History of Negro League shows love of the game, museum’s president says
Bob Kendrick, president/CEO of the Negro League Baseball Museum, spoke Saturday at a Gateway Community Association event at Langston Elementary Leadership Academy held in conjunction with Hot Springs Baseball Weekend.
Kendrick, who has served as president of the museum, located in Kansas City, Mo., since 2011, presented “The Hot Springs Negro League Spring Training Story” at the free event.
“Hot Springs has a tremendous connection to this story of the Negro League because of spring training. The Major League has always been kind of celebrated for spring training here in the Springs, but you really didn’t hear as much about the Negro League who did the exact same thing,” Kendrick said.
Amy Thomason, who took care
of the late William “Youngblood” McCrary, called Kendrick to ask him if he would consider being the guest speaker for the baseball festival and Gateway’s event.
“I needed to find a way to do it. We did some juggling around my schedule and was able to get in here. Every time I get a chance to talk to an audience, it does not matter where it is, about the history of the Negro League that is always exciting,” Kendrick said.
“I don’t care how many people are in attendance; it could be 2,000, it could be two, it does not really matter because what you want to do is help impart how significant these stories are, and you never know when your next donor is coming from,” he said.
Kendrick said the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was created to preserve and celebrate a rich history of African American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America.
Kendrick was able to talk to the Hot Springs World Class High School baseball team, he said, noting his hope is the team got out of his visit the same thing his young Major Leaguers get, which is the “love of the game.”
“You play this game because you love it, but there is no greater example of love of the game (than) when you examine the history of the Negro League. They had to love it in order to endure the things that they had to endure,” Kendrick said.
He said the Negro Leagues help this generation understand the significant contributions of Black and brown to the sport, noting that it previously had been lost.
“It’s important that people also understand that this story is also about the Hispanic athletes because
they (didn’t) play in the major leagues either if it (was) not for those who played in the Negro Leagues and so when they played baseball in this country they played in the Negro Leagues,” Kendrick said.
“This story is all-inclusive, it is very much all-inclusive, and I think that it is important for people to understand. We have a proud legacy in this sport. We want people to understand their place in this game, and hopefully, they’ll use this inspiration to go on and hopefully want to pursue opportunities, not just playing the game, but also being involved in the game,” he said.