Negro League Baseball — Baseball Bench Coach

When my daughters each turned ten years old, I took them on a weeklong car trip where we would visit MLB and minor league ballparks, an amusement park, and often a couple museums. They were carefully designed trips by a baseball-crazy dad with a game to see each day as we toured the Midwest. Together, we shared special one-on-one time with lots of baseball and fun, some not so healthy food, and a little education, all mixed in. When our plan was to swing through Kansas City, I always included a tour of the Negro League Baseball Museum (NLBM) on the itinerary. With each visit to NLBM I discovered new exhibits and information and became a little better in understanding the story and explaining its significance to my daughters. Let’s take a trip to NLBM now at this critical moment in our lives.

To attempt to adequately share the history of Negro League Baseball in this space is humbling. It’s full of wonderful teams and players, historical figures, fan passion, and of course, racism. The first black professional baseball team was the Cuban Giants in 1885, formed due to the fact that blacks were not accepted into white major or minor league baseball. Jim Crow laws, enacted in the 1870s and 1880s in many states, mandated racial segregation. While the Giants and a handful of other black teams played in early, organized leagues, they made the most money through “barnstorming” around the country to play any team that would accept their challenge. Some of the great black teams in the early 1900s included the Chicago Union Giants (renamed the Leland Giants in 1905 by a white, Chicago business owner, Frank Leland), the Philadelphia Giants, and the Cuban X-Giants.

Rube Foster was the dominant black player in the early 1900s, pitching the Cuban X-Giants to the first “Colored Championship” in 1903, and then, after changing teams, the Philadelphia Giants in the next season. Foster joined the Leland Giants in 1907, not only as its star player but also manager, becoming one of the great innovators in baseball history. Foster’s teams were known for taking the extra base, hit and runs, and having batters go deep into counts. He was also quite the businessman, soon replacing Leland on the financial side of the club. All along, it was Foster’s vision to create an all-black league with all-black owners. His vision became a reality in February 1920 when he founded the Negro National League at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, just a few blocks from the present site of NLBM. His team, the Chicago American Giants, was one of the eight original teams, a Midwestern-based league that also included the Kansas City Monarchs. Foster, known as the “father of Black Baseball”, was named league president and controlled the league in all operational aspects. He was elected to Baseball’s HOF in 1981.

Negro league baseball in the 1920s expanded into other leagues and areas of the country, oftentimes becoming the focal point of black communities. The height of Negro league baseball was probably between 1935 and 1945 with games being played before many sell-out crowds. The Negro National League II (reestablished in 1933) and the Negro American League (formed in 1937) were the two last and competing leagues. Standing in the way of integration with the white major leagues was Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, MLB’s first Commissioner in 1920, who opposed the signing of any black player. Landis’ successor in 1944 was Happy Chandler, who began his tenure with this plea in support of black players in the MLB: “If they can fight and die on Okinawa, Guadalcanal and in the South Pacific, they can play ball in America.” The integration story started with Dodgers owner Branch Rickey’s signing of Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract in 1945, but it was a slow process. In 1947 Rickey was the only owner out of 16 who voted to support the integration of black players into MLB. Commissioner Chandler overruled the owners, paving the way to the signing of black prospects into MLB and the decline of Negro League Baseball interest and teams.

MLB Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Ernie Banks are just a few of the greatest baseball players of all-time who played in Negro League Baseball. While you might be familiar with their stories, it’s also important to know the story of some others, such as Satchel Paige, who may be the top right-handed pitcher ever. Paige began his career with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League in 1926. In 1929, Satchel had 179 strikeouts while pitching for the Birmingham Black Barons, believed to be a Negro League record. Paige drew huge crowds throughout the Negro Leagues, often making spot appearances for various teams so they and he could cash in on his celebrity. While starring for the Kansas City Monarchs in the 1940s, he was making four times the salary of any player in the Negro Leagues. Known for his overpowering fastball, pinpoint control, and flamboyant personality, story has it that he would from time to time ask his infielders to sit down, and then promptly strike out the side. In 1948, at the age of 42, he signed with the Cleveland Indians as the oldest MLB rookie ever. He pitched in the World Series that year as the first Negro League player. Satchel Paige ended his active career with the St. Louis Browns at the age of 47. He was elected to Baseball’s HOF in 1971.

One Negro League player who never received the honor of induction into Baseball’s HOF is Buck O’Neil. O’Neil’s career though is more than admirable, as he symbolized the vision of Negro League Baseball as a player, manager, MLB scout, and founder of NLBM. Buck was a solid first baseman and hitter, starring for the Kansas City Monarchs beginning in 1938. Taking a chapter from Rube Foster’s book, O’Neil became player manager of the Monarchs in 1948. He managed the Monarchs during the final years of the Negro American League. In 1955, O’Neil became a scout for the Chicago Cubs. His affiliation with the Monarchs led to the signing of Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Lou Brock. The Cubs named Buck the first MLB black coach in 1962. O’Neil served as a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame Veterans Committee for 20 years, a catalyst for the induction of Negro League players into the HOF. In 1990 he turned to his greatest passion, the establishment of NLBM, the first and only museum dedicated to preserving the memories of Negro League Baseball. Buck O’Neil served as NLBM’s chairman until his passing in 2006.

The pandemic’s impact on baseball this year is more than just lost games, but also lost opportunities. In a press release issued in February, MLB announced its plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Negro League Baseball. Tony Clark, Executive Director of the Players Association, remarked: “The (Negro Leagues) brought to our game levels of skill, passion, and integrity under the most challenging of circumstances that both inspired and entertained generations of fans in the decades before and after integration.” MLB and the Players Association jointly donated $1 million to the centennial celebration. In less than two weeks, on June 27, teams throughout baseball were to have special events and tribute games. Those plans, when rescheduled, couldn’t come at a better time. And the NLBM itself, celebrating its own anniversary, 30 years, has much more now to offer. Of particular note is that NLBM has developed innovative curriculum for students around the country to use baseball for learning math and science.

There’s never been a week in my life when I’ve read so many thoughtful statements from people and organizations about our continuing struggle with racism. I found two comments in the Chicago Tribune’s sports section last Tuesday that really struck a chord. Journalist DeAntae Prince summed up the Drew Brees incident in this way: “Now (he) will receive forgiveness and opportunities to learn more about racism, and there’s even privilege in that, being able to pick up a book or have a conversation about the topic rather than experience it.” Cubs President Theo Epstein echoed that privilege in his statement: “I can’t begin to walk in the shoes of a black person in this country or a black player in Major League Baseball. I think it’s also looking inward, too. I think that’s an opportunity that we all have to take in society as well as in the game, is being able to look hard at ourselves.”

To learn, to educate, to look in the mirror; I’ll accept all of that. One of my favorite images from visiting NLBM was watching kids play in the indoor baseball field alongside the statues of those Negro League Baseball players they just learned about. Something good happens out of that play acting. I want to return to NLBM soon, hopefully with a grandson, to learn more, to help educate him, and perhaps look in the mirror together, with the hope that his generation someday won’t need to anymore.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach