[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1169-S1170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Black History Month

  Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, I want to talk today about Black History 
Month and, specifically, about Black History Month and baseball. This 
month marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first 
successful, organized league for professional African-American baseball 
players.
  On February 13, 1920, a group of eight midwestern team owners got 
together at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, MO, to form the Negro 
National League. Before then, these African-American teams had a lot of 
great players. They barnstormed around the country. They played sort of 
whomever they could and whenever they could. But in 1920, these eight 
owners got together and decided that everybody would benefit with more 
structure in the league, and they established a league to see that we 
got that structure.
  In the first 10 years of the league, the Kansas City Monarchs won the 
pennant four times. As the league thrived, other leagues were formed 
for African-American players in the South and in the East. Over the 
years, some of the greatest players in baseball played in the Negro 
leagues. Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, and Kansas City's own Buck 
O'Neil played there. There were many others we would recognize who

[[Page S1170]]

then became part of the major leagues following Jackie Robinson.
  There are lots of players you will learn a lot about at the Negro 
Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The Negro Leagues Baseball 
Museum in Kansas City tells this story and tells it well. They don't 
just tell the story of African-American organized baseball, but they 
really tell the story of a thriving community beyond that, which is an 
important part of our legacy.
  Obviously, a more important part of our legacy is to bring everybody 
together, but in those years, around the time the Negro leagues were 
formed, African-American communities in arts and entertainment and in 
businesses were significant. Part of that story is told there as well.
  The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Negro leagues is an 
opportunity for us to talk about that. These leagues had great talent. 
In fact, the Pittsburgh Grays would play here in Washington half of the 
time. Half of their games--their so-called home games--they played in 
Washington at Griffith Stadium, where the Washington Senators played. I 
don't think there is any argument that when the Grays played here--the 
African-American team, the Negro leagues team played here--there was a 
greater crowd than there was when the Senators played, and there was 
better baseball. These were great and exciting times in baseball. I 
think that is well told at the museum.

  Tim Kaine, a Kansas Citian who now represents Virginia in Congress, 
and I are working together to commemorate the centennial of the Negro 
Leagues with the minting of a new coin by the Treasury. We are joined 
over in the House by Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, from Kansas City in 
my State of Missouri, and Congressman   Steve Stivers from Ohio.
  The way the minting of this coin works, of course, is that there is 
no cost to the taxpayers. You print a coin. Congress decides that this 
is an issue worthy of recognizing, and you mint the coin. I think I 
said print. Mint is more accurate. Once all of the costs of minting 
those coins have been met--and there is no taxpayer cost--then the 
money goes to the recipient organization from that point on. There 
would be a gold coin and a silver coin and a bronze coin at different 
levels available for people to buy.
  Now, 75 of our Senate colleagues, including the Presiding Officer and 
me, have cosponsored this legislation. I think we will get it passed 
very soon. With any luck, we might even pass it right here in the next 
day or so during Black History Month.
  I want to recognize Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues 
Baseball Museum, for his support in encouraging us to see if we could 
make this coin a reality and all that he and his board have done to 
preserve the history of Negro leagues baseball.
  I have been certainly glad to take my son Charlie to the museum. I go 
there with some frequency. A few years ago, I encouraged Major League 
Baseball to have an event there when they were having the All-Star Game 
in Kansas City. I don't think there was a player who went to that event 
at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum who wasn't both impressed and 
touched by what they saw there. It is an important part of our history.
  Another part of our history that very closely relates to this is 
something I will be a part of later this afternoon. Congressman   David 
Trone of Maryland, over on the House side, and I, along with Senator 
Durbin and Congressman Clay from St. Louis and Congresswoman Wagner 
from St. Louis, are sending a letter to the Baseball Hall of Fame 
telling them that they need to include Curt Flood in the Baseball Hall 
of Fame.
  Curt Flood was a great player and should be part of the Baseball Hall 
of Fame just on his playing skills alone. He played with the Cardinals 
most of his entire career--7 consecutive years. That included two World 
Series pennants in 1964 and 1967. He won seven Gold Gloves in those 7 
years and was designated the best center fielder in the National 
League.
  I remember that team well. We were Cardinals fans in my house. In the 
late 1950s and early 1960s, you didn't have many sports on TV. We 
listened to virtually every Cardinals game we could hear on the radio. 
My mom and dad were dairy farmers. I remember being out hauling hay at 
night, and whoever was driving the truck should have been almost deaf 
because if there was a Cardinals game going on, the radio would be as 
loud as it possibly could be so those of us out tossing the bales on 
the hay truck could hear the Cardinals game.
  I also remember--and I checked myself yesterday to be sure I was 
accurate--but on that Curt Flood team, that 1964 team, it was Bill 
White at first base; Julian Javier at second base, Dick Groat, short 
stop; Ken Boyer, third base, and Tim McCarver catching. Most of the 
time, and always if available, Bob Gibson was pitching. In the outfield 
was Lou Brock--the great Lou Brock. Curt Flood was in center field, and 
Mike Shannon in right field. By the way, Mike Shannon still announces 
the Cardinals games on the radio and occasionally on television.
  It was a great team, and Curt Flood was an important part of that 
team. Frankly, he should be in the Hall of Fame just because of that--
the two World Series, Most Valuable Player, the best center fielder in 
baseball, at least in the National League, for 7 years straight.
  In late 1969, the Cardinals decided they were going to trade Curt 
Flood to the Phillies. I don't think Curt Flood necessarily had 
anything against the Phillies, but he didn't want to be traded against 
his will. So he wrote a letter to the commissioner of baseball. In that 
letter he said: ``After 12 years in the Major Leagues, I do not feel 
that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my 
wishes.'' That began the challenge of the reserve clause in baseball. 
Maybe it is particularly significant here in Black History Month that 
an African-American player was the one who challenged the reserve 
clause.
  With the reserve clause in baseball, you would play for your team's 
owner as long as you wanted to play unless your team's owner decided 
you would play for someone else. Then you would play for that person as 
long as they wanted you to play, unless you decided you didn't want to 
play baseball anymore.
  It was Curt Flood who challenged that. He lost his Supreme Court 
case. It was a 5-to-4 loss in the Supreme Court. But it didn't take too 
many years before not only was the reserve clause reversed but Curt 
Flood was recognized in Federal legislation.
  There is a copy of that single-page letter filed as part of the 1970 
case at the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. If there is a copy of Curt 
Flood's letter in the Hall of Fame, then, Curt Flood should be in the 
Hall of Fame.
  I hope those looking back at what is called the golden years of 
baseball look at players who didn't get into the Hall of Fame, take our 
advice, look at Curt Flood, look at the difference he has made for 
players playing the game today, and put him in the Hall of Fame.
  I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.