Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:1616 E 18th St.
Kansas City, Missouri
Tel:
(816) 221-1920
Celebrate the accomplishments of the Negro Leagues of Baseball! See the lockers of the players, their game-worn gloves and cleats and take a walk through the Field of Legends!
Founded in 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum resides in the 18th and Vine District of Kansas City, the hub of African-American cultural activity in Kansas City during the first half of the 20th century. Housed in the same building as the Jazz Museum, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is truly one-of-a kind in its attempts to preserve the Negro League Baseball culture. Telling the story of segregated baseball, from the founding of the Negro National League just a few blocks away in 1920, until Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the museum chronologically charts the progress of the Negro Leagues.
Visitors can peruse informative placards and interactive exhibits and see walls lined with pictures of players, owners, and officials of Negro League baseball, as well as lockers set up for some of the legends of the Negro Leagues. Baseball fans will enjoy the game-worn uniforms, cleats, gloves, and other artifacts on display, that belonged to stars such as Josh Gibson (nicknamed the Black Babe Ruth), one of the most prolific hitters in baseball history.
On the Field of Legends, visitors can walk onto a field adorned with nearly life-sized bronze statues of twelve figures from Negro League history. So clear 2 hours and head on over to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum! The Museum is located at 1616 E 18th St in Kansas City.
From Negro Leagues Baseball Museum:
Through the inspiration of Horace M. Peterson III (1945-1992), founder of the Black Archives of Mid-America, a group of local historians, business leaders, and former baseball players came together to create the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the early 1990s. It functioned out of a small, one room office in the Lincoln Building, which is located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District of Kansas City, MO. It quickly incorporated, built a board of directors and staffing, and created a licensing program to support operations.