KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With an off day in Kansas City sooner than the Astros opened a sequence towards the Royals, supervisor Dusty Baker seized a chance.
Baker, along side a small staff of Astros gamers and workforce, visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the place they gained a excursion from museum president Bob Kendrick. It’s a shuttle Baker stated he tries to make “whenever I can” when in Kansas City. Players who joined the Thursday visit incorporated rookie pitchers J.P. France and Hunter Brown, first baseman Jon Singleton, shortstop Jeremy Peña and reliever Joel Kuhnel.
“I’m trying to school some of the younger guys,” Baker stated. “Cause some of the younger guys we haven’t done a very good job of educating on the history of baseball. Not just Negro Leagues guys but just American players, and some of the Latin guys.”
Singleton, the 31-year-old first baseman, stated it used to be his first visit to the museum. He famous the breadth of memorabilia there and the historical past that is going again a century. Peña stated he wasn’t ready to wait with an Astros staff on ultimate season’s shuttle to Kansas City and the visit used to be “awesome. Some of the players — like ‘Cool Papa’ Bell, that’s got to be the best name in the league. But learning about their story and the museum keeping their story alive, it’s cool.”
For Baker, visiting the museum invokes private reminiscences. During a existence in baseball, Baker performed with or got here to understand various males who performed in the Negro Leagues. Baker started his occupation in Atlanta as a teammate of Hank Aaron, who in brief performed in the Negro American League previous to signing with the then-Boston Braves. Later with the Dodgers, Baker met Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella and Jim Gilliam, and recalled going with Gilliam to visit Bell on the latter’s house in St. Louis.
One factor Baker knew little of, he stated, used to be the historical past of the Houston Eagles. The Eagles moved from Newark, N.J., to Houston in 1949, two years after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s colour barrier, to grow to be the primary Texas staff in the Negro Leagues. After lower than two seasons in Houston, the Eagles moved to New Orleans for one season.
Baker stated he knew of the Newark Eagles, whose famous person gamers incorporated Monte Irvin and Larry Doby, and realized of the staff’s years in Houston from Kendrick, who spoke to the Astros about that historical past previous to Saturday’s recreation at Kauffman Stadium.
Saturday, the Astros wore Houston Eagles throwback street grey uniforms for his or her recreation towards the Royals, who wore Kansas City Monarchs house uniforms, in a “Salute to the Negro Leagues” recreation. Jerseys and different apparatus from the sport might be auctioned with proceeds reaping benefits the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
Baker recalled being at such tribute video games in the previous and seeing former Negro Leagues gamers like Bell and Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe in attendance.
“I was talking to ‘Double Duty’ about actual double duty, he would catch the first game and then pitch the second game,” Baker stated. “‘Cool Papa’ Bell and whoever was still leaving at that time would come around. But they’re disappearing. There’s a special spot in heaven for those guys.”
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