The Kansas City Chiefs open their season next weekend, and expectations couldn’t be much higher. With Patrick Mahomes set for a an encore and what appears to be an improved defense, the Chiefs were installed as 6-1 favorites (tied with New England) to win the Super Bowl.

Should the Chiefs win the ultimate prize, it would certainly make 2019 one of the greatest years in Kansas City sports history. But not the greatest. The dismal season of the Royals has already eliminated that possibility.

It hasn’t happened often that both the Royals and Chiefs (and others in Kansas City) have simultaneously achieved at a high level. With the Chiefs entering 2019 with such lofty expectations, and another forgettable season winding down for the Royals, now is a good time to look back at the greatest years in sports in Kansas City.

The Best Season Ever: 2015, or 1969?

1) 2015 narrowly takes the prize as the best year of sports in Kansas City, and it’s because of the cumulative achievements of all the city’s teams. The Royals reached the pinnacle after a quick and enjoyable climb. Fans fell in love with the players. And the players embraced the fan base in a manner rarely seen. They won the World Series in thrilling fashion, and then capped it off with an unforgettable parade through downtown.

Remarkably, 2015 is the only time that both the Royals and Chiefs reached the playoffs in the same year. The Chiefs finished 11-5, and won their first playoff game in 22 years.

As if 2015 could have been any more special, Sporting KC claimed the U.S. Open Cup.

2) 1969 comes in a close second, but saw perhaps the most historically significant event in Kansas City sports history. The American Football League (AFL) – the product of years of labor and sacrifice by Lamar Hunt – had succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. The league had proved the equivalent of the NFL and forced a merger that would be fully realized in 1970. So 1969 would be the last year of Hunt’s creation. Fittingly, his Chiefs emerged as the champions of the AFL to face the vaunted Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Some still doubted the AFL could match the older league. Those doubts were finally put to rest. The Chiefs beat the NFL champion in convincing fashion to win the last game played by an AFL team. Hunt’s dream was fully realized. Nine members of that 1969 team, including Hunt and coach Hank Stram, are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 1969 still stands as the Chiefs’ lone Super Bowl victory.

Earlier that summer, the Royals were birthed to replace the despised Kansas City A’s, who moved to Oakland after the 1967 season. Though the Royals won just 69 games, they were the best of the year’s four expansion teams and proved to be a scrappy and respectable bunch that reinvigorated enthusiasm for baseball in the city.

The Other Major Championships: 1985 and 1966

3) 1985 brought the Royals’ first World Series victory. After years of near misses by better iterations of the club, the 1985 Royals finally broke through. An aging team featuring George Brett, Willie Wilson, Frank White and Hal McRae was bolstered just in time by a youthful pitching staff featuring Bret Saberhagen. They won the American League West, slipped past the Toronto Blue Jays, and then shocked the St. Louis Cardinals in the championship. 1985 finishes a distant third behind 2015 and 1969 not just because the Chiefs were 6-10 that year, but because the Kansas City Kings basketball team abandoned the city for Sacramento earlier that spring.

4) 1966 isn’t remembered prominently by Kansas Citians, but it saw the Chiefs win their other AFL championship. (The club also technically won a championship 1962 as the Dallas Texans.) It ranks a distant fourth because the Chiefs were whipped in the first Super Bowl by the NFL powerhouse Green Bay Packers. An above-average season by the moribund A’s made the summer tolerable for baseball fans.

The Near Misses:

5) 1980 saw the Royals reach the Fall Classic and thrilled fans with one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the city. Brett’s historic pursuit of a .400 batting average gave fans something to follow daily. The team recorded its second highest win total in history, only to suffer a bitter loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.

In one of the best all-around years in Kansas City sports, the Kings reached the playoffs by notching their second best record while based in Kansas City, and the Chiefs finished a respectable 8-8 after six straight losing seasons.

6) 2014 animated a new generation of Royals fans. For anyone under about 35 years of age, playoff baseball in Kansas City was unknown. That year the nation was introduced to a lovable cast that included names like Perez, Hosmer, Cain, Moustakas and Gordon. An unforgettable Wild Card upset epitomized the spirit of the team. The team battled to the last out of the seventh game of a thrilling World Series.

Sadly, the Chiefs took a step back after a strong 2013 season, missing the playoffs.

7) 1971 was the last hurrah for the Chiefs that emerged from the AFL. Led by Len Dawson, Otis Taylor and a legendary defense, the Chiefs lost an unforgettable home playoff game against the Miami Dolphins on Christmas Day that was the NFL’s first ever double-overtime. It is still known as the NFL’s longest game. Hunt and Stram’s Chiefs wouldn’t be the same after that devastation.

But with one team fading, the city’s other team was rocketing to the top. In just their third season, the Royals went 85-76 and promised that greatness was to come. No one expected an expansion team to be this good this soon.

8) 1993 will always be remembered as the year of Montana Magic. Joe Montana, shockingly ushered out of San Francisco, where he had been the best quarterback in the game for more than a decade, rode into Kansas City to try to work his magic one more time. The Chiefs had been knocking at the door for several years, but needed something to put them over the top. Montana nearly did the trick. The Chiefs won a division title for the first time in 22 years, won two playoff games, and fell just one loss short of the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, the 1993 Royals went 84-78. It was the last good Royals team before they fell off the cliff for the next couple of decades.

9) 2013 saw Sporting KC win the MLS Cup Championship, while the Royals learned to win again. The Royals improved by a surprising 14 games in the standings to finish 86-76 – their first winning season in a decade. They stayed in the playoff hunt until the final weekend of the season. Perhaps not a lot of people were watching, but the foundation was laid for back-to-back World Series runs.

The Chiefs also learned to win again under the guidance of first-year coach Andy Reid. The Chiefs rocketed from last in the league at 2-14 to the playoffs with an 11-5 record.

10) 1984 saw the Royals come just one series away from the World Series, continuing their run as one of the best teams in baseball. The Kings also made the playoffs, although they were just 38-44 in the regular season. The Chiefs went 8-8.

Honorable Mention:

The 1942 Negro League Monarchs were perhaps the best team to ever make Kansas City home. But with World War II underway, and with white fans and media largely indifferent, unfortunately not a lot of people saw it. The Monarchs, who whipped the Homestead Grays in the Negro World Series, featured Baseball Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith and Willard Brown, plus Buck O’Neil and numerous other Negro League legends. With no major football or basketball teams in the city at the time, Kansas City was considered a baseball town. And with only the white minor league Kansas City Blues for competition, the Monarchs ruled Kansas City and the entire Midwest.

Perhaps no city in the United States is more closely connected to Negro League baseball than Kansas City. Fittingly, the Kansas City Royals dedicate one game each season to celebrate the legacy of baseball played by non-white players prior to integration in 1947.

When the Royals host Minnesota on Sunday, they will do so in Kansas City Monarchs uniforms, pitted against the St. Paul Gophers in the annual Salute to the Negro Leagues.

New to the Royals this season, outfielder Billy Hamilton recognizes the importance of Negro League baseball to Kansas City, and is happy for the chance to celebrate it.

“The Negro League celebration is just special to the African American guys who are playing baseball today, to show that we’re still supporting (its memory),” Hamilton said. “What they did to give us the chance to play the game of baseball is a beautiful thing.

“It’s awesome to put on the type of uniform they used to wear, to see what the game looked like back in the day,” the centerfielder said. “I’m so glad that baseball is doing that for a lot more teams. It seemed like for a while it was just a couple of teams doing it. But now it seems like more teams around the league are getting into it.”

From the 1880s until 1947, segregation restricted the major leagues solely to light-skinned players. Due to the color barrier, Negro League teams provided an alternative for non-whites.

The Kansas City and Topeka areas were a hotbed for baseball amongst the African-American community for more than half a century. In fact, the Topeka Giants were celebrated as the “Black Champions of the West” in 1906, and the Kansas City Giants were named the “Colored Champions of 1909.”

Arguably the most important singular event in segregated baseball occurred at the Paseo YMCA in 1920, when eight owners gathered to form the Negro National League, which included the Kansas City Monarchs. The formation of a league brought new legitimacy to the brand of baseball played by non-whites.

From 1920 to 1965, the Monarchs were the most consistently competitive, profitable and well-known of the Negro League franchises. They crisscrossed the nation with players like Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neill, and were the team that launched Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier shortly after World War II.

Similar to African-Americans, dark-skinned Hispanic players were barred from the major leagues prior to 1947, a fact not lost on Puerto Rican native Jorge Lopez. It is estimated that up to 20 percent of Negro League players were from outside the U.S.

“It’s an honor to remember those Negro Leaguers and what they did for us,” the 26-year-old pitcher said. “We have a lot of respect for them and what they went through. I know the hard time they (endured) to play the game.”

The major leagues gradually accepted more and more non-whites, and today the game is brimming with players from Latin America. 2017 saw the highest percentage of non-white players in major league history at 42.5 percent. Of that number, 31.9 percent were categorized as Latin American.

Lopez said he can’t imagine growing up prior to integration and being told that he could not play in the major leagues. But he guessed that Latin Americans at that time were probably appreciative of the opportunity the Negro Leagues presented.

“It had to be weird to be told that,” Lopez said. “I couldn’t tell (how I would feel about it) because I didn’t grow up with that. It had to be so tough. Maybe Latin Americans saw it in a positive way, to have the chance to come to the United States and play, and make the most of it.

“But I’m so thankful that things seem to be getting better with every generation. When you hear about what that was like, it just makes you thankful things are so much better. And so you just appreciate what they did. So it’s an honor to play now and to show our appreciation.”

Fans are encouraged to suit up too. Sunday games were the biggest and best attended of the week for Negro League clubs, and fans often came straight from church, dressed in their Sunday best. Kauffman Stadium will host some nattily dressed guests again this year, as “Dressed to the Nines” has officially become a part of the annual celebration.

The short, baggy pants and the billowy jerseys with the Monarchs’ iconic KC logo on the chest will be auctioned to raise money for Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The first 10,000 fans will receive a Kansas City Monarchs Short Bill Cap.

The Royals/Monarchs’ opponent this Sunday, the St. Paul Gophers, was an all-black barnstorming unit from 1907 to 1916. For some of the period, they went by the name St. Paul Colored Gophers, Twin City Gophers, and Minneapolis Gophers.

The 2019 season has been a forgettable one in Kansas City. The game with Minnesota on Sunday, however, provides a reminder of an even more important struggle than that on the field. For one day, the Royals become the Monarchs, and win or lose, they play for something truly historic.

…President Obama has an appreciation of the men who battled for the integration of baseball. And in fact, Obama said of two Negro League veterans at a fundraising event in 2010: “I would not be here if it were not for Jackie (Robinson) and it were not for Don Newcombe.”

Obama went out of his way at the event to meet Newcombe, who followed closely behind Robinson when blacks broke into the major leagues. After two seasons with the Newark Eagles, Newcombe signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers in 1946, before Robinson had played a game in Brooklyn. Showing his gratitude for the groundbreaking pitcher, the president called the former MVP “my hall of famer,” even though Newcombe is not in fact enshrined in Cooperstown.

But Obama was not the only groundbreaking African American in the public sector to pay the ultimate compliment to Newcombe.

“In 1968, Martin (Luther King) had dinner at my house with my family,” Newcombe told Cal Fussman in After Jackie. “This was 28 days before he was assassinated. He said to me, ‘Don, I don’t know what I would’ve done without you guys setting up the minds of people for change. You, Jackie and Roy (Campanella) will never know how easy you made it for me to do my job.’”

Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, accompanied Posnanski to reminisce about Buck O’Neil and the writing of the book. They shared some great stories and a few interesting insights, the most interesting being about the vote that excluded O’Neil from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Both Posnanski and Kendrick said they believe another vote may come, possibly within the next few years, that would this time enshrine O’Neil into Cooperstown. They didn’t elaborate on where they are getting this information, but they weren’t afraid to say they believe this will happen.

They shared about how they heard of O’Neil’s passing, and about their responsibilities immediately following. They were both called upon to perform official tasks, which required that they hold back their personal emotions for a few hours. They said holding it together was difficult, but that each cried later at the loss of their friend.

I was blessed to meet Mr. Posnanski and to ask him a little about his writing. I plan to try to read some of his other books, including his most recent look at the life and legacy of Harry Houdini. The event also brought together many baseball researchers, writers and enthusiasts from the area, making it a great for me for that reason as well.

But what I’ve found in reading dozens of books and hundreds of articles on the subject is that, thanks to the tireless work of capable historians, there’s a whole lot more truth known than you might ever have guessed. The truth doesn’t remove all of the romance attached to black baseball, but there is certainly enough of it to refute blatant falsehoods.

In one chapter of The Soul of Baseball, while attending a funeral Buck O’Neil meets a man from the Chicago area who claims to be a former Negro League player named Johnny Washington. Another man at the funeral adamantly protests that this man did not play in the Negro Leagues and in fact may be co-opting the identity of a real Johnny Washington.

The funeral described in the book occurred in 2006. I presumed that research done since the publication of The Soul of Baseball would shine light on the controversy of Johnny Washington. But as it turns out, a lot of work on the subject had already been done.

By 2005 there was no question that the man claiming to be Negro Leaguer Johnny Washington in the book had already been shown to NOT be a relatively well-known player named Johnny Washington. That man’s identity was well known – his death having occurred in 1999. No mystery there.

So the only questions – not clearly defined in the book – are whether there were two Johnny Washingtons playing around 1950, and whether the things the younger Washington claimed about himself are true.

There is no question that an older Johnny Washington played from 1933-1950. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Johnny_Washington_(Negro_Leagues01)

But was there a younger Johnny Washington who had a “real” Negro League career?

A couple of articles written around 2005 claim adamantly that the younger Johnny Washington never played in the Negro Leagues.

From the Chicago Tribune:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-09-16-0509160147-story.html

And from a webpage dedicated to Double Duty Radcliffe:

http://chicagobaseballmuseum.org/double-duty-classic-cell-carries-royal-name-negro-league-history/

But there may be some more recent research to show that a younger Johnny Washington from Chicago did play in the Negro Leagues.

According to Baseball Reference, there was a Johnny Madison Washington who played for the Houston Eagles 1950 – he got a whole two at bats! He was born in 1930, in Chicago, and is still alive according to the page:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?id=74b37fa0

The Johnny Washington in the book would be about the right age and about the right size – listed as 5’11, 170 – to match the one on Baseball Reference.

Now anyone who knows much about the Negro Leagues can tell you a few of things:

1. Baseball Reference only shows league games played in the Negro Leagues
2. players who played in any league games for a Negro League team probably also played in some non-league (often called “barnstorming”) games.
3. if a player reached the Negro American League in 1950, he probably played in some segregated minor-league/developmental-level league games in order to get there. In that person’s mind, those may qualify him as having played in the Negro Leagues.
4. record keeping was always sketchy with the Negro Leagues, and barnstorming games may not have been recorded anywhere

The four factors above do not, however, lend a lot of credibility to the Johnny Washington in The Soul of Baseball. The other articles above state that this Washington laid claim to some very confusing things about himself – that he integrated the Boston Red Sox (impossible), that he was derailed by the Korean War and received Purple Hearts (doubtful), and he played for the 1956 Buffalo Bison (this page shows no Johnny Washington: https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/roster/t-bb10631/y-1956).

Add to that his claims to have played with and against people who have no recollection of him, and this Johnny Washington better not volunteer for any lie detector tests.

But I plan to ask author of The Soul of Baseball Joe Posnanski about this when he visits the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library on Feb. 17. Hopefully he’s learned more about the mystery of Johnny Washington since publication of the book.

Before that, you can join in remembering the men of the Negro Leagues by reading The Soul of Baseball. The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is sponsoring a community read of book, and has dozens of copies available. I will participate in a group discussion of the book on Feb. 16.

In one chapter of The Soul of Baseball by Joe Posnanski, Buck O’Neil spent a day with Monte Irvin. Irvin holds a very unique position in baseball history as the only player to be a full-fledged star in both the Negro Leagues and the integrated major leagues.

As he lamented in the book, Irvin was like so many other Negro Leaguers who despised the date of their birth because they were denied a full career in the major leagues. But Irvin surely understood the importance of his timing, and his place in baseball history. No other player could serve as such a measuring stick of the Negro Leagues and provide a witness to the players he’d played against.

Despite missing two years to World War II, Irvin was elite in the Negro Leagues throughout his 20s. After a short adjustment, he was elite in the majors in his 30s. His successful transition was a testament to what other Negro Leaguers were capable of. And having seen what it took to make it in both environments, Irvin’s testimony about other players carried special weight.

What Irvin could understandably resent was the timing of the war. Not only did service in the European Theater rob him of two seasons during his youth, but it took his sharpness and affected his confidence. According to Cool Papa Bell, before Irvin left for the war in 1943, he was the best player in the Negro Leagues. But an inner-ear condition developed during the war hampered his superb coordination and left him uncertain of his skills. When the Giants and Dodgers reportedly asked how he would like to integrate the major leagues, Irvin declined.

While we are all indebted to Jackie Robinson for leading the integration movement, we are indebted to Monte Irvin for providing the best testament to the general equality of the majors and the Negro Leagues.

If a man 32 years of age with an inner-ear condition and a ton of wear and tear from the Negro League experience and military service can tear up the majors like Monte Irvin did in 1951, then imagine what he could have done in his 20s without a war and segregation to hold him back.

You can join in remembering the men of the Negro Leagues by reading The Soul of Baseball. The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is sponsoring a community read of the book, and has dozens of copies available. I will participate in a group discussion of the book on Feb. 16. Then Posnanski will be at the library on Feb. 17 to talk about O’Neil, the book and his experiences.

An interesting, and sad, conclusion of The Soul of Baseball is the 2006 election of Negro Leaguers to Cooperstown in what certainly appears to be the last attempt by the Hall to induct worthy individuals excluded from the major leagues by segregation.

Author Joe Posnanski was with O’Neil at the moment he learned he’d been left out of the Hall. The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is sponsoring a community read of The Soul of Baseball, and has dozens of copies available. I will participate in a group discussion of the book on Feb. 16. Then author Joe Posnanski will be at the library on Feb. 17 to talk about O’Neil, the book and his experiences.

O’Neil’s case for the Hall was not based on his greatness as a player. He himself admitted that he wasn’t one of the greatest to play in the Negro Leagues. But he was a successful Negro League manager, a pioneer as a scout and coach in the major leagues, and finally a heroic ambassador for pre-integration black baseball. It was his work preaching healing and unity that won over people’s hearts and bolstered his case for the Hall.

In 2006, O’Neil made it through the screening process and the initial vote to reduce the number of candidates. But he fell short in the final vote.

If he were to be inducted in the future, O’Neil’s case would have to receive unique consideration. It would require the voters to consider the sum total of his lifetime achievements.

There are five Negro Leaguers who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame for contributions outside of the field of play. Of those five, four were owners: Effa Manley, Alex Pompez, Cum Posey and J.L. Wilkinson.

The fifth – Sol White – has credentials somewhat similar to O’Neil’s. White was one of the top managers in black baseball early in the 20^th Century. He is best known for writing a book recording the history of black baseball prior to 1907.

But White was also considered one of the best players of his era – approximately 1887 to 1901. Unlike O’Neil, White’s play alone would have merited his consideration for the Hall of Fame.

It is sad that Cooperstown didn’t view the whole of O’Neil’s accomplishments as worthy of inclusion. But to include him would have required quite a diversion from their normal course of only including the very best players.

There are 30 men in the Hall of Fame based almost entirely on their Negro League play. Interestingly, the order in which they were inducted serves as an unofficial ranking, indicating which players voters deemed most deserving:

Satchel Paige – 1971 (played some in the majors, but his induction is almost entirely based on his Negro League career)

Josh Gibson – 1972

Buck Leonard – 1972

Monte Irvin – 1973 (voted in by the special committee on the Negro Leagues and the Pre-Negro Leagues, Irvin is the only man in the Hall of Fame whose merits in the Negro Leagues and the major leagues are essentially equal)

Cool Papa Bell – 1974

Judy Johnson – 1975

Oscar Charleston – 1976

Martin Dihigo – 1977

Pop Lloyd – 1977

Rube Foster – 1981

Ray Dandridge – 1987

Leon Day – 1995

Bill Foster – 1996

Willie Wells – 1997

Bullet Rogan – 1998

Smokey Joe Williams – 1999

Turkey Stearnes – 2000

Hilton Smith – 2001

Ray Brown – 2006

Willard Brown – 2006 (like Paige, he played some in the majors, but his induction is based entirely on his Negro League career)

Andy Cooper – 2006

Frank Grant – 2006

Pete Hill – 2006

Biz Mackey – 2006

Jose Mendez – 2006

Louis Santop – 2006

Mule Suttles – 2006

Ben Taylor – 2006

Cristobal Torriente – 2006

Jud Wilson – 2006

There are six Negro Leaguers in the Hall of Fame for their play in the major leagues:

Jackie Robinson – 1962

Roy Campanella – 1969 (had a relatively significant Negro League career as a young player before coming to the major leagues)

                  Ernie Banks – 1977

Willie Mays – 1979

Hank Aaron – 1982

Larry Doby – 1998 (similar to Campanella, Doby had a relatively significant Negro League career as a young player before coming to the major leagues)

Years ago I was struck by the family lines that connected the Negro Leagues and the major leagues, so I wrote Legacy to tell those stories.

Watching a player named Jerry Hairston, Jr. play sparked a conversation between O’Neil and Posnanski about the number of fathers and sons in the major leagues. It just so happens I was blessed to interview Jerry Hairston, Sr., Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Scott Hairston for Legacy. The Hairstons are one of four families I featured – the others being the Giles, Tiant and Weeks families.

Here is a short excerpt from the Hairston chapter that illustrates the strength of their family bond, which extends from Negro League star Sam Hairston to five ball-playing descendants:

The league that had rejected black players for decades had opened its arms wide by the 1960s, and Sam’s second son, John, was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1965. John would play just three games in the big leagues in 1969, but in doing so became the first African-American father/son duo in big league history.

Sam’s oldest son, Sam, Jr., played one season in the minors in 1966, as did Sam’s much younger brother Jack, who was actually a rookie-ball teammate of nephew Sam, Jr.

Up to that point, the Hairston’s integrated league careers had been short and unremarkable. But in 1973 – 22 years after Sam’s cup of coffee with the White Sox – a Hairston finally earned a long-term spot in the big leagues. Sam’s third son, Jerry, broke in as a 21-year-old outfielder on that same White Sox roster that included Sam for four games. He would play 14 seasons, almost all of them with the White Sox.

“I was very happy to get drafted by the White Sox (in 1970), to get to live out the dream my dad had,” Jerry Hairston Sr. recalled. “It was a real source of pride to follow in his footsteps not only as a player, but to do it in the same organization.

“To play on the same field that he did, and to go to many of the same places that he did and see firsthand where so many of the stories took place that he’d told me growing up… I know he was proud, too.”

Now a third generation of Hairstons is playing in the major leagues that once rejected their grandfather. Jerry’s sons Jerry Hairston Jr. and Scott have had long and successful careers.

The Hairston family has certainly benefited from integration. They’ve come a long ways from the Negro League salaries their grandfather earned. The grandsons have each made several million dollars during their playing careers.

“Baseball has been very good to my family and I am very privileged to have the Hairston name on my back,” said Jerry Hairston Jr. “My brother and I understand what a blessing this opportunity is.”

Jerry Hairston Jr. understands that he grew up with a rare perspective – he is a product of both racist oppression, and social and economic privilege.

“Having a grandfather who (was kept out of the white leagues) because of his color, and then having a father who played in the big leagues for a long time, I was kind of able to see two different sides of the history. I never saw my grandfather play, obviously, but hearing the stories and tracing down the line from my uncles, my father playing, and now me and my brother, I can definitely trace the history of how integration played out.”

“I’m very proud that I’m kind of like the bridge that went all the way from the Negro Leagues to today, and to have my sons carry on that legacy,” said Jerry Hairston Sr. “My father passed that joy of the game on to me and I was able to pass it on in my sons. It’s a special thing that my sons are carrying on what was so important to my father.”

The third generation of Hairstons understand all that has been passed down to them, and the men who made it possible.

“Probably more than most anyone, our family knows how we got where we are and who made it possible,” said Scott Hairston. “From the time I was a kid, this is all I ever wanted to do. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been at the ballpark, watching my dad, and watching guys play, being in the clubhouse. This is all I ever wanted to do, and now I have kids of my own, two boys, and they love baseball, just like I did. That doesn’t just happen by chance. My grandfather loved the game first, and he passed that down to our family. And it was always for the love of the game. It was never about money or showmanship or pride. My grandfather, with all the stories he told… who wouldn’t want to play baseball after hearing all his stories?”

“We’re very proud of who we are,” added Jerry Hairston Jr. “We’re not the Griffeys. We’re not the Bonds. We never were superstars. But we’re guys that loved the game of baseball and worked extremely hard at our craft. We brought our lunch pails to work. Come to work every day, give it everything you have, and hopefully that is enough. That’s basically the legacy of our family.”

The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is sponsoring a community read of The Soul of Baseball, and has dozens of copies available. I will participate in a group discussion of the book on Feb. 16. Then Posnanski will be at the library on Feb. 17 to talk about O’Neil, the book and his experiences.

I wrote a little about his groundbreaking efforts and the impact he had on those who came after him in my book Legacy, including original reflections by MLB coach Eric Young and executive Tyrone Brooks:

Initially, several former Negro League players and managers began scouting black players for major league teams. In 1962, Buck O’Neil became the first black coach on a major league team. But O’Neil spent years before that as a scout, exploiting his familiarity with the Negro Leagues and baseball in the African-American communities. Other great Negro League baseball minds, Quincy Trouppe and Alex Pompez in particular, weathered the changing times by becoming scouts as well.

With white teams suddenly anxious to sign African-American and Latin-American players to bring into their system, it was only natural that they would turn to scouts of color to do the job. There was not only a familiarity with the Negro League system and the players available, but also with African-American and Hispanic culture.

“When you go to scout young players, there has to be a level of trust there,” said coach Eric Young, who played 15 seasons in the major leagues. “Especially (in the days before the draft, when young players signed free-agent contracts), when you’re scouting a young African-American player to take him away from his family and put them out there on their own, there had to be a trust. I’m sure it helped to know that they could go and talk to those kids and the kid could see them like a family member and trust them. Those scouts could not only read talent, they could get inside the kids’ head and know what they needed to succeed.”

They labored for years before they were allowed to coach in a big league dugout, but O’Neil, Pompez and others faithfully proved capable in the one role they were permitted.

Tyrone Brooks, a baseball executive and former scout, understands how much he owes to the men who paved the way for African Americans like himself. He described spending time with O’Neil, learning about scouting from the man who signed Ernie Banks and Lou Brock.

“We were just holding back tears trying not to break down crying as we listened to Buck’s stories and understood what he did to provide opportunities for those of us who came after him,” recalled Brooks.

After O’Neil became the first African American hired as a coach in 1962, the number grew very slowly. What resulted, sadly, was that a generation of great baseball minds was never mined from the Negro Leagues. Some of the style and strategy of the Negro Leagues crept into the majors. But the masterminds of the Negro Leagues were left behind.

“For them to not get a chance to go on and share what they knew with the white leagues, and maybe to improve it – that was a loss at that point in time,” said Young. “I wouldn’t say that all that knowledge was lost. Those Negro League coaches got the chance to pass their knowledge on to a lot of young players who then crossed over to the big leagues. But there were a lot of great baseball minds that didn’t get (appreciated).

The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is sponsoring a community read of The Soul of Baseball. Pick up a copy and look for events to discuss the book together. If you don’t live in Topeka, write any comments about O’Neil and the book you would like in this blog.

I get the feeling there wasn’t a lot going on there when I was growing up during the 1970s and 1980s. But a revitalization effort and the birth of the baseball museum in the 1990s have made it a must-see in the city.

But as great a place as it is to visit as a tourist now, you get the clear indication that it’s nothing compared to what it once was. In The Soul of Baseball, about Kansas Citian Buck O’Neil, Joe Posnanski says so. Much as the historian in me treasures relics from the past, the jazz and baseball fan can’t escape the sense of emptiness that comes from thinking what this area must have been like at its most glorious peak. When you consider how hard it is to interest celebrities in the Midwest in this day and age, it’s nearly unfathomable that Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie and Joe Louis and Satchel Paige might all be found hanging out at one time in this vibrant hub.

It was just block or so from this epicenter that the Negro National League was formed in 1920, at the Paseo YMCA, which still stands and bears a giant mural of Buck O’Neil on the side.

I’m sure it was sad to O’Neil to see a place so important to blacks in Kansas City undergo such a decline. I know it’s sad to me, but I’m so glad that I can at least try to imagine what it once was. If you haven’t ever been, take a day to go visit the museums, get some food and take in some music. Then try to imagine a throng of people including Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Josh Gibson hanging out on the streets and in the clubs.

The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is sponsoring a community read of The Soul of Baseball. Pick up a copy and look for events to discuss the book together. If you don’t live in Topeka, write any comments about O’Neil and the book you would like in this blog.