News From Sen. Sam Brownback

Brownback Lauds Life of Buck O'Neil

Baseball legend passed away last night

Saturday, October 7, 2006

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Sam Brownback today lauded the life of baseball great Buck O’Neil and offered sympathies to family and friends. John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil passed away last night in Kansas City at the age of 94.

“Buck O’Neil is a hero to many and a hero to me and was a pioneer on a tough road who lived his life well,” Brownback stated. “Buck O’Neil was more than a baseball player. He has been a community leader and example in Kansas City since the 1930s. He saw so much change in our nation and was a leader in breaking down barriers with his skill on and off the field.”

Buck O’Neil joined the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the greatest teams in the Negro leagues, in 1938 and was named player/manager in 1948. He led the league in hits for two seasons. He later went on to major league baseball as a pioneering scout and was credited for scouting many of the great players that broke down the racial barriers of baseball. He was also the first black head coach in the majors. He was most recently a scout for the Kansas City Royals and was the chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City since its founding in 1977.

Brownback continued, “My sympathies to his family and his friends. Buck lived a full life and will very much be missed. As Buck said himself, ‘God was very good to old Buck,’ and Buck was very good to the rest of us.”

Brownback, along with 16 members of Congress, sent a letter earlier this year to Commissioner Bud Selig asking that O’Neil be reconsidered for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. O’Neil missed that distinction by one vote and many felt that was a significant oversight given O’Neil’s contributions to baseball. The letter in part read, “It would be disappointing if the Hall of Fame failed to recognize and preserve Buck's contributions to the game of baseball and his lifelong contribution to the greater good of our nation.”

Brownback concluded, “Buck O’Neil very much deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”

O’Neil was a widower with no children and is survived by his brother Warren.


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