[Senate Report 109-228]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 387
109th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     109-228

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                     NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM

                                _______
                                

                 April 3, 2006.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                     [To accompany S. Con. Res. 60]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 60) to 
designate the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, 
Missouri, as America's National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, 
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an 
amendment and an amendment to the preamble and recommends that 
the resolution, as amended, do pass.
    The amendments are as follows:
    On page 2, in the first whereas clause, strike ``1988, as'' 
and insert ``1988 as''.
    On page 3, strike lines 9 and 10 insert the following:

          ``(2) supports the efforts of the Negro Leagues 
        Baseball Museum to recognize and preserve the''.

                         PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

    The purpose of S. Con. Res. 60 is to designate the Negro 
Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, as America's 
National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    During the first half of the 20th century, racism and 
segregation laws barred African-Americans from playing baseball 
on major league teams. Black baseball players formed their own 
teams, and in 1920, eight of those teams formed the first Negro 
baseball league. Over 70 teams existed at one time or another 
between 1920 and 1955. Until the 1940s, the teams thrived.
    In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when the 
Brooklyn Dodgers recruited him from the Negro Leagues. Other 
major league teams followed suit and began recruiting star 
players from the Negro Leagues. Attendance at Negro League 
games dropped, and the last of the Negro League teams went out 
of business in the early 1960s.
    In 1990, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was established 
in Kansas City, Missouri to preserve and interpret for present 
and future generations the history of the Negro Leagues and the 
story of its players. Although the National Baseball Hall of 
Fame in Cooperstown, New York recognizes the achievements of 
baseball's greatest players of all races, the Negro Leagues 
Museum tells the remarkable story of the black athletes who 
built a successful baseball league in the face of racial 
segregation. As the Museum's Chairman, John Jordan ``Buck'' 
O'Neil, who played in the Negro Leagues himself, testified, 
``Negro Leagues baseball helped to drive social change in a 
segregated America.'' The Museum provides ``a gentle 
explanation of a harsh time in our Nation's history,'' and in 
doing so, serves as ``a tool for improving race relations by 
sharing this overlooked and yet very important history.''
    S. Con Res. 60 recognizes the importance of the Museum's 
efforts to preserve and interpret this important aspect of our 
history by designating the Museum as ``America's National Negro 
Leagues Baseball Museum.''

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. Con. Res. 60 was introduced by Senator Talent on October 
25, 2005. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on 
S. Con. Res. 60 on November 15, 2005. At its business meeting 
on March 8, 2006, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
ordered S. Con. Res. 60 favorably reported as amended.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on March 8, 2006, by unanimous voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. Con. Res. 
60, if amended as described herein.

                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT

    During consideration of S. Con. Res. 60, the Committee 
adopted two technical amendments.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The Congressional Budget Office estimate of the costs of 
this measure has been requested but was not received at the 
time the report was filed. When the report is available, the 
Chairman will request it to be printed in the Congressional 
Record for the advice of the Senate.

                      REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

    In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate,the Committee makes the following 
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying 
out S. Con. Res. 60. The resolution is not a regulatory measure in the 
sense of imposing Government-established standards or significant 
economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. Con. Res. 60, as ordered reported.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The views of the Administration on S. Con. Res. 60 were 
included in testimony received by the Committee at a hearing on 
the bill on November 15, 2005. This testimony follows:

   Statement of Don Murphy, Deputy Director, National Park Service, 
                       Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the 
views of the Department of the Interior on S. Con. Res. 60, 
designating the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, 
Missouri, as America's National Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. 
Since the concurrent resolution involves a statement expressing 
the sentiment of both the Senate and the House and would not 
become law, our comments are limited to providing background 
information for the consideration of the committee.
    African-Americans began to play baseball in the late 1800s 
on military teams, college teams, and company teams. They 
eventually found their way to professional teams with white 
players. Because of racism and segregation, laws forced them 
from these teams by 1900. These black players then formed their 
own units, ``barnstorming'' around the country to play anyone 
who would challenge them.
    In 1920, an organized league structure was formed under the 
guidance of Andrew ``Rube'' Foster--a former player, manager, 
and owner for the Chicago American Giants. In a meeting held at 
the Paso YMCA, the center for black culture and life in Kansas 
City, Missouri, he and a few other Midwestern team owners 
joined to form the Negro National League. The Kansas City 
Monarchs were charter members of that league. Rival leagues 
were soon formed in eastern and southern states, bringing the 
thrills and innovative play of black baseball to major urban 
centers and rural countryside in the United States, Canada, and 
Latin America.
    The leagues maintained a high level of professional skill 
and became centerpieces for economic development in many black 
communities. The Kansas City Monarchs introduced night baseball 
five years before the major leagues did and won their first 
Negro Leagues World Series title in 1924. In 1947, Major League 
Baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Jackie Robinson from the 
Kansas City Monarchs. When he left the Monarchs to move to New 
York, Robinson became the first African-American in the modern 
era to play on a Major League roster. While this historic event 
was a key moment in baseball and civil rights history, it 
prompted the decline of the Negro Leagues. The best black 
players were now recruited for the Major Leagues, and black 
fans followed. The last Negro Leagues folded in the early 
1960s, but their legacy lives on through the surviving players 
and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM).
    Through the inspiration of Horace M. Peterson III (1945-
1992), founder of the Black Archives of Mid-America, a group of 
local historians, business leaders, and former baseball players 
came together to create the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in 
the early 1990s. It functioned out of a small, one-room office 
in the Lincoln Building, located in the Historic 18th & Vine 
Jazz District of Kansas City. The museum opened in 1991 as a 
tribute to some of baseball(s best unknown players. In 1994, it 
expanded to a 2,000 square-foot space in the Lincoln Building.
    During the late 1990s, plans were underway by city 
officials to create a new home to showcase Kansas City's jazz 
heritage and to revitalize the Historic District. A new 
facility was built to host the new American Jazz Museum and a 
new, permanent, expanded home for the Negro Leagues Baseball 
Museum. This new 50,000 square-foot building opened in 
September 1997 and the Baseball Museum opened in November. It 
has welcomed several thousand visitors, including school groups 
and dignitaries. The NLBM also has developed a traveling 
exhibit to help bring the history of black baseball to people 
outside Kansas City.
    The NLBM was created to remember the often-forgotten 
stories of legendary athletes who built a baseball league in 
the midst of segregation and helped make baseball one of 
America(s national pastimes. It was conceived as a museum to 
preserve and interpret the legacy of Negro Leagues Baseball, 
telling the complete story of the average players to the 
superstars. It tells the story of a vibrant and compelling 
center of American history that has not been told before. The 
National Baseball Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, New York, 
recognizes baseball's greatest players. However, the NLBM 
provides special recognition to those Negro Leaguers who have 
been honored in Cooperstown.
    Mr. Chairman, that concludes my statement. I would be 
pleased to answer any questions you or other members of the 
subcommittee may have.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the resolution S. Con. Res. 
60, as ordered reported.

                                  
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