CHICAGO — When the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990, it was located in a one-room office in the historic Lincoln Building in Kansas City, Mo., across the street from where it operates today. The original office, located on the third floor, consisted of a conference room table and a few photographs on the wall. Early organizers, a group that included John “Buck” O’Neil, took turns paying the monthly rent to keep the office open while dreaming of one day being able to open a permanent home to honor the baseball heroes whose legacies they wanted to maintain.
Bob Kendrick, the museum’s president and chief storyteller, started as a volunteer with the organization in 1993, but over the last 30 years the museum and its mission have become his passion. O’Neil, Kendrick’s mentor, oversaw the museum’s move to its 10,000-square-foot home in 1997, and Kendrick’s goal was to continue to share the stories and grow the institution when he became president in 2011.
Neither O’Neil nor Kendrick could’ve imagined how far that passion would reach.
