5 Star Feature: Negro League Baseball and The Military

The Negro Leagues produced some of baseball's greatest talent during the segregation era. Players like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Buck Leonard drew crowds and built one of the most successful Black-owned business enterprises in America.

World War II interrupted many careers. Buck O'Neil left the Kansas City Monarchs to serve in the Navy. His absence created a roster spot that went to a young player named Jackie Robinson. When Robinson later broke MLB's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, it changed baseball forever—and validated the talent that Negro League players had demonstrated for decades. Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, shares this history.