Seth Udinski, FISM News
On Sunday, two stars from the old Negro Leagues of baseball were chosen to join the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
The Negro Leagues existed simultaneously alongside Major League Baseball from the mid-19th century until the 1950s as the only allowable professional league for black players during the years of legal racial segregation in America following the Civil War.
The two players were Buck O’Neil and Bud Fowler. O’Neil was universally remembered and beloved as a gentleman of the game who spent 10 seasons in the league with the Kansas City Monarchs and Memphis Red Sox in the 1940s and 50s. He also helped institute the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas City.
Well-deserved and long overdue.
Congratulations to the late Buck O'Neil on his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame! pic.twitter.com/QGhl0m5Kn3
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) December 5, 2021
His impact was not limited to the Negro Leagues. He served as the first black coach in Major League history, coaching the Chicago Cubs. In his old age, O’Neil was also featured as a special guest on the popular PBS historical documentary Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns. O’Neil passed away in 2006 one month shy of his 95th birthday.
Fowler played in a much earlier era than O’Neil, regarded by many as the first true high-profile African American professional baseball player. He starred on numerous teams before he passed away in 1913.
These two men, along with Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Mini Minosa, and Tony Oliva, will officially be inducted in Cooperstown on July 24, 2022 as the Hall of Fame Class of 2022.