White, who is now the Jackson County (Mo.) executive. “I just can’t wait to see the new building. It’s going to be tremendous. Dreams do come true — and we’re going to see this one through.”
What a historic day for the museum. Thankful for those who paved the way to build a facility that would pay rightful tribute to a once ignored chapter of baseball and Americana.
A special thanks to our partners at @pendulum_kc for bringing this dream to life. pic.twitter.com/CFVUXPhhoB
— Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (@NLBMuseumKC) May 2, 2023
Jonathan O’Neil Cole, the owner of Pendulum, a Black-owned architectural firm in Kansas City, revealed Tuesday the exterior renderings of the new building. Seven of the exterior columns are expected to feature a distinguished member of the Negro Leagues — Foster, O’Neil, Robinson, Stone, pitcher Satchel Paige, catcher Josh Gibson and Kendrick.
The new building, of course, will accommodate more visitors, offering them a more modern, extensive experience. More space means the museum will be able to have more interactive displays, more exhibits, more galleries, more archival space and a larger gift shop after visitors complete their tour. Kiona Sinks, the museum’s community engagement and digital marketing strategy manager, has envisioned visitors listening to O’Neil and Kendrick tell the comprehensive history of the Negro Leagues, perhaps through wireless headphones, while walking through the museum if an in-person tour with Kendrick cannot happen. Kendrick believes the facility’s rooftop pavilion, with a view of the city’s downtown area, could be rented for various events.
The new space will include the Field of Legends, but the plan is to have the museum’s growing outreach and educational programming in the research center as part of the “Negro Leagues Campus,” which Kendrick hopes will become a gateway into the 18th & Vine district.
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Another hope that Kendrick has for the new building is to raise more awareness of the important role Hispanics had in the Negro Leagues.
“These are their roots to baseball in this country, too,” Kendrick said. “There’s always been this symbiotic relationship, a bond, created through baseball. Negro League players were oftentimes the first Americans to play in many Spanish-speaking countries. When (Negro Leaguers) went to those countries, (they) were treated like heroes.
“In this country, the Afro-Latino athlete, in particular, couldn’t play in the Major Leagues, either. They found sanctuary playing in the Negro Leagues. In essence, the Negro Leagues didn’t care what color you were. All they cared was, ‘Can you play?'”
Spent the afternoon learning more about the history of the Negro Leagues.
Thank you for having us, @nlbmprez! pic.twitter.com/nQSEi4YlRl
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) May 2, 2023
Once the crowd from Tuesday’s event began exiting, a new group entered the museum, 15 people from the Baltimore Orioles who wanted to follow Kendrick for a detail-rich tour. Kendrick shared stories about the character Robinson demonstrated when facing constant racism; Paige’s brilliant and wizardry pitching; and how Effa Manley, the Newark Eagles’ owner and general manager in the 1930s and ’40s, signed Hall of Fame players Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, Leon Day and Willie Wells.
One day in the future, though, Kendrick expects to give a tour in a new museum, a thought that he has started to visualize in his mind, one that is bittersweet and exciting.
“There are so many amazing memories that have occurred in this museum,” Kendrick said. “I got to walk my all-time favorite player, my childhood idol, Henry Aaron, through this museum. This place has hosted two American Presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. There are countless memories that are etched in my heart to this facility.
“But you know what? We’re going to make some new memories in a bold, exciting expansion of a place that will, I think, be the perfect marriage between nostalgia and technology.”
(Top photo: Courtesy of the Negro Leagues Baseball Musuem and Pendulum)
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