Kansas City Shrine Honors Negro Leagues

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About 10 years ago a small group of baseball players from the old Negro Leagues gathered in Ashland, Ky., to celebrate the birthday of Clint Thomas, a 17-year veteran of the leagues.

The gathering was a success and in the succeeding years more and more Negro League players were invited to what became an annual get-together, sponsored by locally based Ashland Oil.

From those beginnings came Saturday's opening of the The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which will showcase 2,000 square feet of photos, artifacts and interactive displays.

Buck O'Neil, who was the first black scout and later the first black coach in the major leagues, played a prominent role in …