Buck O’Neil never said a word of bitterness or regret that he was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Until the end, he urged those who loved and rooted him to do the same.
Now, long after a near-mistake that made many wonder if it would ever make it, they can be happy.
A champion of black ball players with a monumental eight-decade career on and off the field, O’Neil was elected to the Hall of Fame along with Gil Hodges, Minnie Miñoso and three others on Sunday.
Former Minnesota Twins teammates Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat were also elected by two veterans committees along with Bud Fowler.
“Cheers,” said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, which O’Neil co-founded.
“While we’re all sad that Buck isn’t here, you can’t be happy for everyone who continued to hit the Buck O’Neil drum,” he said.
Oliva and Kaat, both 83 years old, are the only living new members. Long-time bully Dick Allen, who died last December, fell one vote before the election.
The six newcomers will be anchored in Cooperstown, New York on July 24th, 2022 along with all new members elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. First-time candidates David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez are on the ballot alongside Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, with voting results on January 25th.
Skipped in previous hall elections, the new members reflect a variety of achievements.
This marked the first time O’Neil, Miñoso and Fowler had a chance to honor the hall under new rules that recognized the contributions of the Negro League. Last December, statistics of around 3,400 players were added to the Major League Baseball record books when the MLB said it was “correcting a long-standing oversight in the history of the game” and re-classifying the Negro Leagues as Major League.
O’Neil was a two-time all-star first baseman in the Negro Leagues and the first black coach in the National or American League. He became the ultimate ambassador for the sport until his death in 2006 at the age of 94 and is already honored with a life-size statue in the Hall of Fame.
Despite everything O’Neil has done for the game his entire life, many casual fans were not entirely familiar with him until they saw the nine-part Ken Burns documentary “Baseball,” which first aired on PBS in 1994.
It was there that O’Neil’s grace, wit and lively storytelling brought back to life the days of Negro League stars Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell, as well as the days of many other black ball players whose names were long forgotten.
Kendrick said it was a shame O’Neil won’t be at Cooperstown for the induction ceremonies, “but you know his spirit will fill the valley,” he said.
O’Neil played in the Negro Leagues for 10 years, helping the Kansas City Monarchs win championships as a player and manager. His numbers were barely gaudy – a career average of .258, nine home runs.
But what John Jordan O’Neil Jr. meant to baseball can never be measured in numbers alone.
O’Neil was a coach with the Chicago Cubs and enjoyed a successful career as a scout.
Its effect can still be seen today.
The Hall’s Board of Directors, along with its statue in Cooperstown, regularly awards the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award to an individual whose “his exceptional efforts enhanced the positive impact of baseball on society … and its character, integrity and dignity.” shown reflect by O’Neil.
In 2006, it seemed like O’Neil was enjoying praise for his work when the Special Committee on Negro Leagues met to examine candidates for the Hall of Fame. The panel actually elected 17 new members, but O’Neil wasn’t on it and narrowly missed out.
O’Neil was selected to speak on behalf of these 17 newcomers, all of whom have passed away, on Induction Day. By nature, he did not utter a single word of remorse or self-pity about his own fate of being excluded.
O’Neil died two months later in Kansas City.
Miñoso was a two-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues before becoming the first black player for the Chicago White Sox in 1951. The Havana-born “The Cuban Comet” was seven times all-star with the White Sox and Indians.
Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso was nothing mini on the field. He hit over .300 eight times with Cleveland and Chicago, led the AL three times in stolen bases, hit double-digit home runs nearly every season, and won three gold gloves in left field.
Miñoso had finished in 1964, it seemed. He returned for the White Sox in 1976 at the age of 50 – 1 for 8 – and hit twice in 1980, earning him professional ball for five decades.
The White Sox dropped his number 9 in 1983 and remained close to the organization and its players until his death in 2015.
Fowler, born in 1858, is often considered to be the first black professional baseball player. The pitcher and second baseman helped start the popular barnstorming team, the Page Fence Giants.
Hodges became the Brooklyn Dodgers’ newest star from the pennant-winning Boys of Summer to hit the hall along with Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and Pee Wee Reese.
