Pride and dreams on the diamond

National Catholic Reporter, April 16, 2004 by Rita Larivee

The American baseball season is in full swing. But unknown to most Americans is a baseball game going on in Kansas City, Mo., with some of the best players of all time. Standing tall on a mock baseball field are 10 of the game's finest players, all in life-size bronze reproductions. Unfortunately, their names are rarely mentioned and their existence is left unrecorded by most historians. They are the heroes and stars of the once renowned Negro Leagues of baseball.

Founded in 1991, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is the only museum dedicated to preserving the history of black baseball and is also the home to the baseball field mentioned above.

I had the chance to visit the museum recently, but the experience was hardly about sports; it was an opportunity to view firsthand a small group of visionaries offering hope to the world.

The Negro National League was formed in Kansas City in 1920, as one of many other African-American baseball leagues from the Eastern and Southern states, even Canada and Latin America, making up the Negro Leagues as a whole. Up until 1947, African-American baseball players were segregated from the major league baseball teams. Jackie Robinson, however, broke the barrier when he was recruited in 1945 by the Brooklyn Dodgers from the Kansas City Monarchs and eventually was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Robinson's success was a key moment in baseball history, but it also marked the beginning of the decline of the Negro Leagues teams. By the 1960s the last of the Negro Leagues teams folded. Without the establishment of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the legacy of the early African-American baseball players would be lost.

For unsuspecting visitors, the museum is not really about baseball. It's the home of the American dream. Remember that? It was once a topic of conversation by generations of people hoping for better lives and fulfillment for their children. It was about life-giving communities and the building of futures. It was about everyone getting a piece of the good life and nobody being left behind.

Perhaps you've forgotten; but not those at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. There, everyone involved is committed to building a better future on the rubble of the past. They have every reason to despise those who caused much suffering and hardship for black Americans. But they've chosen another path. Through an ongoing collective effort, the caretakers of this museum tell the story of fortitude, perseverance and courage to its many visitors.

For them, the story they tell is the story of America. Seen through the eyes of those standing on the diamond-shaped field, they share the story of black America during the first half of the 20th century and up through the Civil Rights years.

Despair is not part of their vocabulary, nor any sense of defeat or hopelessness. They've known the worst of human nature and refuse to let it dominate their joy for life, as well as their gratitude for being able to make the world a better place.

One of the museum's caretakers is John Jordon "Buck" O'Neil, its charismatic board chairman, who continues his work of recognizing other former Negro Leaguers who deserve to be inducted into the museum. His tireless efforts are at the center of the spirit that makes up this phenomenon of human pride and inspiration.

During my visit to the museum, I had the opportunity to meet Buck and to hear firsthand of his belief in the insuppressible nature of hope and dreams. Born in 1911, Buck has been involved in baseball since he first joined the Kansas City Monarchs in 1938. For him, the museum does more than explain the past, "it imparts the human struggle, the victories and setbacks of overcoming social adversity, as seen through the eyes of those who lived it. It is a wonderful place to learn about history, heroes, and home runs, but more importantly, it is a place to learn about humanity."

While sitting on baseball bleachers with a group of other museum visitors, Buck O'Neil brought tears to our eyes as he told the story of black baseball players and their families, and the aspirations they had for their children and their communities. Here is a man who saw the worst of human nature, but refuses to let it cast a shadow over the best of human nature. He's a man who remembers when baseball was about building communities and an opportunity to bring together neighbors and friends every spring and summer. It was a game of life and joy and people sharing moments of excitement and fun.

Buck preaches the gospel when he speaks. That's what fuels his soul and in turn fuels the soul of the museum. The museum is about values and human commitment to a better world and a better life for the global family.

So this summer, as you look for places to visit, consider a stop at a place and a community of people unwilling to be harnessed by the hatred of war and the fear of terrorism. They are all too familiar with both concepts. It's not baseball you'll be witnessing. It's the story of segregation and those unwilling to give up the American dream.