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Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Today in Chicago History: Cubs hire Buck O'Neil who becomes first Black coach in major league history
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on May 29, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) Advertisement High temperature: 95 degrees (1942) Low temperature: 37 degrees (1984) Precipitation: 3.45 inches (1981) Snowfall: None 1962: The Chicago Cubs hired John 'Buck' O'Neil as the first Black on-field coach in major league history. 'I have never told anyone this before, but I was the one who talked to [then-Cubs owner] P.K. Wrigley and asked him to hire Buck,' Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks told the Tribune in 2006. 'That had always been between just me and Buck. I'm saying this with love today; it was me. I said to Mr. Wrigley: 'There is a man I know who has a lot of talent with baseball, it's Buck O'Neil.'' A solid-hitting first baseman, O'Neil barnstormed with pitching legend Satchel Paige during his youth and twice won a Negro leagues batting title. He later became a pennant-winning manager of the Kansas City Monarchs. Advertisement O'Neil — who fell short of induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by one vote in 2006 — was finally enshrined there in 2022. He died in 2006 at age 94. 1976: Six Flags Great America (which was originally known as Marriott's Great America) debuted in Gurnee. The $50 million-playland opened in miserable Memorial Day weekend weather, but 12,000 visitors still showed up. Roller coasters including the corkscrew barrel roll Turn of the Century were a big hit. 2013: Catcher Dioner Navarro had the first three home-run game of his career, connecting from both sides of the plate at Wrigley Field to lead the Cubs to a 9-3 win over the Chicago White Sox. Navarro had 6 RBIs, drove in a career-high 5 runs and scored 4 times. Navarro hit six home runs for the White Sox during the 2016 season, before he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays. Want more vintage Chicago? Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Former Royals prospect helps Kansas City Monarchs win '25 opener at Legends Field
Robbie Glendinning contributed to the Kansas City Monarchs' 8-1 opening-night victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs by blasting an early two-run home run at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kan. on Friday, May 9, 2025. The Kansas City Monarchs baseball team kicked off its 2025 season with some fireworks on Friday night. The minor-league Monarchs got a command performance on the mound from their starting pitcher, plus a grand slam and pair of two-run homers, to soak the Lincoln Saltdogs 8-1 at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kan. Advertisement Right-handed pitcher Julian Garcia, a former Philadelphia Phillies prospect beginning his second year with the Monarchs, got the start. Several days shy of his 30th birthday, he held Lincoln to one hit across five shutout innings, striking out seven and walking none. Garcia is coming off a tremendous 2024 season in which he set a new club record with a 0.99 WHIP while compiling a 2.54 season ERA. Former Royals prospect and Missouri Tigers infielder Robbie Glendinning provided the early offense for KC, belting a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning. A native of Australia, Glendinning was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He spent 2022 and part of 2023 with the Royals' Double-A affiliate, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, before playing for his home country in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Advertisement Glendinning competed in Mexico in 2024 and signed with the Monarchs in January. Monarchs third baseman Peyton Holt doubled the lead in the bottom of the sixth with the hosts' other two-run shot Friday. Holt played for the Arkansas Razorbacks through 2024. But KC's big blow was still to come. And arrive it did in the eighth inning, when outfielder Isiah Gilliam launched a bases-clearing blast into the night sky, delighting the announced crowd of 4,475 — the ballpark's largest since prior to the pandemic. The Monarchs and Saltdogs, rivals in the American Association of Professional Baseball, will play two more games during this series, with Saturday's first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. and Sunday's Mother's Day contest scheduled to begin at 1:05. Advertisement After that comes an off-day for the Monarchs (Monday). And then they play host to the Winnipeg Goldeyes at Legends Field in a series that starts Tuesday and concludes next Thursday. The Monarchs fell short of the American Association playoffs last season for the first time since 2017, manager Joe Calfapietra's first at the helm in Kansas City. The team finished with a 46-54 record in 2024. Calfapietra is entering his eighth season with the Monarchs. He guided them to championships in 2018, 2021 and 2023 and won the American Association's manager of the year award in 2018 and 2021. For tickets and other information about the Monarchs, visit
New York Times
03-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What can the Negro Leagues teach us about leadership and passion? This man thinks a lot
In 1990, Buck O'Neil founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City near 18th & Vine, a once-vibrant neighborhood synonymous with nightlife during the Jazz age. The museum consisted of one tiny office. O'Neil, a former first baseman for the Kansas City Monarchs and the first Black coach in MLB history for the Chicago Cubs, had a vision for a museum to keep the Negro Leagues stories alive. And he wanted to build it near 18th & Vine, an area that was once a thriving hub for Kansas City's Black community and home to the Paseo YMCA, where in 1920 Rube Foster had formed the Negro National League. Advertisement O'Neil died in 2006, at 94, but his dream has endured. Today the president of the Negro Leagues museum is Bob Kendrick, O'Neil's former right-hand man, who has become the museum's chief storyteller and a national ambassador for Negro Leagues history. If you've ever heard Kendrick tell a story, you'd understand why I wanted to talk to him. This time, I wanted to ask him about the leadership lessons he learned from O'Neil, one of baseball's all-time personalities and a star of Ken Burns' PBS documentary about baseball. How did O'Neil rally people around a vision — in this case, a small baseball museum in the heartland? And what can we learn from the past? I wondered if we could start with your favorite leadership lesson from the Negro Leagues. I think the core story of the Negro Leagues is one built around leadership. You think about Rube Foster and his determination to build a league of his own. And it comes from a place where, 'You won't let me play with you, then we'll create a league of our own.' To me, that is a great example of leadership because, No. 1, he had to convince seven other independent Black baseball team owners that, for Black baseball to not only survive but thrive, it needed an organized structure. And he had to convince them to give up their independence. And he was able to do that on February 13, 1920, in that meeting that took place at the Paseo YMCA. So, for me, leadership is at the crux of this story. It is one of three pillars that make this story so amazing. No. 1, the importance of economic empowerment; No. 2, the incredible amount of leadership that emerged in these African-American communities through the formation of those leagues; and No. 3, obviously, the social advancement of America as Jackie (Robinson) was hand-picked from the Kansas City Monarchs to break baseball's color barrier. Advertisement There's a great symmetry in the idea of Rube Foster creating the Negro Leagues in 1920, and then Buck O'Neil building the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum 70 years later. What lessons can we take from the way Buck was able to create a vision for the museum? You hear from the guys who played for Buck how amazing a manager he was. That he understood when to put his arm around you and when to kick you in your rump. I talk to people like George Altman, who played for Buck with the Monarchs, and then, of course, Buck brought him over to the Chicago Cubs. He still says today that Buck was the greatest manager that he ever played for. What Buck did in 1990: He was defiant from the standpoint that there were those who just did not believe that a museum would work at historic 18th & Vine. Buck stood steadfast in his belief that the origin of this history began in that area, and that he would build a museum there in that area. I'm sure some of our most ardent supporters were questioning the decision, and I can understand why. Because there was no built-in foot traffic. There was nothing there that would indicate that a museum would be able to sustain itself. But as I oftentimes say, the infinite wisdom of Buck O'Neil said, 'This is where we build it.' And in doing so, we will not only build a museum, we will help resurrect what was once a tremendously proud and prominent African-American community. That was in 1990. And we haven't looked back since. How did Buck sell his vision? Because he was a part of 18th & Vine when 18th & Vine was 18th & Vine. And he saw the potential that it could be restored, and that in many ways, our museum would do for that community what Negro Leagues baseball had done for urban communities across this country. Because wherever you had successful Black baseball, you typically had thriving Black economies. He understood that, and he was so passionate about it. Buck could say the least, little thing, but he said it with such conviction that you had to come along with him. He was just steadfast in that belief, and people came along with him. Advertisement What did Buck teach you — not necessarily about Negro Leagues baseball — but about leading people? I draw inspiration from Buck every single day. I say this oftentimes in jest, but there's some truth to it: I talk to Buck almost every single day. Now, he doesn't always talk back to me. But I talk to him almost every day. Because I still draw from the things he shared with me. There was so much wisdom he imparted. Now, he didn't force it on you. It was there for you to consume if you wanted it. I tell people the smartest thing I ever did was I kept my mouth closed and I listened. And when you've got difficult decisions to make, when you're trying to convince people to support these things, his ability to engage people is probably the thing that I've hoped I've picked up from him the most. I read an old article where Buck was giving his tips for living a full life. And some of them were beautiful but kind of standard. He said, 'Hug everybody you can.' 'Drain the bitterness out of your heart'.' Sing a little every day … ' 'Listen to old people — they might teach you something.' Yes, exactly. But one that I kind of smiled at, he said: 'Do a little showboating now and again in your life. Remember, it was the so-so ballplayers who came up with the word, 'showboating.' They were jealous. If you have something to show, go ahead and showboat a little bit.' (Laughs.) Go ahead and show it! What do you think he meant by that? I think that's one of the reasons I often tell the story of when he and Ichiro Suzuki connected. They were kindred spirits. Because Ichiro would say he admired Buck's style. Buck, I think, admired Ichiro because he knew exactly what Ichiro was going to go through when he decided to come to this country to play baseball. Because, as you well know, as Ichiro goes into the Hall of Fame this summer, he left Japanese baseball with over 1,200 hits, yet when he was coming over to play in the major leagues, what did the naysayers say? 'Well, you did that in your league. But you won't be able to do that in our league.' Well, they said the same thing about the players from the Negro Leagues. Buck would often say, 'The major leaguers would accuse them of showboating.' And he would go on to say: 'It's only showboating when you can't do it.' We know that today that the guy who homers and flips his bat, that's a SportsCenter Top 10 highlight every night of the week. But the major leaguers frowned on it and would oftentimes say: 'Well, they don't play the game the right way.' Which was, in essence, a code word that said: 'They didn't play the game the white way.' And I think (Negro League players) knew that the game was entertainment. We're slowly but surely understanding that today. And Ichiro had a little bit of that flair, too. Oh, he had it. There's no question about it. He had it. And Buck saw that in him. The two of them just hit it off and connected in ways in which you would never expect that this Japanese ballplayer and this old Black man from the Negro Leagues would connect. When Buck died in 2006, Ichiro sent flowers. And the very next year, he came to visit me at the museum to pay respect to his friend, and he wrote a significant personal check to the museum in honor of his friend, Buck O'Neil. Advertisement It also kind of speaks to the idea that you never know who you might connect with if you give people a chance. Exactly. Another line Buck always said, and I think it was the title of his autobiography, but he liked to say, 'I was right on time.' Obviously, he's talking about his career and the obstacles in the era in which he played. But do you think there's a bigger lesson in that? I think Buck was always in the present. Even though he used his life as a way to help people understand the challenges and circumstances that others had to overcome. He also used his life as a beacon of light. When he talked about being right on time, I think that meant in every aspect of his life. From the baseball playing to the things that he was able to accomplish off the field. Buck rose to prominence after the Ken Burns documentary. He was in his 80s. The headline in the Kansas City Star said after his debut in the film: 'A star is born at age 82.' When he said he was right on time, I think he meant that every time that he said it, because he was always constantly present, even though he was so optimistic about the future, not only of our game, but of the future of this country. You've been a steward and a national ambassador for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I'm sure you didn't think this was going to be your life when your career was just starting. I think there's a lesson in there that people can find their calling and fall in love with what they're doing. I speak to a lot of students and I tell them, in 1993 when I was working at The Kansas City Star, I literally stumbled into what would become my passion when I walked into what was then the one-room office that was the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I had no idea it would become such an integral part of my life. But I fell in love with the museum, and I fell in love with the amazing story that it documented. It shows the power of storytelling. And to be authentic. These things are really important to this younger generation. And it's what makes the Negro Leagues so prolific — the stories that we share. Buck was probably the greatest storyteller of all time, and I've tried to take the baton from him. People have continued to gravitate to these stories. Is there a secret to finding that authenticity? I think it becomes a part of who you are. Because, as a baseball fan, I was blown away by how little I knew about this history. I just wanted to learn as much as I could, and I didn't want to keep it to myself. I wanted everyone else to feel the same way that I felt about it. And once I met those players like Buck, I was hooked like anyone else would be. It's such an honor to carry on for them. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Andy Kuno / San Francisco Giants / Getty Images)
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
K.C. sports teams send well wishes to Chiefs ahead of Super Bowl LIX
The Kansas City Chiefs are hours away from taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, and excitement in the region is growing. Ahead of Sunday's big game, local teams from around the metro area wished the Chiefs luck ahead of their attempt to make history and win a third-straight Super Bowl title. No team in NFL history has ever completed a championship three-peat, and the challenge of achieving such an accomplishment is not one to be taken lightly. Though no team in the Kansas City area has won three straight title games in the modern era, teams such as the Kansas City Royals, University of Kansas basketball, Sporting KC, and Kansas City Monarchs have all won titles in their respective sports and will be cheering on the Chiefs with enthusiasm during Super Bowl LIX. All of KC is with you!Go make some history, @Chiefs! — Kansas City Royals (@Royals) February 9, 2025 Super Bowl Sunday 🏆 Bring it back home, @Chiefs — Kansas Football (@KU_Football) February 9, 2025 Good luck to our guy @fanudike and the @Chiefs — K-State Football (@KStateFB) February 9, 2025 It's a great day to make history. Good luck, @Chiefs! #SportingKC | #ChiefsKingdom — Sporting Kansas City (@SportingKC) February 9, 2025 HISTORY. IS. luck in #SBLIX, @Chiefs‼️ — KC Current (@thekccurrent) February 9, 2025 Good luck to the @Chiefs in #SuperBowlLIX. Make history and get that 3rd consecutive Lombardi.#MonarchsRule | #ChiefsKingdom — Kansas City Monarchs (@kscitymonarchs) February 9, 2025 KC's ready for Super Bowl LIX! Go make history, @Chiefs ‼️🙌🏼 — Kansas City Mavericks (@kc_mavericks) February 9, 2025 This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: K.C. sports teams send well wishes to Chiefs ahead of Super Bowl LIX
