Negro Leagues Basebll Museum receives national designation

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Contact: Adam   Miles 2022252865 adam.miles@mail.house.gov

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum receives national designation

Congressman Moore co-sponsors legislation officially designating museum as America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — On Monday, the United States House of Representatives approved legislation designating the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City as America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The legislation, co-sponsored by Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District – Kansas), was introduced in the House by Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II (Fifth District – Missouri). Since the measure was passed unanimously by the Senate in April, the designation is now official.

“It is quite appropriate that Kansas City, the birthplace of the Negro National League in 1920, is now the official home of America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum,” Congressman Moore said. “This designation is also a testament to the committed individuals who have worked so diligently to make this world-class museum a destination for anyone seeking to enrich their understanding both of the history of African-American baseball and the struggle against injustice in our country.”

The designation of the NLBM as America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum will help it in its efforts to preserve the history of the Negro Leagues and the impact of segregation on our nation. The national designation will also assist the museum in efforts to continue the collection, preservation and interpretation of historical artifacts.

“I am very pleased to say that the Kansas City Metropolitan Area is now officially home of America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The passage of this bill represents national recognition of the role our entire community, on both sides of the state line, played in the history of the Negro Leagues. We should all be very proud of the work Buck O’Neil and others have done to commemorate baseball played on segregated fields,” said Congressman Cleaver.

“I would like to thank Congressman Moore, for being a co-sponsor of this bill,” said Congressman Cleaver, “it is always a pleasure to reach across the state line and find a willing partner to work on projects that benefit the entire region.”

“As America’s only public museum dedicated to the history of the Negro Leagues, we are thrilled with this important recognition,” said John “Buck” O’Neil, NLBM Chairman.

“The Museum will forever strive to fulfill this national designation,” said Mark Bryant, NLBM Board Chairman.

“For the 2,600 Negro Leagues players, their legacy is forever etched in the national history of baseball,” said Bob Kendrick, Deputy Director of the NLBM. “It’s a great story that should be told and retold.”

The NLBM was founded in 1990 and is the only public museum in the nation that exists exclusively for portraying the players in the Negro Leagues from 1920 thru the 1960s.

More than 60,000 baseball fans throughout the country visit the museum in Kansas City each year. Currently, the NLBM houses a comprehensive collection of historical materials, important artifacts and oral histories of the participants of the Negro Leagues and the impact that segregation played in the lives of the ballplayers and their fans.