Negro Leagues Museum Boosted By All-Star Visit
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By DERON SNYDER
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum didn’t exist in 1973 when Major League Baseball held the All-Star Game in Kansas City, Mo. Founded in 1990, the shrine to pre-integration baseball narrowly survived long enough to be resuscitated this week when the All-Star Game returned to town.
But thanks to smarter management and better leadership over the last 15 months — after four years of strife and financial woes that almost shuttered the institution — the NLBM was ready for its close-up when the baseball world descended on Kansas City.
As museum President Bob Kendrick said heading into the four-day slate of All-Star activities: “We’ve got one shot. It ain’t like we get a dress rehearsal. We just need to get this thing right.”
By most accounts, the NLBM hit a home run, possibly exposing more people to the facility this week than in its 22 years combined. It hosted everyone from frequent guests such as Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard to first-time visitors such as MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.
“A wonderful day, for me to walk around here and see what the Negro Leagues did and what they meant to baseball,” Selig said Monday after his grand tour. “I love the presentation of history. This has been terrific — very educational, really. Some of baseball’s greatest players started in the Negro Leagues. Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson … those players paved the way for players today, like Matt Kemp, Curtis Granderson, Adam Jones and Prince Fielder.”
