Crying For Ol’ Buck
During the fourth quarter of the Sunday Night Football game between the Kansas Chiefs and the Denver Broncos on December 5, 2021, the Kansas City Chiefs recognized Kansas City Monarchs legend Buck O’Neil for his long overdue induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which had been announced just hours earlier. From the crowd reaction, you would’ve thought the Chiefs scored a touchdown.
Published December 6, 2021
“Don’t cry for me … If I’m a Hall of Famer in your eyes, that’s all that matters to me. Just keep on lovin’ ol’ Buck!”
I have a confession to make. I’ve been shedding some tears for ol’ Buck.
I will never forget where I was when I got the news. I was standing in the parking lot at Arrowhead Stadium prior to yesterday’s Sunday Night Football game between the Chiefs and the Denver Broncos with my brother Ryan. I was constantly checking Twitter, trying to get signal on my phone in the crowded lots, hoping that news would come that earlier this year I never believed possible. Then Ryan said the magic words, “Devan, Buck got in!”
I tried to scream but there was no sound, just an inaudible whoop. I pumped my fist into the air and suddenly, I felt warm. The December air was not as chilly as it once was as goosebumps covered my buddy. And then, unexpectedly, my eyes welled up and the tears came. I stepped away from tailgating the Chiefs’ game to dry my face.
Buck had always said not to weep for him, but how could I not? I never thought this day would come.
“We were privileged to be on the planet at the same time [Buck O’Neil] was.”
John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil was born in Sarasota, Florida in 1911. As a teenager, he played baseball and football in Jacksonville, Florida before leaving school to barnstorm professionally. His Negro Leagues career in earnest began in 1937 when he signed with the Memphis Red Sox and a year later he was traded to the Kansas City Monarchs. As a member of the Monarchs, he won two Negro American League batting titles and led the Monarchs to four titles including the 1942 Negro League World Series. In 1948, he became the team’s manager leading them to two more titles in the early 1950s. In 1955, he joined the Chicago Cubs as a scout and in 1962, the Cubs made O’Neil the first black coach in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. O’Neil was responsible for the Cubs signing the most iconic player in club history, Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks, and was credited with discovering Hall of Famers Lou Brock, Billy Williams, and Lee Smith. In 1988, O’Neil returned to KC and joined the Kansas City Royals as a scout where he was named “Midwest Scout of the Year” by Major League Baseball. Of course, his greatest contribution to the game came with the establishment of the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri in 1990.
In 2001, it was announced that Major League Baseball would convene a special committee to research and evaluate the contributions of Negro League players, coaches, scouts, and owners over the course of the next five years. This period would be followed by a special vote on whether or not to induct those contributors. It was billed as one vote for all time, either you would be inducted or you would not, and never be eligible again. During the 90s and early 2000s, O’Neil tirelessly campaigned for a number of those on the ballot and several who were not. When the final vote came in March of 2006, 17 men and women had been chosen for induction and, sadly, Buck O’Neil was not among them. He would pass away later that same year.
The day before O’Neil’s induction, I took some first timers to the Negro League Baseball Museum and finally added the ‘42 Monarchs cap to my collection. A hat that was apparently O’Neil’s favorite.
Earlier this year, in a piece titled “Just A Bit Outside”, I wrote about the legendary Kansas City Monarchs skipper and his contributions to the game of baseball as a player, coach, manager, scout, and ambassador. I wrote about what he meant to this city, our country, and society as a whole. In making Buck’s case for the Hall of Fame, I said, “Even in memoriam, O’Neil is so close to being a Hall of Famer, but oh, so far away. That is the legacy of Buck O’Neil. Just a step away from the Majors, just a vote away from Cooperstown, but in Kansas City, never far at all from our hearts.” I aptly titled my piece “Just a Bit Outside” because sadly, I believed that is where Buck would always be in regard to the Hall. Based on what we had been told, I believed that 2006 had been Buck’s only shot. After nearly 15 years of hoping that the MLB would right this wrong, even I began to lose hope.
Then, something changed. In December of 2020, Major League Baseball announced they would be reclassifying the Negro Leagues - seven different leagues that played between 1920 and 1948 - as Major League Baseball and adding the statistics of nearly 3,400 Negro Leaguers to their record books. This move was announced as “correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history.” While Negro Leaguers had been inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame, most notably a group of 17 selected via a special vote in 2006, Major League Baseball, with records dating back to 1876, had never previously considered the leagues themselves a “Major League”.
Last month, on November 5, 2021, (just over fifteen years since the passing of Buck O’Neil), the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced a ten person ballot that would be considered by its Early Baseball Era Committee and Golden Days Era Committee during a special vote at the upcoming Winter Meetings. Among the names being considered by the Early Baseball Era Committee was one John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil. Needing 75% of the votes from the 16-person committee (12 votes), Buck O’Neil received 13. O’Neil joins White Sox legend Minnie Minoso, Dodgers great Gil Hodges, Minnesota Twins’ teammates Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat, and perhaps the first black professional baseball player, Bud Fowler as members of the Class of 2022. Of the six inductees, only Oliva and Kaat are still living.
Buck O’Neil often liked to quip that he was “right on time”. Sadly, and unastonishingly, the Baseball Hall of Fame was not. The Hall was not on time for Buck O’Neil, nor were they on time for “The Cuban Comet”, Minnie Minoso, who passed away in 2015. All six of these inductees should have been inducted decades ago but for some reason or another, the Hall simply refused to act. I am grateful that they were on time for Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva, both age 83. If you have the opportunity to watch this video of Tony Oliva getting the call, your heart will just melt. I can only imagine what Buck’s induction would have been like. Luckily, we at least know what it’s like for him to be a part of induction day in Cooperstown.
In 2006, Buck O’Neil spoke on behalf of the 17 men and women inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of a special vote. During that fateful vote, O’Neil fell just short of enshrinement.
After the results of that fateful vote in 2006, O’Neil famously volunteered to speak on behalf of these 17 men and women who got in, even though he had been snubbed by the Baseball Hall of Fame. I was always floored by the way this man carried himself those final seven months of his life after he fell just shy of Hall of Fame enshrinement. I will never stop being amazed by the grace and dignity of John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil. I will never fully fathom the depth of his understanding or the strength of his character. A source of seemingly endless benevolence, O’Neil was just happy for the chance to be considered and to be a part of the conversation. After being snubbed in 2006, O’Neil was not among those angry about his exclusion, “You know, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get in, but I think the people that was on that committee, that did the voting, they were voting just what they thought it should be and I can’t hold that against anyone. I did have a chance you know … with this they gave me a chance to get into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. I just didn’t make it.” He would always tell people to be happy and be thankful for him and the opportunities that he had to even be considered.
“Most people make the Hall of Fame and it completes their resume…inducting Buck O’Neil completes the Baseball Hall of Fame’s resume.”
These past 24 hours, I have caught myself humming that familiar tune countless times. “The greatest thing, in all my life, is loving you.” Even as I type these words and think about Buck, the tears just won’t stop. He would have said not to cry for him, but seriously, how can I not? Ol’ Buck is finally heading to the Hall of Fame. I just wish he could have been alive to see it. While O’Neil won’t be there to speak for himself, as he did for 17 others back in 2006, you know that his presence will be felt. As Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro League Baseball Museum put it, “you know his spirit is going to fill the valley.”
After the passing of O’Neil in 2006, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann said, “We were privileged to be on the planet at the same time that he was.” I could never have hoped to say it better. And now, come next summer, there will be at least 338 Hall of Famers who are privileged to be in the same plaque gallery in Cooperstown as John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil.
For me, hope has been renewed. While still in disbelief over the long overdue induction of Buck O’Neil, I continue to hope for more. I hope that the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals will both finally retire O’Neil’s #22 for his contributions to their clubs and the overall game. I continue to hope that several other overlooked players of the early ball era and Negro Leagues will be given their rightful recognition in Cooperstown.
But for today, I just smile and yes, I cry. He wouldn’t want us to but I can’t help myself. I cry for ol’ Buck. So go ahead Kansas City, cheer! Pump your fists, high five, and yes, shed your tears. Be happy man! Be thankful. Buck O’Neil is, at long last, a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Where were you when you got the news that Buck O’Neil was finally in the Hall of Fame? Did you ever get to meet the legendary ambassador himself? Tell me your stories in the comments!
