Few people lived lives as fully devoted to baseball as Buck O’Neil did, and few had the breadth of experience that O’Neil had. He was a player, a manager, the first Black coach in AL/NL history, a scout and, above all, a tireless advocate for the game — particularly for the importance of Negro Leagues history.
In December 2021, O’Neil’s myriad contributions were posthumously recognized with election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame via the Early Baseball Era committee.
Born on Nov. 13, 1911, in Carrabelle, Fla., O’Neil began his baseball career barnstorming before signing with the Memphis Red Sox in 1937. The following year, O’Neil had his contract sold to the Kansas City Monarchs, the team with which he would spend the rest of his playing career (with a two-year interruption for naval service in World War II).
Primarily a first baseman, O’Neil was known for his smooth glovework more than his bat, although he was a capable hitter as well; per the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, his .353 average in 1946 — the year after he returned from his military service — made him that season’s Negro American League batting champion. As a member of the Monarchs, O’Neil was a three-time All-Star and became a Negro World Series champion in 1942.
“We rarely get the defensive side of the game,” said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. “And Buck was a stellar defensive first baseman — one of the greatest first basemen in Negro Leagues baseball history. You put together a list of top 10 great first basemen, and Buck O’Neil’s name would have to be on it when you look at the Negro Leagues.”
In 1948, O’Neil took over as player-manager of the Monarchs, helping guide them to two pennants in the Negro Leagues’ waning years brought on by the integration of the National and American Leagues. When the team was sold in 1955, O’Neil found work with the Cubs as a scout, an area where he certainly left his mark on the sport. Players he signed as a scout with Chicago then the Royals included Lou Brock, Oscar Gamble, Lee Smith and Joe Carter.
O’Neil also made history when the Cubs hired him as a coach in 1962, making him the first Black member of an AL/NL coaching staff as part of Chicago’s “College of Coaches.” The unconventional strategy split managerial duties between multiple people, though O’Neil was never given the opportunity to manage himself, and it would be another 13 years before Frank Robinson became the first Black person to manage an AL/NL game.
However, O’Neil’s biggest impact was not anything he did as a player, manager, coach or scout. Rather, what made O’Neil worthy of Cooperstown is the sheer amount he did for the game off the field in his later years.