The
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: A League of Our Own
by Stacey Montgomery
Is
your daughter a fan of the Chicago Cubs or the
New York Yankees? Does your son get a thrill out
of Little League? If so, your little baseball
enthusiast will enjoy visiting the Negro Leagues
Baseball Museum.
Opened in 1991 in Kansas City, Missouri, the Negro
Leagues Baseball Museum is a tribute to some of
the best ballplayers never to play in the majors.
The Negro Leagues were the only professional option
open to African-Americans prior to 1947 -- when
Jackie Robinson broke major league baseball's
color barrier.
The museum boasts a 10,000 square-foot multi-media
exhibit, including two film exhibits, two video
exhibits and 15 interactive computer stations.
In the Grandstand Theater, actor James Earl Jones
narrates a 15-minute film that tells the story
of Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and other great
ballplayers of the Negro Leagues. You will find
Paige's glove and Gibson's uniform here, along
with bronze statues of Negro League players who
made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
You
do not have to be a baseball enthusiast to enjoy
the museum which tells the story of the Negro
league within the context of African- American
history. Thus, in addition to learning about a
special time in baseball history, visitors are
educated about other significant events in African-American
history that occurred during the time of the Negro
Leagues -- and how those events may have impacted
the African-American presence in baseball.
The
museum is located at 1616 East 18th Street, Kansas
City, Missouri. Contact 816-221-1920 by phone
or 816-221-8424 by fax. Admission is $6 for adults
and $2 for children 12 and under.
For
more information about the Negro Leagues Baseball
Museum and history of the Negro League, see the
museum’s website http://www.nlbm.com/intro.html.
Photograph
courtesy of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
