(ThyBlackMan.com) While many people are still getting over the Kansas City victory over San Francisco in Super Bowl LIV, there are more significant sporting events to come in the coming year and this month of February including at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. It is Black History Month and an important piece of Black History is Negro Leagues Baseball, in which 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. As many know and more people need to understand, Black history is American history and that history cannot be written without Negro Leagues Baseball as well.
Jackie Robinson is one of the most important figures in American history over the past century. Breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers was significant as he showed he had the right talent and temperment to deal with the pressure of becoming the first black athlete to play Major League Baseball in the 20th century. Robinson’s influence exceeds baseball as even the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that, “Jackie Robinson made my success possible. Without him, I would never have been able to do what I did.” Some people are not aware that prior to joining the Dodgers and making history in Major League Baseball, Robinson played Negro Leagues baseball in 1945 with the Kansas City Monarchs. He was one of the most talented players there but not the best and the Negro Leagues Museum highlights Robinson and the best of the Negro Leagues.
On Thursday, February 13, 2020, “the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) will launch a year-long Centennial Celebration with an opening night reception to reveal a new exhibit entitled, “Black Baseball in Living Color: The Art of Graig Kriendler.” The exhibit includes more than 200 of Kreinder’s remarkable Color Studies of legendary Negro Leaguers and early-era Black and Hispanic baseball players. The exhibit also features artist Monty Sheldon’s acclaimed hand-painted baseballs, called Artballs, and other rare artifacts on loan from historian Jay Caldwell.” The significance of beginning the celebration of the centennial of Negro Leagues Baseball on February 13th is due to the establishment of the Negro National League in a meeting held at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri on February 13, 1920. That league was established by Andrew “Rube” Foster, who became known as the “father of black baseball.”
Like HBCUs, the Negro Leagues were avenues for Black talent to showcase and develop their abilities when overt and structural racism barred them from communicating and competing against their white counterparts. The Negro Leagues was comprised of multiple leagues over several decades as black men played what was considered America’s “pasttime”, baseball. The Negro Leagues also allowed a platform for Black men to lead on the field and front office.
This year, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum will lead a yearlong national celebration to “commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues and unveiled the official logo for the occasion. Festivities will include a major fundraising initiative; opening of the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center (in the site of the Paseo YMCA) along with an array of programs and events held in Kansas City and select U.S. cities. In addition, the NLBM plans to use the anniversary to establish Feb. 13 as a “National Day of Recognition.”.” It is worth checking out and learning about legends like Rube Foster, Satchel Paige, and Buck O’Neil and how Negro League Baseball has had a momental effect on American history.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines