Negro Leagues Baseball Museum gearing up for state-of-the-art makeover

KANSAS CITY -- The legendary Buck O’Neil always liked to say he was “right on time.”

The same could be said about Thursday’s announcement by the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation of a $2 million grant to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The grant will help support a $30 million campaign to build a new 30,000-square-foot home for the museum.

The new facility will incorporate the latest technology to build upon the legacy and tell the stories of the Negro Leagues and its players.

“You have to remember this museum started in a one-room office in 1990,” said NLBM president Bob Kendrick. “You had a handful of folks led by the late, great Buck O’Neil, who dreamed about the possibility of building a facility that would not only pay rightful tribute to one of the greatest chapters in baseball history, but now as thousands upon thousands discover every year, one of the greatest chapters in American history.”

The new museum will sit adjacent to the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center (BOERC), which is housed in the former Paseo YMCA. The historic building is where Rube Foster first gathered other team owners to start the discussion that led to the Negro National League forming in 1920.

“MLB is proud to support Bob Kendrick and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in their efforts to build a new state-of-the-art facility,” said Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred, in a statement. “The museum is a jewel destination in Kansas City and provides a memorable and educational experience for its visitors.”

The new facility will create a Negro Leagues Campus that will serve as a gateway into Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine Jazz District and is one of the must-see destinations of the city, according to Mayor Quinton Lucas.

“This shows that Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association are key stakeholders in not just Kansas City, but also in telling the story of the Negro Leagues,” Lucas said. “There will be great stories told here every day that will share the positives of baseball and where we’ve come from.”

The museum is an important destination for baseball fans and even Major League teams, who tend to visit the facility when in town to play the Royals, but it’s so much more in the eyes of Royals chairman and CEO John Sherman.

“It’s a story that is incredibly important and a story told far and wide,” Sherman said. “The fact that a lot of these players couldn’t compete at the highest level despite their talent because of the color of their skin, it permeates not just baseball, but our whole society.”

The Youth Development Foundation’s mission is to increase participation in both baseball and softball by making the game more accessible. In addition, developing a greater sense of the history of the sport is key.

“The [NLBM] under the stewardship of Bob Kendrick has been an outstanding resource in the groundswell of learning and education about the men and women of the Negro Leagues,” said Jean Lee Batrus, executive director of the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, in announcing the grant.

Thursday’s announcement comes on the heels of a $500,000 grant to the Negro Leagues Family Alliance, which was made in connection with the MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues event in June.

The NLBM received its initial donation in May 2023 when the new project was announced -- a $1 million pledge of support from Bank of America.

Going from one room in 1990 to the vision of a cutting-edge facility telling the story of the Negro Leagues for generations to come has to make one ponder what the Hall of Famer O’Neil would think of it all.

“I have very little doubt that he is somewhere in that great somewhere smiling down, because he is so genuinely proud of the work his museum continues to do,” Kendrick said. “The fact that we have worked so diligently to make sure that the 3,000-plus men and women who called the Negro Leagues home would never be forgotten.”

The NLBM, a privately funded nonprofit organization, is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving the rich history of African American baseball and its impact on the social advancement of America.