Friday was another beautiful day at, and for, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. So much so that even by his gleaming standards NLBM president Bob Kendrick radiated a certain surplus glow still basking in Buck O’Neil’s long-awaited induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
In the wake of that triumph last week (albeit 16 years since Buck’s death months after he was excruciatingly omitted from election by a special committee on the Negro Leagues), the NLBM launched its “Thanks A Million, Buck” campaign at the epicenter of a celebration brought home to Kansas City from Cooperstown.
Much like Kendrick announced Buck’s new plaque would be transported here on Aug. 12 as part of the Salute to the Negro Leagues weekend with the Royals, who will display the plaque at Kauffman Stadium on Aug. 13 when they take on the Dodgers.
(On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier with the then-Brooklyn Dodgers, the Dodgers will wear uniforms from the 1947 season; the Royals will be clad in 1945 Kansas City Monarchs jerseys to commemorate the pivotal year Robinson played for them on the way to making history.)
The event in Buck’s honor Friday also provided something that was conspicuously missing at his induction in Cooperstown: the voice of Kendrick, who was born for many things, but few more than to have been Buck’s presenter for the Hall of Fame. While Buck’s niece, Angela Terry, provided a sweet family perspective, Kendrick is a dynamic orator who could have lent deeper context to Buck’s enshrinement.
But Kendrick at least would have been heard some if the Hall of Fame hadn’t canceled elements of the program because of the threat of inclement weather. The cuts included a four-plus minute video about Buck narrated by Kendrick.
“The charm. The charisma. The gentle spirit …” it begins. “You can feel his spirit when you come here to the Negro Leagues Baseball museum. There would not be a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum if it were not for the tireless leadership of Buck O’Neil.”
All of which brings us to yet another irresistible and clever fundraising endeavor from the NLBM as it seeks to harness this moment to perpetuate its mission just as Buck would have wanted.
And, as we’ll get back to, in ways Buck may not even have foreseen.
So … thanks a million, Buck, it is.
“Thanks a million for the humility,” Kendrick said. “Thanks a million for the gentleness and the kindness that he displayed just all the time. Thanks a million for the smiles and the laughter and the songs. Thanks a million for teaching us about the heroes of the Negro Leagues. …”
And thanks a million-plus, he hopes, for a concept based on the idea of a million or more people giving one dollar — “at least one dollar,” Kendrick quickly and subtly added — by linking to ThanksAMillionBuck.com.
“We want you all to be at least one in a million,” he said, “celebrating someone who was indeed one in a million.”
The most tangible target of the campaign is to raise at least $1 million for the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center at the site of the Paseo YMCA, where the Negro Leagues were founded in 1920.
Vital as that cause is in itself, though, the makings of something else could be bubbling here, too.
