Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Looking to Expand!

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City is looking to expand. The museum, which was been in its current location since 1997, is seeking to build an interactive campus complete with the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center and a brand new, state of the art museum.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City is looking to expand!

Straight from the press release from the museum:

From a one room office to America’s National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The journey, like the history we preserve, has been an amazing but improbable one! Few gave the NLBM any chance of succeeding. But a dedicated group of Negro Leaguers, led by the late, great Buck O’Neil, stayed steadfast in their belief that this story of triumph over adversity had to be preserved and celebrated. So they dug into their own pockets and took turns paying the monthly rent to keep the office open and with it our hopes and dreams of building a facility that would pay rightful tribute to a once ignored chapter of baseball and Americana.

In 1997, that dream became a reality when the NLBM moved into its new 10,000 square-foot home at Historic 18th & Vine. Today, over two million visitors have learned about and been inspired by the men and women whose passion for America’s national pastime changed the game and America too.

Over the course of three decades the NLBM has grown from an idea into one of the most important cultural facilities in the world. It’s a powerful civil rights and social justice museum seen through the lens of baseball that continues to foster a greater understanding of the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Negro Leagues fueled the dreams of African American and Hispanic athletes who refused to accept the notion that they were unfit to “play ball!”

We’re dreaming again. This time, of building the nation’s only Negro Leagues campus. An international hub for Negro Leagues and social history. A transformative complex featuring the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center and a brand new, state of the art museum.

Why? So that future generations will be inspired by those who dared to dream. It’s our PITCH FOR THE FUTURE!

You can donate online to the mission here. 

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