"Jackie With The Monarchs" Talk at Negro Leagues Museum April 13

I'm very excited to be giving a talk on Jackie Robinson's 1945 season with the Kansas City Monarchs at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on April 13 at 10:30. The talk is free with paid museum admission.

There are several other Jackie Robinson Day-related events going on with the museum that you can find out about at their website and Facebook page.

I'm also excited about the Kansas City premiere of new Robinson bio-pic 42 on April 11. Word is few tickets remain, so get 'em while the gettin's good.

March Desktop Wallpaper

From the hopefully better late than never department, click here for a March wallpaper.

Classic Royals Highlights

I've waded through the "classic" section of MLB.com video highlights to pull out the below Royals-related videos. Some of them you have seen more than a few times, but you'll probably be pleasantly surprised to see others. I've included several videos in which the Royals are on the wrong side of the highlight too. Enjoy.

Buck O'Neil's 1950 Letter To The Sporting News Defending Negro Leagues

Black baseball historian Gary Ashwill recently posted a fascinating profile of Halley Harding, who played Negro league baseball between 1926-31, and for the Kansas City Monarchs 1928-30. Harding also played football and basketball, did some acting, and in later life became a sportswriter. The whole post is interesting and worth a read, but I was especially intrigued by the mention of Harding and Buck O'Neil trading barbs in the press in 1950. Harding penned a column disparaging the Negro leagues for the Los Angeles Sentinel that was also published in The Sporting News soon after. Ashwill mentions and quotes some of a letter to the editor published in  The Sporting News that Buck wrote in response to defend the leagues that he was so passionately proud of. Here is that letter in full, from the May 10, 1950 issue:

In a recent issue, Halley Harding, news editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel, seemed to derive much pleasure--laughs he calls it--in taking a 'crack' at Negro league baseball in his article: "Negro Club Played Game on Way to Training Camp." 

In his attempt to ridicule colored league baseball and its training program, Harding's loud laughs are based on complete ignorance of certain facts. As a newspaper man and as a former participant in Negro baseball, he should be better informed and weigh the pertinent facts before going into hilarity over his misinformation. 

In your time, Mr. Harding, the Negro league teams, as well as some of the major league teams, trained from three to four weeks before playing exhibition games because the players required that much time, if not more, to sweat the winter beer out of their systems. The American boys of today report in much better condition. 

The teams that played a regulation game while en route to training camp, of which you speak and from which you get such glee, probably was an incident which happened once in a lifetime. It might have happened with either Negro teams or white teams and most likely resulted from impulse or conditions about which neither you nor I know about. 

But it is a fact that the major league teams started exhibition games after being in camp only 12 days, which was three days sooner than some of the Negro teams. 

You may have another laugh, Mr. Harding, when you learn that the major league teams started training on March 1 and began paying salaries on April 18. Negro league teams, particularly the Kansas City Monarchs, started training April 1 and salaries start on May 1. 

Your charge that players in Negro league baseball must play whether ill or injured is not true. And the fact that you had to play while suffering from the flu is no proof in point. It might have been that you merely thought you had the flu. 

Here is more news for you, Mr. Harding. Organized Ball is not killing the Negro game, and it never will. The cities that lost Negro franchises were never good baseball towns. 

There are approximately 200 men in the Negro league now. They earn from $200 to $800 monthly for five months. Some 80-odd of these will draw this amount from Winter League baseball. These salaries, of course, will not compare to those of Williams or DiMaggio with their multi-thousand-dollar draws. But it beats hell out of loafing on Central avenue or Beale street or Eighteenth and Vine. 

JOHN (BUCK) O'NEIL

Manager of the Kansas City Monarchs

My All-KC Dream Lineup

My previous post on my dream lineup to watch caught the eyes of the guys on The Ballgame radio show. They picked apart my lineup a bit at the end of their last show, which you can listen to here. They're planning on discussing what an all-Kansas City dream lineup might look like on a future show, and Chris Kamler asked me if I'd like to revise my lineup to only include players who have played professionally in KC. So here it is. While I do have a bunch of all-time greats in the lineup, my criteria was guys I would  most like to see play, not necessarily who I consider the best.

SP: Satchel Paige, Bullet Rogan, Hilton Smith, Kid Nichols, Kevin Appier

RP: Dan Quisenberry, Jeff Montgomery

C: Darrell Porter

1B: Buck O'Neil

2B: Frank White

3B: George Brett

SS: Jackie Robinson (his position with the '45 Monarchs)

OF: Bo Jackson, Amos Otis, Roger Maris

Bench: Ernie Banks (IF), Bert Campaneris (IF), Frank Duncan (C), Willard Brown (OF)

My Dream Lineup

This post is directly ripped off from/inspired by a Michael Clair post on Old Time Family Baseball, a site which I heartily recommend. (Clair recently concluded his annual blogathon fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders, but if you're seeing this before January 25ish, there may still be time to donate.) One of the 43 posts Clair made in his 24 hour bloggin' orgy was the naming of his dream lineup. Not the best team he could put together, but one filled with his favorite players (which somehow include Bob Hamelin and Brian Bannister). I've dreamed up my team, but unlike Clair's, mine is mostly guys I never got to see but wish I could have. And of course it is KC heavy.

Starting Pitcher: Satchel Paige

Easy.

Catcher: Josh Gibson

Duh.

First Base: Buck O'Neil

Can you tell I'd like to go back and see some Negro leaguers? Besides having one of the great personalities in baseball, Buck's game would have been a joy to watch. Lots of line drives and smooth defense. Buck would also manage the squad.

Second Base: Frank White

I did get to enjoy the latter part of Frank's playing days as a kid, but there's still no one else I'd rather see playing second.

Third Base: George Brett

Ditto. And if I could specify that George hit like he did in 1980, that would be great.

Shortstop: Jackie Robinson

This is where Jackie played for the Monarchs in 1945. No other season intrigues me as much as Jackie playing for the Monarchs, miserable, being secretly scouted by the Dodgers.

Left Field: Bo Jackson

I did experience Bo pandemonium first-hand, but yeah, wouldn't mind watching that guy a little more. And as president/owner/GM/overlord of this dream team, he's barred from playing that stupid pig ball game, he stays healthy, and turns into an actually great baseball player in addition to being a freak of nature.

Center Field: Amos Otis

AO is one of the Royals greats who is completely before my time.

Right Field: Babe Ruth

Because Babe Ruth.

Rotation: Bullet Rogan, Hilton Smith, Zack Greinke, Kevin Appier

I was a fan but didn't follow the Royals all that closely in the '90s. I wish I could go back and better appreciate just how special Kevin Appier was that decade. Zack I did see and thoroughly appreciate during his ridonkulous 2009 campaign. But it was so much fun I'd like to relive it. Bullet and Hilton are a couple of all-time greats from the Monarchs that pique my imagination.

Relievers: Dan Quisenberry, Jeff Montgomery, Joakim Soria, Mariano Rivera

The big three relievers in KC history, and I suppose Rivera might be pretty enjoyable if he's pitching for you instead of against you.

Bench:

Darrell Porter (C)
Ernie Banks (IF)
Oscar Charleston (OF)
Willie Mays (OF)
Roberto Clemente (OF)
Ozzie Smith (IF)

Yes, Charleston, Mays and Clemente are sitting on the bench behind Bo Jackson and Amos Otis. Porter's hitting numbers during his four years in KC ('77-'80) are pretty incredible; I'd love to be able to see his overall game as a catcher during those years. Buck O'Neil claimed Charleston was the greatest player he ever saw. And the other guys I just imagine to be beautiful to watch. Man my team would kill Clair's.

January/February Royals Desktop Calendar

My desktop calendars can no longer be contained to the baseball season. Click here to behold a desktop featuring snowy Kauffman Stadium, some Royalsmen, and the days of January and February, 2013!