The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: An Interview with Bob Kendrick

Editors note: Italicized portions of the text are direct block quotes from Bob Kendrick

Standing at historic 18th and Vine in Kansas City is a gateway into African-American baseball history: the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM). Perhaps one of the most outstanding examples of cultural celebration in the United States, the NLBM provides education and offers a greater understanding of the grit and determination of Negro League Athletes to any interested visitor. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with museum president Bob Kendrick in an interview about the history and impact of the NLBM. 

The NLBM first opened its doors in 1991 under the leadership of former Negro Leagues star John “Buck” O’Neil. At the time the museum opened it was just a one-room office space. Although it was tiny, the size of this room wasn’t indicative of the historical impact it housed. This single-room office included tributes to the likes of Satchel Paige, James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell, and Josh Gibson, some of the most well-known players from the Negro Leagues. 

These tributes weren’t just a recap of the athletes’ playing careers. Instead, they were a deep dive into their lives and experiences off the baseball diamond, while honoring the legacy left on the field. They showed appreciation of those athletes’ accomplishments, all while facing adversity and racial discrimination. The narratives in the museum were so powerful, that even current NLBM president Bob Kendrick was shocked upon his first visit. 

“When I walked into that one-room office and was introduced to the Negro Leagues, really for the first time, I knew the names…. but I had no idea about the breadth, the depth, the scope, the magnitude that this history represented both on and off the field. And I just absolutely fell in love with the story.”

HISTORIC LOCATION AND IMPACT

As a result of its depth, the museum expanded into its current home in November of 1997: a 10,000 square-foot structure inside the cultural complex known as the Museums at 18th and Vine. Both the NLBM and the American Jazz Museum call this complex home, where it stands right around the corner from the Paseo YMCA In Kansas City. 

That historic YMCA building is where Andrew “Rube” Foster established the National Negro League in 1920, the first league of its kind. Additionally, Kansas City was home to the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League – Jackie Robinson’s original home – and Bob Kendrick believes that the museum’s location helps create one of the most authentic historic experiences around. 

“When you come to Kansas City and you visit historic 18th and Vine, you are taking on one of the most authentic, authentic historical experiences, because this is the place that black baseball originated, but it's also the place that the things that Kansas City hangs it hat on thrived. Barbecue and jazz, all originated in that area that the Negro League Baseball Museum operates, known as the historic 18th and Vine jazz District”

(Photo credits: Jon Rapp via flickr)

The museum, in its origins, also helped revitalize a faltering community in the surrounding area. Negro League baseball boosted economies where it was played, specifically African-American economies, and contributed a crucial role in the development of local businesses and communities. 

After integration, Negro League baseball ceased to exist, and thus the areas in which Negro League baseball was played suffered. For this reason, “the story of the Negro Leagues is fascinatingly complicated” explained Kendrick. “With integration, which was a sign of progress, social progress, there was a lot lost.”

The 18th and Vine area was one of those affected by the close of the Negro Leagues, with Kendrick acknowledging that "[The area] had died” as time went on. There was essentially “nothing there”. 

The challenges of building a successful museum in this forgotten community did not stop the late Buck O’Neil though. Embodying the true spirit of the Negro Leagues, O’Neil pushed on with his plans, even with questions about foot traffic and visitor numbers.

“Here comes a fledgling Negro Leagues baseball museum saying, not only will we preserve this piece of baseball and Americana, we're going to revitalize a community at the same time.”

It's safe to say that O’Neil’s plans worked, with the NLBM becoming a massive success, and the 18th and Vine area in Kansas City revitalized. As Kendrick says now, “It's been over three decades later, people are living, working, and playing at 18th and Vine again, and the museum is front and center in making that happen." 

"In essence, we've done what Negro League baseball did for urban communities across this country. Wherever you had successful black baseball, you typically had thriving black economies. And the museum has certainly embodied that spirit and tried to be as transformative as we can be in helping revitalize that great historic area known as 18th and Vine.”

The impact that the NLBM has had on its surrounding community has been no surprise to Kendrick, who has always trusted in the advice of Buck O’Neil. O'Neil's choice of location for the NLBM was "a bold, but right decision", Kendrick recalls.

What the museum has done, by helping to transform 18th and Vine into a learning experience for visitors, has effectively transported eager learners back in time. In essence, visitors are now able to see those things which athletes had in the time of the Negro Leagues. The community is vibrant, with the museum having inspired life into the area once again.

"And so when you walk down the street there at the Negro League Baseball Museum, you're walking the exact same streets that the likes of Lionel Hampton and Lena Horne and Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Buck O'Neil, they all walked those same streets. And so we could have put the museum in another area, but you can't take that authenticity with you."

KEY EXHIBITS

Alongside the surrounding area, the content and history that the NLBM houses adds tremendously to the understanding and appreciation of the Negro Leagues. Countless exhibits and pieces of memorabilia detail the experiences of Negro League athletes, and the challenges they overcame. One particular exhibit on display at the NLBM, which Kendrick believes to be “one of the best exhibits that any museum in the world shows”, is the Field of Legends. 

(Pictured above: LF - Cool Papa Bell, CF - Oscar Charleston, RF - Leon Day, SS - William "Judy" Johnson, 2B, John Henry "Pop" Lloyd, 1B - Buck Leonard, P - Satchel Paige)

(Photo credits: Jon Rapp via flickr)

As the centerpiece of the museum, the Field of Legends houses life-size statues of "Ten of the first group of Negro Leaguers to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.” Those players, “Ten of the baddest brothers to ever play this game” in Kendrick’s opinion, are positioned in a way that adds to the larger-than-life feeling of the exhibit.

"Well, obviously, I am biased, but I think the Field of Legends at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is one of the most amazing displays in any museum anywhere in the world. And maybe it’s because of its simplicity of having these incredible life-sized statues adorn a miniature baseball diamond. And of course, they are cast and positioned as if they were playing a game."

(Pictured above: P - Satchel Paige, C - Josh Gibson, Hitter - Martin Dihigo, Umpire - Bob Motley)

(Photo credit: Jon Rapp via flickr)

Even as the centerpiece of the museum, the Field of Legends can only be seen through a chicken wire backstop at the start of a visitor's journey. “We wanted to create the illusion of what a segregated society was like", Kendrick explained. “In the case of these great athletes, they knew they were good enough to play in the Major Leagues. So close to it, yet so far from it. So from those vantage points in the museum, you can see the field of legends, but you can't get to it”.

Perhaps what separates the Field of Legends as an exhibit, though, is that a visitor can eventually take the field. They can admire those 10 great Negro League athletes from up close, but only after they’ve earned the right. During our conversation, Kendrick stressed this crucial point; a visitor can earn the right to take the Field of Legends only after they learn and understand the story of the Negro Leagues. 

“And you [take the field] by learning their story. And as I say with my visitors, by the time you get an understanding of what these athletes had to endure just to play baseball, then the very last thing that happens at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum; now you can take the field. In many respects, you are now deemed worthy to walk out on the field.”

While the Field of Legends honors the past, the Hall of Game helps to bring that legacy to the modern day, by recognizing African-American athletes in today's game of baseball. Integrated into the museum in 2014, the Hall of Game honors former MLB athletes who played the game the way they played it in the Negro Leagues: with skill and with a unique flair. 

A Hall of Game induction is no small feat, with former Major League greats like Fred McGriff (2019), Eric Davis (2019), and Vida Blue (2023) among those who have been elected. 

"So you played it with passion. You played it with high skill, but you also played it with a little swag. Yeah, because you had to have that if you were going to play in the Negro Leagues. And so each year we have an annual induction of major leaguers who we believe played the game the way they played it in the Negro Leagues. And we hope that this helps fans of our game understand how good the players were in the Negro Leagues, by basically saying you were good enough that you could have played with us."

SPREADING AWARENESS

While visiting the museum itself may be the most hands-on way to learn about the Negro Leagues, movements like #TipYourCap2020 helped to spread awareness about the history of African-American baseball as well.

With the onset of Covid in 2020 came uncertainty towards the 100th anniversary celebration of the birth of the Negro Leagues. However, while we discussed the disappointment that is born alongside crushed plans, Kendrick reminded me that it would be a disservice to each and every Negro League athlete to give up when facing adversity. 

“As a steward of this story, you know, you're not allowed to wallow in self-pity. That would be doing a disservice to every one of those players who called the Negro Leagues home. They never cried about the social adversity. They went out and did something about it. You won't let me play with you I, create my own."

And so in a bleak 2020, Kendrick along with esteemed sports writer Joe Posnanski and Communication Strategist Dan McGinn, set his sights on making some sort of virtual celebration happen.

That virtual celebration, the Tip Your Cap movement, was a grand success. The movement became so widespread that transcending athletes like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson tipped their caps alongside celebrities and even astronauts at the International Space Station. 

With the viral outreach of the campaign, greater awareness about the Negro Leagues had been spread than ever before. Morning talk shows were tipping their caps. Fans from all over the world were tipping their caps. The appreciation for the Negro Leagues (and African-American athletes in general) that stemmed from the movement was monumental, something that Kendrick held close to his heart.

“One of the things that I think I am most proud of was the creation of the Tip Your Cap to the Negro League campaign."

Another important step in recognizing the impact of Negro League athletes was an announcement on December 16th of 2020 by Commissioner Rob Manfred, that came after extensive lobbying from the NLBM and former Negro League Athletes. The announcement detailed that the Negro Leagues would be recognized as a “major” league from that point forward. 

Alongside this announcement came the confirmation that Negro League statistics would be integrated into MLB record books – which ended up happening in 2024 – bringing an overwhelming feeling of joy to Kendrick and the families of former Negro League players.Kendrick describes it as a “watershed moment”. 

“Last year, May 29th, those records were officially entered into the record books of Major League Baseball. And it was a milestone moment for black baseball history, Negro Leagues history, baseball history, and, I daresay, American history because I had oftentimes said that had the doors opened sooner, if they'd opened before 1947, that the record books would be entirely different."

Part of what the NLBM and Kendrick have helped baseball fans understand is that they shouldn’t be threatened by the integration of Negro League statistics; they should want to learn more. Fans should want to know who the stars of the Negro Leagues were, just like they should want to know the stars of early MLB. They should want to admire greatness and appreciate the entirety of baseball history. 

Kendrick stressed this to me. Nobody should want to rewrite history, but they should understand what happened. They should understand that the record books would be different had MLB been integrated sooner. What must remain, however, is an appreciation for the accomplishments of baseball players, both black and white, regardless of where those feats were ascertained. 

“Just because Josh Gibson's name is ahead of Ty Cobb, it doesn't diminish Ty Cobb. It just speaks to how great Josh Gibson was. And it should be a portal to deeper understanding. If you don't know who Josh Gibson was, then now you should want to go and learn who this man is, who I believe was the greatest combination of power and average this game has ever seen. You should want to know who Norman “Turkey” Stearns and Oscar Charleston, Boojum Wilson, and all the stars who were big in the Negro Leagues. Because just because you don't know their names, it doesn't mean they couldn't play.”

It's for that purpose of educating, that Kendrick and the NLBM have planned a new 30-plus thousand square foot Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, where it will be ensured that a proper and accurate history is preserved. 

FUTURE PLANS

The new museum will be built around the corner from where [the museum is] now, adjacent to the former Paseo. “[The plan is to] create the nation's first Negro Leagues campus as the gateway into historic 18th and Vine”, said Kendrick.

“It’s a $30 million project so I've got my work cut out, but I have no doubt that we will get there. And it's so indicative of the growth of this organization, starting in a one-room office and now looking at building an international headquarters for both black baseball and social history.”

The work is hefty, but I’m confident the NLBM will come through. When all's said and done the new museum may very well be one of the best in the world.

Although Kendrick hasn’t said it, you can see it in the museum's work. After receiving the Gold American Award for Nonprofit Organization of the Year in 2019, and working tirelessly to preserve Negro League history, it's clear that the NLBM isn’t just preserving history, it’s making it. 

(Data found in: nlbm.com)

Quotes found via: fbcreports interview with Bob Kendrick

Cover photo credit: Jon Rapp via flickr