Negro League legend
Buck O’Neil, a batting champion in the Negro Leagues before becoming the first black to serve as a major league coach, died in Kansas City on Friday. He was 94.
The beloved national figure as the unofficial goodwill spokesman for the Negro Leagues died Friday night in a Kansas City hospital, eight months after he fell one vote short of the Hall of Fame.
O’Neil was admitted on Sept. 17 with what was described as extreme fatigue. Bob Kendrick, marketing director for the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame, said O’Neil passed away about 9 p.m. with close family members nearby. No cause of death was given.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig asked for a moment of silence to be observed before Saturday’s playoff games.
“Buck was a pioneer, a legend and will be missed for as long as the game is played,” Selig said.
“I had the good fortune of spending some time with him in Cooperstown a couple of months ago, and I will miss his wisdom and counsel.”
A star in the Negro Leagues who barnstormed with Satchel Paige, O’Neil later signed Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Ernie Banks as a scout. In July, just before he was briefly hospitalized for fatigue, he batted in a minor league All-Star contest and became the oldest man ever to appear in a professional game.
“What a fabulous human being,” Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said. “He was a blessing for all of us. I believe that people like Buck and Rachel Robinson and Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa are angels that walk on earth to give us all a greater understanding of what it means to be human. I’m not sad for him. He had a long, full life and I hope I’m as lucky, but I’m sad for us.”
O’Neil was readmitted to the hospital on Sept. 17 after he had lost his voice as well as his strength.
A huge celebration of his 95th birthday has been planned for Nov. 11, with a guest list of about 750 that included many baseball greats as well as other celebrities and political leaders.