[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 127 (Monday, November 13, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2009-E2010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO BUCK O'NEIL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 13, 2006

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Buck 
O'Neil, an internationally renowned, distinguished Kansas Citian, who 
died on October 6th at the age of 94.

[[Page E2010]]

  John Jordan ``Buck'' O'Neil was born the grandson of slaves in 
Carrabelle, Florida, on November 13, 1911. He acquired his love for 
baseball at a young age from his father, who played for the local team 
when he wasn't working as a foreman in the celery fields. As a 
teenager, Buck realized that he wanted to do something more with his 
life, but times were difficult throughout the country during the Great 
Depression, and he had received little formal education because the 
local high school was segregated.
  When his father told him that, ``There is something better, but you 
can't get it here, you're gonna have to go someplace else,'' Buck made 
the decision to try his luck as a baseball player in the semi-
professional barnstorming leagues that traveled the entire country. It 
didn't take him long to attract the attention of the Memphis Red Sox of 
the Negro American League, who signed him to his first professional 
contract in 1937. After a year of playing for the Red Sox, Mr. O'Neil's 
contract was purchased by the Kansas City Monarchs--the team with which 
he would spend the rest of his playing career.
  The Monarchs were the most successful team in the history of the 
Negro Leagues, winning the most titles and producing the best players. 
While playing for Kansas City, Mr. O'Neil won batting titles in 1940 
and 1946 and led his team to a convincing victory in the 1942 Negro 
World Series. He batted .353 as the Monarchs swept the Homestead Grays, 
4-0. He was also selected to play in three Negro American League All-
Star Games, and would likely have accomplished more during his playing 
career had it not been for World War II; Mr. O'Neil dutifully served 
his country for 2 years by completing a tour in the United States Navy 
from 1943-1945.
  Buck stayed with the Monarchs through the end of the 1955 season, 
serving both as a player and as the team's manager for the final 8 
years of his time in Kansas City, all the while facing the harshness of 
separation and discrimination in a country that was still segregated. 
Thanks in part to the significant accomplishments of his Monarchs 
teammate Jackie Robinson, who broke down racial barriers by joining the 
Brooklyn Dodgers of Major League Baseball in 1947, Buck too was able to 
join a rapidly-integrating MLB as a scout for the Chicago Cubs. In 
1962, he became the first African American coach in the Majors. During 
his storied career with the Cubs, Mr. O'Neil was responsible for the 
development of many great major leaguers, like Joe Carter, and he also 
signed two future Hall of Fame players--Lou Brock and Ernie Banks. 
After 33 years with the Cubs, Buck returned home in 1988 to scout for 
the Kansas City Royals.

  Despite his myriad accomplishments on the field as a player, manager, 
and coach, it is Buck O'Neil's accomplishments off the field that 
demonstrate his love for the game of baseball and his commitment to the 
essential role that the Negro Leagues played in the integration of both 
American sport and American society. In 1990, O'Neil was a leader in 
the effort to create the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, 
Missouri. The Museum, located in the historic 18th and Vine district of 
downtown Kansas City, has excelled for nearly a decade in its mission 
of educating all Americans about the rich and important history of the 
Negro Leagues. Buck served as the Board Chairman for the Museum and 
actively promoted its messages of understanding and triumph over 
adversity. In addition to his work with the Museum, Mr. O'Neil served 
as a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee from 1981-
2000, working hard to ensure that many of the Negro League players who 
had been denied entrance into the Major Leagues because of segregation 
were able to gain a deserved entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 
Cooperstown.
  After devoting so many years of his life to promoting the 
accomplishments of others, many believed that the time for Buck's 
recognition had finally arrived in the spring of 2006, when he was on a 
special ballot for entry into the Hall of Fame. Shockingly, the 
Committee chose not to induct Mr. O'Neil, to the dismay of many--but 
not Buck. Unaffected by the Hall's decision, he took the high road and 
offered to speak at the induction ceremony on behalf of those selected, 
because many of them had passed on. On June 30, 2006, Buck selflessly 
honored all 17 individuals related to the Negro Leagues who were 
inducted, giving an inspiring speech and instructing all audience 
members to hold hands and join him in song. The ovation he received was 
the loudest and longest of the ceremony.
  At the time of his death, Buck O'Neil's efforts were focused on the 
John ``Buck'' O'Neil Education and Research Center. Scheduled for 
completion in late 2007, the Center will be an expansion of the Negro 
Leagues Baseball Museum devoted to teaching people of all ages many 
different aspects of the Negro leagues and baseball. The 45,000 square 
foot facility will house extensive archives and promises to devote much 
of its space and funding to state-of-the-art technology and programs 
that will teach many different things to many different people.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to honor the life 
of Buck O'Neil, because of his accomplishments while playing and 
managing in the Negro and Major Leagues, because of his work with the 
Negro League Baseball Museum, because of his devotion to those who 
shared in his struggle, valuing their legacies more than his own, and 
most of all, because of his immense contributions to the game of 
baseball and American society. When acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken 
Burns made his film Baseball in 1994, he chose Buck O'Neil as the 
narrator, because no other individual better captures the history and 
legacy of our American pastime. He was truly the game's ambassador, and 
his spirit will be sorely missed.

                          ____________________