Kansas City, Home of Baseball Royalty

I left St. Louis pretty early to make the three-and-a-half-hour trek to Kansas City. This was a straight shot across the length of Missouri. It was a peaceful drive along I-70. I could distinctly tell I was in the Midwest as highway exits and stops got further and further apart. More antique shops started popping up. And everywhere you looked there was livestock: cows, sheep, donkeys. But my favorite part of this leg of the trip was seeing a water tower that said “Higginsville” on it (Higgins is my 19-year-old cat). I had to pull over and snap a picture.

I was not going to my Airbnb when I arrived in Kansas City. I was heading directly to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, on the corner of historic 18th and Vine. This location is very intentional as Kansas City was home to the Monarchs, arguably the most dominant team in Major League history outside of Murderer’s Row Yankees. Throughout my trip, I listened to a podcast called “Black Diamonds” which told the stories of players like Josh Gibson, Buck O’Neil, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Rube Foster, and so many other legends of the game who are under-celebrated. The podcast is actually hosted by Bob Kendrick, the President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. I had always been planning on stopping at this museum in Kansas City, but three things happened during my trip that made it feel more impactful. First, the MLB officially recognized the Negro Leagues as a “Major League” which meant that the stats from the league became official MLB stats. This changed many of the all-time Major League records such as career home runs. Josh Gibson took over as the leader in career home runs with 962 home runs in seventeen years. Second, Willie Mays who started as a Birmingham Black Baron in the Negro Leagues and made a name for himself as a Giant passed away. Thirdly, Major League Baseball hosted a game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Rickwood is the oldest professional baseball stadium in the US and was originally built as a Negro League stadium. It was in that enormous Rickwood outfield that a seventeen-year-old Willie Mays first showed off his defensive prowess. MLB recognizing the Negro Leagues, Willie Mays passing, and the Rickwood game happened within a week of each other. These events shifted the focus of the whole of the MLB onto the Negro Leagues, their history, and how many of its contributions have made baseball the game it is today. It made the timing of going to the museum very apt.

The museum itself was outstanding. It draws you in right away as you get a peek at a Buck O’Neil statue and the “Field of Legends.” The museum then begins with a short film that goes over the different players and teams that made up the Negro Leagues. Then the exhibits create a thorough timeline of the history of the league and black baseball. From the barnstorming era where white and black players played on the same teams, to the healthy and extremely profitable Negro League run by Rube Foster, and the failed attempt by white owners to co-opt the idea of a black league the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is full to the brim of stories that forever changed the trajectory of baseball.

Two stories stood out to me and I plan on digging more into them. One was about J.L. Wilkinson who was the owner of the Kansas City Monarchs. Wilkinson and his club were struggling due to lower attendance and the Great Depression. He invested the rest of his money into making portable generator light towers so he could start hosting night games in hopes of driving up attendance. The Monarchs then played the first night game in professional baseball history in 1930, five years before it was used in the National League in a Reds-Phillies game. Needless to say, this was a game-changer for baseball as it allowed for more flexibility around when games were played and created opportunities for more games to be played with doubleheaders.

The second story was about several black teams who traveled to Japan for a barn-storming tour in 1927. This team played all across Japan. One player, Rap Dixon, was even presented with a trophy for his play by the Emperor of Japan. Reports of the tour tell of a very welcoming Japanese audience and a sense of freedom for the players. Unlike their tours in the US, during the Japan tour, the players were not treated like second-class citizens. I’m hoping that when I go to Japan I can try to learn more about this tour.

At the end of the museum, you walk out on the Field of Legends which is a scale baseball field. It is scattered with life-size statues of Negro League greats. You can’t really believe how tall and lanky Satchel Paige was until you see his statue. The field is a reminder of all the baseball legends that were ignored or swept under the rug for so many years. If you are in Kansas City and do not stop at the Negro League Baseball Museum you are just a plain idiot.

After the museum, I decided to grab a quick bite and read that some of the best bbq in Kansas City can be found at Arthur Bryant’s Barbecue which happened to be just five minutes from the museum. The joint was known for its burnt-end sandwiches. I have never had a sandwich with so much meat before, it put Crown Candy’s “Heart Stopper” to shame. While in line I met another guy around the same age as me, Oliver. We wound up sitting together while we ate. He was in town for work and he had decided to tag along and was wandering the city for the day. Even though Oliver wasn’t from the mid-west or south this interaction felt very mid-western niceties and southern hospitality.

Then I finally got to the game. It was a division match-up between the Royals and Guardians. Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Royals, has a unique outfield. while the outfield walls are not the deepest in the league the Kauffman outfield itself is the largest in the MLB in square footage. That means Royals outfielders have to cover more ground than any others when playing at home. This leads to a heavy emphasis on outfield defense in roster construction. Usually, you look to your right or left fielder to have a power bat. Yet, the Royals lineup consistently has their outfielders hitting in the 7th, 8th, and 9th spots. Successful Royal teams have had speedy and rangy outfielders that would cause chaos when they got on base. I’d say this outfield is very fitting for Kansas City though. The large sprawling outfield almost feels like the sprawling plains of Missouri and Kansas.

The game itself was intense. I ponied up for some nicer seats almost right behind home plate at this game. Both the Royals and Guardians have postseason aspirations, but at the time of the game, the Guardians had a nice cushion over the Royals. Nevertheless, this game will end up mattering when it comes down to the final stretch of the season.

The Guardians took a run lead in the top of 5th off a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of that inning, the Royals had a threat with the nimble Nick Loftin on second. With two outs Hunter Renfroe hit a grounder to José Ramírez at third. Loftin took a sidestep and dived into third base. Jo-Ram’s feet left the ground as he just tried to knick Loftin with the leather of his glove. Both hit the ground. Loftin made it to third. Ramírez missed the tag. But the third base umpire, Tripp Gibson, thought Loftin was out of the base path. It was clearly the right call. Royals manager, Matt Quatraro, took exception. It’s very common in baseball for a manager to take an exception with a clearly correct call. There are many reasons a coach might try to get ejected intentionally. Sometimes the skipper’s goal is to fire up the dugout, others they might have a real bone to pick with one of the umps. In this case, Quatraro was trying to get his offense going. He knew the Guardians had a shutdown bullpen and his team needed to score runs off the starter or else Cleveland would stroll to the win.

Quatraro’s gamble paid off. In the bottom of the 6th inning, the Guardians still had their starter, Matt Lively, pitching. It was here that the Royals’ speedy outfield would come into play. Leading off the inning, Kyle Isbel hit a hard line-drive to right. The Guardians’ right fielder slightly misplayed the ball and just barely missed the catch. Isbel was off to the races at the crack of the bat. He made a bold decision to round second and go for third. The Guardians should have had him out again at third, they made a perfect relay. The tag went down, but Isbel had already slid in head-first. Next at bat was the Royals’ lead-off batter, Maikel Garcia. He just pulled a blooper down the right field line and the Guardians’ right fielder had to chase after the ball in the corner of the stadium. It was easy for Isbel to score off this, but Garcia seemed to take Isbel’s aggressiveness on the bases as a challenge. Before anyone had time to react to the Royals tying the game Garcia was on third. Back-to-back triples to start the inning. That made it easy for Vinnie Pasquintino to bring Garcia in with a sacrifice fly, giving the Royals the game-winning run.

The Royals bullpen got through the last few innings with little trouble. Despite the bullpen’s strong performance, I was a little irked with them. In the top of the 9th inning the Royals’ closer, James McArthur, came out to get the last three outs. It has become a trend in the sport to have walk-out music and light shows for closers. McArthur had these pageantries. But then I looked at the scoreboard to see his stats… A 4.41 ERA for a closer is not reassuring and in my opinion, does not warrant an Edwin Díaz or Mariano Rivera-esque entrance. But then McArthur retired the side in order, so who am I to criticize? Royals win 2-1.