Negro Leagues Baseball Museum receives $1 million from MLB & Players
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Downtown Kansas City received a substantial gift this week from Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and players association executive director Tony Clark were at the museum in the historic 18th & Vine jazz district on Wednesday to announce a $1 million donation to the NLBM. Clark proposed the idea to Manfred of creating a partnership with the museum about a year ago, according to The Kansas City Star and reporter Josh Tolentino:
“Whenever you try to rebuild something like rebuild African-American participation in our game, you need a great foundation,” Manfred said. “The foundation of our effort with respect to African-American players had to be an effort to make young players understand the Negro Leagues, understand the significance of the Negro Leagues to African-American history and more broadly, to American history.”
The $1 million donation (split evenly between the MLB and MLBPA) matches a gift from Julia Irene Kauffman as the biggest in the history of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
“Both entities have been supportive the museum over periods of time,” NLBM president Bob Kendrick said. “But this is the first time that we’ve sat down and looked at a cooperative kind of collaborative relationship.
“As much as we’re excited by the amount of the check, I’m more excited that the commissioner was here and that Tony was here, because I think this help gets the message out this is not just a charitable contribution — this is a partnership.” Click here to read the complete story in The Star.
