Ban Johnson Collegiate League players learn from Bob Kendrick at NLBM: ‘Changed the game’

Nothing quite prepares one for what’s in store at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the historic 18th & Vine district.

University of Northwestern Ohio baseball player Darius Freeman didn’t know what to expect upon entry on Wednesday, his first time attending the museum. His goals were to have an open mindset and learn something new.

But by the end of the tour, led by suited-and-booted museum president Bob Kendrick, Freeman said he learned a lot and described the experience as a must-see.

“You want to learn about the history of baseball? This is the perfect spot for it,” Freeman said. “Learning about the Negro Leagues, how it came about, what they went through, how it changed the game for multiple cultures around the world is crazy.”

Freeman played in the Ban Johnson Collegiate League this summer, a summer baseball program in the greater Kansas City Area since 1927 for players up to the age of 23. Freeman, the league’s reigning All-Star Game MVP, was accompanied by other BJCL players on the tour.

And to make sure the group gained the full experience of the museum and turned over every possible stone, Kendrick was able to guide them through the story-filled “piece of history.”

“To see their reactions to the story, it never gets old,” Kendrick said. “Every time I get an opportunity to walk through this museum with a young athlete, doesn’t matter whether he’s a major league athlete, high school, college athlete, I just so much enjoy sharing the story and the histories of the Negro Leagues.”

Benedictine College baseball player Joe Lopez initially thought the museum was super small as he approached the tour’s first pit stop. The compact space didn’t have many artifacts, only a human-sized bronze statue of the museum’s founder and 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Buck O’Neil, where his face looked the opposite way of the group.

But even in this tight space, Kendrick emphasized its correlation to what was ahead: what O’Neil was looking at and the chicken wire behind him.

As the group half-circled around Kendrick, they listened to his words while their eyes locked in on the fence behind the storyteller. It was a snapshot of the museum’s final stop of the tour, the Field of Legends — a baseball diamond full of statues of Negro Leagues greats, like the one of O’Neil in front of them.

Kendrick said the chicken wire’s purpose is to make visitors feel “remotely” segregated — an aspect Negro Leagues players endured — and “earn that right” of seeing the field by learning their stories.

“It is important for them to understand that life hasn’t always been as good for some of its citizens as it is today,” Kendrick said. “When they understand the backdrop in which these athletes had to play the game ... it serves as a tool of inspiration for everyone who encounters it.”

Following the introduction, Kendrick guided the group through the museum, pinpointing different artifacts, replaying past conversations with players and other facts unknown to most. This ranged from Jackie Robinson’s favorite barbecue spot in the city to how Negro Leagues owner Andrew “Rube” Foster was respected but a tyrant — Freeman’s favorite part of the tour.

With so much information on display, Lopez expressed how the stories put him in awe. He added that Kendrick’s greatness at storytelling helped him connect to the history on display.

After the tour, Lopez said that he would recommend anybody to come, especially if they’re a fan of the sport.

“The biggest thing that stood out to me was definitely just all the history that is just kind of unknown,” Lopez said. “The stuff they did that the MLB took, like the night games for example, like the Negro Leagues started that.”

Freeman added that the museum resonated with him outside of just baseball — on a personal level. As a young Black athlete, he said Kendrick’s emphasis on segregation was something he never really thought about. On top of that, throughout the tour, he began to recognize that the players didn’t play for fame. They played because “they loved the game for what the game was.”

Although the tour is plenty educational, Kendrick said what hits home is the inspirational piece that comes along with the history. He said it makes players, especially those currently in MLB, appreciate what they have even more.

O’Neil, who passed away in October of 2006, handed the baton down to Kendrick when it came to sharing these stories, something Kendrick described as a thing he loves to do and never gets old. And he said that with so many of these stories built off triumph and adversity, they are as meaningful now more than ever.

“Every time I tell those stories I feel like I’m keeping (O’Neil) alive in my heart and in my mind,” Kendrick said. “To be able to share his museum with them, it just means a great deal to not only me, but all of us at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.”

The Star’s Mason Young also contributed to this story.