Podcast Alert: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – Bob Kendrick

Transcript

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Bob Kendrick: [00:00:00] American historians did us all a tremendous disservice. They kept this chapter of baseball and Americana away from us, thus countless generations of us went through our own formal educations without knowing one of the most significant chapters, not in baseball history, but in American history.

Jeff Nelson: Welcome to the Navigating Sports Business Podcast, where we uncover insights from the most prominent leaders in our industry.

Today I am happy to be joined by Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Bob, I don’t think I’ve ever had someone on before who has more cool stuff in their background than I do. And more baseball specifically. So I can’t help myself. Before we even start, what’s the coolest thing behind you, if you had to pick?

Bob Kendrick: Oh man, I tell you what, this office collects a lot of stuff. There’s some pretty [00:01:00] cool signed baseballs in there from current and former major leaguers. The piece over my right shoulder, the painting of Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and my dear friend, the late, great Buck O’Neil which was done by an artist named Courtney Walls is certainly one of my favorite pie- pieces.

And then also in the middle is an image of Hank Aaron on record home run 715 that’s signed by Henry Aaron, who still is my all-time favorite baseball player and my childhood idol. So yeah, I’ve collected a lot of stuff that this office is filled with stuff, but there’s some pretty cool stuff in here as well.

Jeff Nelson: I’m a Milwaukee guy, Bob. I was born and raised here. I moved back here. In fact, behind me is, those are two seats from Milwaukee County Stadium, and so Henry Aaron with first the Braves and then the Brewers at the end of [00:02:00] his career- Yeah. Yeah … would’ve played in front of those seats, but also I think historically my favorite player of all time.

Yeah.

Bob Kendrick: Yeah, no, my… I tell the story all the time, Jeff. I had the opportunity to tour my childhood idol, my all-time favorite ballplayer, Henry Aaron- In 1999, and at that time Major League Baseball was celebrating the 25th anniversary of his breaking of Babe Ruth’s record. And as a kid every day on the playground, I grew up in Crawfordville, Georgia.

Crawfordville, Georgia is east of Atlanta, west of Augusta, all of 500 people. , And so every day on the playground I had to be Henry Aaron. Now, I know some other kids wanted to be Henry Aaron sometime, but I had to be Henry Aaron. And in 1999 I get to take him on a [00:03:00] tour of this museum. It is the first and only time I’ve ever been starstruck.

A- and mind you now, we’ve had two American presidents tour this museum in President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore, First Lady Laura Bush, First Lady Michelle Obama, the late great General Colin Powell, a plethora of other athletes and entertainers, poets Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni.

And as I oftentimes say With no disrespect to any of them, they are not Henry Aaron in the eyes, mind, and heart of this kid from Crawfordville, Georgia, who when he hit home run 715 there in Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium, I’m at home in my mother’s living room in Crawfordville, Georgia. And Jeff, as he was circling the bases in Atlanta’s Fulton County, I’m circling the bases right alongside him in my mother’s living room.

The old couch was first base, an old TV was second base, [00:04:00] another old couch was third base, her recliner was home plate. And so as he was touching them all, I’m touching them all, and there we were face to face.

Jeff Nelson: The only difference was you didn’t have two crazy 20-year-olds run onto the field and run around, run between second and third with you.

But otherwise- … that’s amazing. Wait, so 1999, so that was a year after you joined the museum,

Bob Kendrick: I think it was. I joined the museum in a full-time capacity, or in staff, I should say as staff. Because I started at this museum, which is still hard to believe, as a volunteer-

Jeff Nelson: Okay …

Bob Kendrick: in 1993. Okay. Now, who knew?

I certainly didn’t. Yeah, I had no idea that this would turn into a career, and to be honest, one of the most gratifying things I think I could have done either personally or professionally. But it all began for me as a volunteer in 1993, 33 years ago. I became the museum’s [00:05:00] first director of marketing in 1998, and served in that role for 12 years before I left as VP of marketing briefly, and then returned in 2011 to become president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

And so it has been a tremendous journey for me to go from being a volunteer to now trying to lead this great institution

Jeff Nelson: What did you know about the Negro Leagues on day one in 1993?

Bob Kendrick: Very little. Very little. A- and I think that is why I gravitated to this story in such a profound kind of way, because, Jeff, I considered myself to be a baseball fan.

And the minute I got introduced to this museum, even though it was a fledgling Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, ’cause it was just in a one-room office at that time, I instantly realized how little I knew about the history of this [00:06:00] game and its connections to the history of this country. And I guess you could say I became engrossed in it, man.

I wanted to learn as much as I could, and I didn’t wanna keep it to myself. And then I started to meet some of the Negro League players. There were a number of players who were still living here in Kansas City at that time. Sad to say, they’ve all passed on. But one- once I started to meet them, and it was their spirits that grabbed hold of you, because to a player that I’ve ever met, not one of them ever harbored any bitterness or spoke any ill will toward anyone who may have attempted to perpetrate something against them as they were trying to play baseball in this country.

And I found that to be an incredibly endearing spirit, because had they been bitter- Yeah … we all would’ve said, “You had every right to be bitter.” But they were never going to be bitter about baseball, because you [00:07:00] couldn’t convince them that they weren’t playing the best baseball that was being played.

Now, most believe that the best baseball was being played in the major leagues, but they never did. They knew how good they were. Yeah. They knew how good their league was, and the major leaguers knew how good they were, because they played countless exhibition games against one another, and the record books bear out that the Negro League teams or the Black All-Star teams won the majority of those head-to-head match-ups.

So no, they weren’t gonna be bitter about baseball. And so as I started to really learn their story- I was just… I was hooked, man. And I didn’t know it was gonna turn into a career, but I was just blown away, and I just wanted to assist- Yeah … this museum in any way, shape, form, or fashion that I could.

And as fate would have it, it has turned into an incredible career, and as I mentioned, I think one of the most meaningful things I could have done either personally or professionally. [00:08:00]

Jeff Nelson: Y- you had those great players. You had no shortage of great stories, and I’ve heard you’re an unbelievable storyteller, by the way.

I’ve heard you on many podcasts. I’ve read you a million times in Joe Posnanski articles or anything Yeah … so many places. But at that time, you have these great players. You have these great stories to tell. You have this important history- … in our national pastime, but you only have this one-room museum.

Bob Kendrick: One-room office, yes.

Jeff Nelson: How… W- what were the biggest challenges to get it from where it was to where it is now, and what was the key to making this happen?

Bob Kendrick: Buck O’Neil, the legendary John Jordan Buck O’Neil, the greatest front man you could have ever asked for. As a marketing guy, he was a marketing man’s dream come true.

[00:09:00] But Buck’s unyielding passion for wanting to make sure, as he would tell me He didn’t want them to be forgotten. And Jeff, not just being forgotten for what they gave the game of baseball, but more importantly what they gave this country. And I think that led him down that path to wanting to build a Negro Leagues Baseball Museum so that their legacy would play on long after there were no more Negro League players to attest to what this league was truly all about.

And we knew from the onset that when we started this museum that it was literally going to be a race against time. Because it wasn’t a matter of if, it was simply a matter of when those who made this history were all going to be gone. But you think about this, even those who saw them play, they’re all going to be gone at some point in time, and every time we lose one [00:10:00] of those players, that window of opportunity closes just a little bit more.

Jeff Nelson: Yeah.

Bob Kendrick: A- and so that is what kind of really drew me in, and understanding just how important this story was both on and off the field. And even when you come to visit this museum now, and we’ve moved from a tiny one-room office, today the museum is about 10,000 square feet of exhibit space, so not an overwhelmingly- large footprint, but Jeff, within those 10,000 square feet, man it is a lot of information and it is so beautifully curated. Of course, we are now embarking on a significant expansion campaign to build a brand new 30-plus thousand square foot Negro Leagues Baseball Museum that’s gonna be part of a Negro Leagues campus.

So the building that the Negro Leagues [00:11:00] were established in was an old YMCA building, the Purcell YMCA. Rube Foster led a group of eight independent Black baseball team owners into the Purcell YMCA, and on February 13th, 1920 they walked out having established the Negro National League, the first successful organized Black baseball league.

That building had been abandoned. It had not been occupied since the 1970s. We took ownership of it. We started a process to renovate that building, and now it is going to be the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center. The new museum will be attached to the historic landmark where it all began. As I like to say, we’re going full circle- That’s amazing

right back to the very building that gave birth to this story that we’re now charged with preserving as part of a Negro Leagues campus that will also include a Marriott Tribute Hotel aptly called The [00:12:00] Pennant that will be built into the new museum. All of this will be right around the corner from where we currently operate.

And as I tell people, I am as excited as you could possibly be- Yeah … about having to raise $55

Jeff Nelson: million. W- what’s the timeline on this? When, Well- Yeah, go ahead.

Bob Kendrick: If everything continues to go well, if the stars continue to align, we look forward to breaking ground on this project the first quarter of next year.

Okay. And then it will take approximately 18 to 20 months to complete, which would put us on a timeline of trying to get this new museum open by nine- by 2029, which would be just ahead of a brand-new Kansas City Royals baseball park- … which is right now slated to open possibly in 2030. And the new ballpark would be approximately two miles away from the new Negro Leagues [00:13:00] Baseball Museum, and we also believe in leveraging an opportunity to get the streetcar to run east, west to hi- historic 18th and Vine.

So how cool would that be?

Jeff Nelson: Yeah.

Bob Kendrick: Where folks can come to stay at the Negro Leagues Museum, catch the streetcar- Yeah … go see a Kansas City Royals game. So that is really exciting. We obviously got a lot of work to do between now and then, but no, the project is steadily gaining momentum, and so I feel very optimistic about our possibility of staying on this timeline.

Jeff Nelson: I was just in Cooperstown with my son for the first time. He’s 10. His number on his baseball team, by the way, is 44. Have to tell you that. We obviously loved reading all the plaques in the Hall of Fame and there are obviously the Negro Leagues are represented in parts of the museum. I’ve read, I think, before you talk about how you [00:14:00] see the museum as complimentary.

You’re not competing with Cooperstown- Oh, we’re not … we’re complimentary. Yes. Can you expand on that for our listeners? How- Yeah … how they should think about where you sit versus what Cooperstown is doing?

Bob Kendrick: First and foremost, we’ve always had a wonderful working relationship with the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Josh Rawitch, who runs the Hall of Fame, is a dear friend of mine. That hallowed hall has been in place for so long, and it is a wonderful place particularly for those of us who like baseball stuff. They got stuff galore. As a matter of fact, they got so much stuff, Jeff, that it might not ever see the light of day.

I

Jeff Nelson: know.

Bob Kendrick: But what I tell folks, and the reason that we’re not even remotely attempting to compete, we see each other in a synergistic kind of capacity, but this museum is not necessarily about the stuff. It is [00:15:00] about a story, a very profound, proud, significant story that had escaped the pages of American history books So not many people knew the story of the Negro Leagues.

And, Jeff, I don’t think there was ever a time that people didn’t want to know about the history of the Negro Leagues. You just had no way- Yeah … to know about the history of the Negro Leagues. American historians did us all a tremendous disservice. They kept this chapter of baseball and Americana away from us, thus countless generations of us went through our own formal educations without knowing one of the most significant chapters, not in baseball history, but in American history.

And again, that’s that rich, compelling, inspirational story of the Negro Leagues, and that is what people have gravitated to. A- and I see this almost every single day. People come [00:16:00] here and, man, they are amazed by what they learn. But to be honest, Jeff, they leave a little bit dismayed by the fact that I just now had an opportunity to learn this.

Yeah. Yeah, you do question, a- and it goes back to the fact that this history was essentially ignored, disregarded by American historians. And the thing that we all share in common, particularly as Americans, we don’t like the fact that somebody arbitrarily tried to determine what you and I should know.

A- and so this was basically hidden from us, and with the emergence of this museum, we have slowly but surely started to give Negro Leagues history a mainstream voice. A- and people walk into this museum, and they walk out cheering the power of the human spirit to persevere and prevail, and I [00:17:00] think that’s what sets us aside from the great work that they’re doing there at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

But when it’s all said and done- The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the National Baseball the National Baseball Hall of Fame, we’re all here to preserve history, but also to continue to promote our great sport.

Jeff Nelson: Yeah, it feels like over the course of my life at least, what we know about the Negro Leagues has gone from this to this.

Like- Yeah … it feels like every… the record keeping- Yeah … being able to- Yes … track down more stories- Yes … more players. Yes. H- how much of… So y- you have the mission to educate and be this amazing museum. How much- … time, effort, and money do you- Yeah … do you and the museum have to put into continuing to go back [00:18:00] and research and add to the story?

Bob Kendrick: Fortunately, there are a number of Negro League historians who are helping lead that effort. They are unearthing this information, and they’ve been at it for quite some time. That is what ultimately enabled us to get the stats of the Negro Leagues entered into the record books of Major League Baseball as of May 29th of 2024.

That is due directly to the work of a dream team of Negro League historians, researchers, educators who put in years of work to unearth the empirical data that was necessary to essentially rewrite the pages of American history books. Because I had always said that had the doors opened sooner that the record books of Major League Baseball would be entirely different.

[00:19:00] Commissioner Rob Manfred essentially went back and reopened the door, and now the record books of Major League Baseball are entirely different now with the inclusion of the stats of the Negro Leagues. And so those folks, I have to tip my cap to them. But it’s been so much fun, and it’s been tremendously rewarding to, again, see the growth of this museum.

You start in a one-room office. Today, we are recognized as America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, as deemed and designated so by the United States Congress in 2006. Who would have ever thunk it? ‘Cause it, our- Yeah … our growth was so humbling. You start in a little one-room office, and like we like to say, all we had was a hope and a dream.

Yeah, but you had people who held to that dream. They s- they were steadfast in their belief that this story needed to be preserved, it needed to be shared, [00:20:00] and even more so- Yeah … it needed to be celebrated. A- and that last term probably surprises people, because I do think, J- Jeff, that most people come to this museum Understanding that this story is anchored against the backdrop of American segregation- a horrible chapter in this country’s history. But again, out of the, the story here is what emerges out of segregation. This wonderful story of triumph and conquest. And as I remind folks, it is all built on one small, simple principle. You won’t let me play with you in the Major Leagues? Then I will create a league of my own.

And as I remind people, that is the American spirit at its finest. Yeah, it was America that was trying to prevent them from sharing in the joys of its national pastime, but it was also the American spirit that allowed [00:21:00] them to persevere and prevail. And again- Yeah … what’s not to love about that kind of story?

And people just didn’t know. And as my late mother would say, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” A- and we’re filling in that gap, man, and it’s so exciting.

Jeff Nelson: Oh, the, the latest person to be inspired, albeit fictional person, was Higgins on, … Ted Lasso. You guys had a pretty awesome spotlight shone upon the museum in the season- Yeah

premiere. He goes, he gets the tour. I think we were all disappointed that you didn’t have a cameo. I r- I read you turned one down. But-

Bob Kendrick: Yeah I think at this age I’m getting a little smarter. So you don’t play yourself. You gonna find somebody younger and better looking to play you.

Jeff Nelson: Oh. So the, the guide was supposed to be, that was a young Bob Kendrick?

Bob Kendrick: I think that it was certainly inspired by a young Bob Kendrick. Yeah. I had a [00:22:00] lot of people reach out to me and was wondering why it wasn’t me. I was nursing a knee s- I had just had knee surgery, so I’m carrying around a big brace.

But I was on the set when they shot it, and they did offer me a cameo appearance in the show, and I’m like, “Man, I don’t wanna drag this big brace around.” And, but I would be remiss if I did not thank Jason Sudeikis for his inclusion of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in that episode of Ted Lasso, because it has opened up this museum and Negro Leagues history to a legion- Yeah

of fans, both nationally and internationally, who probably would not have thought about the Negro Leagues until they saw the museum so beautifully featured in that premiere episode of Ted Lasso. Because Kansas City, man, is filled with great attractions.

Jeff Nelson: Yeah.

Bob Kendrick: There was any number of attractions that Jason could have [00:23:00] included in that s- that love letter to Kansas City, and thankfully he chose to include the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

And even though I was on the set when they shot it, when I saw the episode and saw it play out, it was very emotional for me. And they so astutely and brilliantly, really framed that scene with Higgins being a jazz guy-

Jeff Nelson: Yeah …

Bob Kendrick: and being introduced to the Negro Leagues through the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and then learning about the magnitude of a Leroy Satchel Paige by comparing several of the greatest jazz stars- Yeah

collectively, and then that would get you Satchel Paige.

Jeff Nelson: Yeah. It’s great. If anybody listening has not watched that episode, I highly… I- it’s beautiful.

Bob Kendrick: And what was [00:24:00] even more funnier, for me, so many local people who knew the museum was here- It took the museum to be featured in Ted Lasso, and they started coming to the museum in droves, man, because they saw the museum featured in that episode of Ted Lasso.

A- and I dare to think that we will have residual impact-

Jeff Nelson: Oh, yeah …

Bob Kendrick: from that episode because as people are being still introduced to the show, and it’s on a streaming platform, you can go back- Yeah … and watch it over and over again. It is just going to open up the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum to a lot of people.

And the week that episode aired, the Chicago Cubs were in town. And let me tell you, man, this place was flooded with folks. I quickly realized why we need a new Negro Leagues Baseball Museum because we couldn’t hardly handle the massive number- That’s great … of people who were walking through this museum.

It’s a problem, but it’s [00:25:00] a great problem to have. Yeah. Thank you, Ted Lasso.

Jeff Nelson: That’s wonderful. I saw web traffic was up, I think, 5,000%, and yeah. Oh,

Bob Kendrick: man. Te- That’s great … it’s every aspect of our business has been positively impacted by this episode, and so I do tip my cap to Jason for not only including the museum, but the way he introduced this history and this museum to his audience.

Jeff Nelson: Those of us who work in the sports industry, and obviously this podcast is geared toward professionals in the sports industry, what do you think we can learn from the Negro Leagues and the way it operated, the way it- … marketed itself, the way it- … engaged communities? W- do you think, what lessons are there in the Negro Leagues that maybe we would be wise to pay attention to?

Bob Kendrick: A- and particularly from a business standpoint because for me, there are three key themes that are [00:26:00] derived from this story. And don’t get me wrong, I understand why people would be drawn to the romantic nature of these unsung baseball heroes who overcame tremendous social adversity to play the game that they loved.

That is tremendously romantic in its nature. Baseball, in its purest sense, is a romanticized sport. So I can see why that would have appeal once people were introduced to this story. But there are three key themes that I think are vitally important to the overall story of the Negro Leagues, a- and this is really off the field.

First, the im- the importance of economic empowerment. How do you invoke change? It is done economically. And the Negro Leagues were an economic engine in its heyday. [00:27:00] Second is an unprecedented level of leadership that was emerging in the African American community as these teams were being built by businessmen, primarily Black businessmen and women around this country.

And then thirdly, but just as important, the social advancement of America as Jackie Robinson was handpicked- … from the great Kansas City Monarchs to be the chosen one to break Major League Baseball’s six-decade-long self-imposed color barrier. But as I remind folks, when we look at it from a pure business sense- Wherever you had successful Black baseball, you typically had thriving Black economies.

And Jeff, the bittersweet aspect of losing the Negro Leagues was that those urban communities died- … [00:28:00] with the loss of the Negro Leagues. Because the Negro Leagues were bringing those, as I define them, segregated, mandated Black-owned businesses a built-in clientele that led them to their economic heights.

When we lost the Negro Leagues, you lost that catalyst, and so many of those areas died. Where this museum operates is a classic example, historic 18th and Vine. 18th and Vine, man, in its heyday was as recognized street cross-section as there was anywhere in the world, because you had this intrinsic mixture of jazz and baseball radiating from this one street corner, and it was the epicenter of Black life in Kansas City.

Who was at the center of that? The legendary Kansas City Monarchs. Yeah, the stadium, which was only a few blocks away from where the museum operates now, of course has been torn down, and there is a [00:29:00] plaza that designates that it was the site of once upon a time Muhlbach Field, Rupert Stadium, eventually Municipal Stadium.

The stadium, before they put the upper deck on when the Kansas City Chiefs moved to town, would hold about 15,000 people. When the Kansas City Monarchs played, 17,000 plus. Standing room only. When those folks left the ballgame, they came right back here to historic 18th and Vine, and they did business with all those businesses.

The nightclubs were flourishing. The restaurants, the hotels were bristling with activity. You take away the Kansas City Monarchs, and all of a sudden you lost that. And so from that standpoint, the story is somewhat bittersweet, because what was good morally- … and socially as we look at the integration of our game, it was devastating economically.

And [00:30:00] again, as I remind my guests, there is always a cost for progress. And Black businesses paid a dear cost for what was deemed progress. But it was good for the soul of our country, and it moved us in ways socially, man, that I don’t think we ever dreamt possible, but it absolutely came at a price

Jeff Nelson: That’s interesting.

And I, to your overall point that there’s so much so many of us still don’t understand about- Yeah … the Negro Leagues and their impact, … I don’t think I’d ever contemplated that-

Bob Kendrick: Yeah … kind of

Jeff Nelson: economic community impact and what was lost when they ceased to be.

Bob Kendrick: Yep …

Jeff Nelson: the, i- if we’re gonna be sticking with a little bit of a downer tone here-

the, the museum opened in 1990, and at that point- Yes … about 17 or 18% of major leaguers were Black.

Bob Kendrick: Yes.

Jeff Nelson: Now [00:31:00] it’s 6.8%. This is obviously-

Bob Kendrick: And that number moved

Jeff Nelson: up. Yeah, and that’s up from 6% a couple- … years ago, I think. It’s Major League Baseball has a variety of programs, right? This is not something that everybody’s waking up to now.

It’s been recognized, and there’s a lot in the works to try to reverse that trend. Does the museum play an active role in that? Should it? H- how have you- Absolutely … viewed-

Bob Kendrick: Absolutely …

Jeff Nelson: how have you viewed this challenge and where you all- Yeah … fit into-

Bob Kendrick: Yeah. I, I- … fixing it? … I think, Jeff, that is one of the reasons why we have this tremendous partnership with Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball’s Players Association because they have embraced the museum as kind of this holy grail where urban kids in particular can come and essentially see themselves in their full glory [00:32:00] because representation absolutely matters.

And so when African American and Hispanic kids walk through this museum, they see people who look just like them, who man played this game as well as anybody ever played this game. But as I remind folks, not only did they play the game, they were owners of teams, and they were managers- … and coaches and traveling secretaries, team physicians.

They fulfilled every role within the business of the game of baseball. So yes, the, this history plays, I think, an important part in hopefully igniting a passion for this game because sometimes you do need to see yourself to believe that you can accomplish. Now, baseball is perhaps the most diverse sport of them all.

There are so many ethnicities- … from around the [00:33:00] globe that are playing this game. It is the American-born Black that had its numbers had dwindled considerably. But man, I am so enthused by the progress that is being made. And I know it’s incremental, but to see an uptick-

Jeff Nelson: Yeah …

Bob Kendrick: in the number of African Americans who are now playing this game for the first time in a long time, and the fact that the programs that are being implemented by Major League Baseball and the Players Association, they are having an impact.

Yeah, because more kids are playing this game, and the more that play, more of them are now- … being seen and more of them are starting to be drafted into the minor leagues. And as we see the minor leagues continue to be more populated with American Black kids, then you can get a, I think, an understanding that the pendulum is going to shift [00:34:00] the other way.

Baseball is a time-tested tradition. It is the… It ain’t the, it ain’t the fastest thing to get to the major leagues, and we live in somewhat of a microwave society. Sure. We want everything to happen instantaneously. Yeah. I’m from the South. I don’t want the instant grits.

Give me the slow-cooked grits. But we have to be patient. We have to be patient. Yeah. And we’re not a patient society. This thing is going to turn the other way because I think Major League Baseball and its Players Association want to make this game available to everybody because it is in the best interest- of them to have it be as inclusive as it possibly can be. It makes great business sense. It makes sense from fan participation, and ultimately, it will make a lot of sense to have these kids playing this game and competing with and against one another. And we do [00:35:00] think that this history that is preserved here at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum will play a tremendous role in igniting a passion for this sport.

Jeff Nelson: Another if you could question: If you could witness one sports moment in history- Yeah … live- All right, you’re stepping in the time machine. Where are you getting off?

Bob Kendrick: Oh man, it would have to be that showdown, the epic showdown between Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson in the 1942 Negro League World Series, because you’re talking about the crème de la crème, the best of the best.

Two legendary competitors, two legendary stars facing off in a, what became an almost unbelievable scenario, and this wasn’t in just any old game. This was the 1942 Negro League World Series when Satchel did indeed walk the bases loaded to face the most feared hitter in all of baseball in Josh Gibson, and struck him [00:36:00] out on three pitches after telling him what he was going to throw him.

And to hear Buck O’Neil set the stage for that story and the drama that fans would have had to have witnessed, because this thing, you can only imagine this in a TV series or a feature film, with the Monarchs trainer walking out. He’s got his doctor smock on, and just as you had that glass, he had a glass in his hand, and he dropped something in the glass, and Buck would describe how the glass would begin to fizz.

It was an Alka-Seltzer. He walks it out to Satchel, Satchel drinks it down, he lets out a belch, and now he’s ready. A- and as he describes Josh Gibson standing in the batting circle with that big 40-ounce, 41-inch bat, and as Buck would describe, he said that bat looked like it was six feet long. And he’s saying to himself, “He’s going down [00:37:00] right now.”

A- and of course, we know the outcome of that, and so the drama of two of the game’s greatest stars squaring off against one another, that’s must-see TV there, man.

Jeff Nelson: Now, those were two superstars that I think even the most casual of baseball fan has heard of.

Bob Kendrick: Yeah.

Jeff Nelson: Which Negro Leagues player do you think has been most overlooked or forgotten that all fans, casual fans too, should know more about?

Bob Kendrick: Thanks to this phenom by the name of Shohei Ohtani, it has shined a bright light on some of the great two-way stars of the Negro Leagues. I’ve had an opportunity to bring them to the forefront, and one of the most prolific of the two-way stars, and there are a lot of players who would fit what you just asked- Yeah

but one that instantly comes to mind is the great [00:38:00] Martín Dihigo, who hailed from Cuba. His nickname was El Maestro, The Master- That’s one heck of a nickname … ’cause he could do it all. Jeff, he played all nine positions. Wow. Played all nine of them well. He is the only baseball player in the history of our sport to be enshrined into five different countries’ baseball halls of fame.

He’s in the Mexican, Cuban, Venezuelan, Dominican, and in Cooperstown. Unbelievable. And virtually no one knows who the heck he is. How could we not know about- Yeah … a ballplayer, as my friend Monte Irvin would describe him, as a beautiful ballplayer, 6’3″, 6’4″, picturesque an arm that rivaled Roberto Clemente, powerful, like I said and played every position on the diamond, and played them all well.

And we introduce El Maestro to a lot of people when they [00:39:00] come here to this museum, but there are a lot of lesser-known great stars in the Negro Leagues that I get excited about introducing folks to when they come here. What museum besides your own, and let’s remove- Cooperstown. Let’s remove the- baseball Hall of Fame. What museum besides your own do you kinda most admire and think we can learn something w- fr- from them because they do this or that, and,

I think again, instantly the National African American Museum because it’s been so tremendously- … successful.

Jeff Nelson: Yeah.

Bob Kendrick: And I know Dr. Lonnie Bunch, who basically built that museum and was running the Smithsonian just recently announced his retirement. But kudos to him and what he did with creating an incredible enshrinement. And we’re thrilled that he came here to Kansas City to glean the history of the Negro Leagues, and it’s included, although it’s a small footprint there in the National African American [00:40:00] Museum.

There’s a little bit of history there. They’re the model. They who you aspire to want to be like when you grow up. Yeah, y- we won’t be at that scale and scope, but man, it certainly gives us something to shoot for, that’s for sure

Jeff Nelson: Bob, I, I’m so grateful for your time and your insight and the stories, and as a rabid lover of baseball who’s now trying to help my son embrace his rabid love of baseball and learn the history- just eternally grateful for everything you have done and the museum has done, and I’m incredibly excited to hear about the expansion and I don’t know. I f- I feel like I could go on and on with appreciation, but really just amazing, an amazing legacy that you are leaving, creating for so many future generations.

Yeah. [00:41:00] So

Bob Kendrick: really grateful. And that’s what motivates all of us. Jeff, anytime that you do something that you know is bigger than you are, that is so very gratifying. And if we do it right, just as you mentioned, we will leave something that will stand the test of time for future generations to come here and learn and enjoy this piece of history.

A- and I think that is what motivates all of us. And so I appreciate the opportunity that you guys have given me on your platform to talk about this history. And I encourage people, if you wanna learn more about this museum, visit us on our, at the worldwide web at NLBM.com. The capital campaign to build a new Negro Leagues Museum is called The Legacy Plays On.

And if you’re so inclined, we would love to have you make a contribution. As I remind folks, there’s certainly no contribution too small, and there’s no contribution of course that is too large.[00:42:00]

Jeff Nelson: Oh, that’s great. That’s great. And obviously anybody that goes to Kansas City knows, if they didn’t know before, they know that this is a stop they have to make. That includes me, by the way. I, Come

Bob Kendrick: see me. Come to see me.

Jeff Nelson: I will. As, as we try to… We’re- I’m trying to go to all 30 ballparks with my son.

We’re at 14 out of 30 so far. Okay. And Kansas City- Yeah … is kinda a Kansas City-St. Louis trip is probably next- Make some- … on the docket,

Bob Kendrick: absolutely. Absolutely.

Jeff Nelson: I will thanks to our listeners as well. If you have any questions, comments follow-up to this please reach out.

My email is JEFF@NVGT.com. You can al- always connect with me on LinkedIn, my personal page or the Navigate page. Again, this is Jeff Nelson with Navigate, joined by Bob Kendrick. Thank you for listening to Navigating Sports [00:43:00] Business.