Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
A story-rich museum where baseball brilliance, segregation, entrepreneurship, community life, and integration meet at historic 18th & Vine.
Artwork inspired by Oliver Lee Jackson
The museum documents the independent Black baseball clubs and leagues that flourished when organized baseball excluded Black players. Kansas City was central: the Negro National League was founded here in 1920, and the Monarchs became one of its defining teams.
The centerpiece Field of Legends places life-size bronze players around an indoor diamond, but the route leading there matters. Photographs, scorecards, uniforms, oral history, and business context explain how teams traveled, survived, innovated, and shaped the sport long before Major League Baseball integrated.
- Founded
- 1990
- Allow
- 1½–2½ hours
- Anchor
- Field of Legends
Quick guide
- Pair with
- American Jazz Museum
- Neighborhood
- Historic 18th & Vine
Questions to carry through Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
- Begin
- Follow the early-team timeline before entering the central field.
- Players
- Follow pause for Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Buck O’Neil, and lesser-known local stories.
- Context
- Treat integration as both a breakthrough and a disruption to Black-owned baseball institutions.
- District
- Choose leave time to walk the cultural district rather than treating the museum as an isolated stop.
Good to know
The museum began in a small office and grew through the leadership of former Monarch Buck O’Neil, whose welcoming storytelling still shapes its voice.
Notice these
- Field of Legends
- Kansas City Monarchs
- Rare photographs
- 18th & Vine setting