Qualla: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Walk onto the Field of Legends and Satchel Paige is still on the mound. Josh Gibson crouches behind the plate. Cool Papa Bell ranges center field. They are bronze now, twelve nearly life-sized statues frozen in position on a baseball diamond at the heart of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. The field is separated from visitors by chicken wire at the museum's entrance and accessible only after completing the full chronological tour -- a deliberate design choice that makes you earn your way to the legends. Founded in 1990 in the historic 18th & Vine District, the hub of African-American cultural activity in Kansas City during the first half of the twentieth century, the NLBM shares its building with the American Jazz Museum. The pairing is apt. Both institutions preserve art forms that thrived in this neighborhood when mainstream America was not paying attention.

Image: User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Born from Memory

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The museum was founded by a group that included former Kansas City Monarchs outfielder Alfred 'Slick' Surratt, legendary first baseman and manager Buck O'Neil, researcher Larry Lester, historian Phil S. Dixon, and community leader Horace Peterson. It started in a single-room offi...

Image: User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: The Field of Legends

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The museum's centerpiece is an indoor baseball diamond adorned with bronze statues of twelve giants of the Negro leagues. Gibson, 'the Black Babe Ruth,' who allegedly hit over 80 home runs in a single season, crouches behind the plate. Buck Leonard, his teammate on the Homestead ...

Image: User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: From the Monarchs to Jackie Robinson

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. The museum chronologically traces the Negro leagues from the founding of the Negro National League in 1920 through the Negro American League's final season in 1962. The walls are lined with photographs of players, owners, and officials. Game-worn uniforms, cleats, and gloves sit ...

Image: User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Geddy Lee's Baseballs and the Living Legacy

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. On June 5, 2008, Rush bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee donated nearly 200 autographed baseballs to the museum -- one of the largest single donations the NLBM had ever received. The signatures include Hank Aaron, Cool Papa Bell, and Lionel Hampton. The gift was a reflection of the m...

Image: User SakuraAvalon86 on en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0