Canadian rocker Geddy Lee of Rush returns to KC’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Geddy Lee returned to KC museum to meet fans and promote his baseball book.
- Lee donated about 400 Negro Leagues-signed baseballs, expanding museum’s core collection.
- Museum director Kendrick credited Lee’s long stewardship for preserving rare signatures.
More than 500 Geddy Lee fans got a rush when the Canadian rocker visited Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum over the weekend.
The lead vocalist and bassist of Rush was back at the museum that houses an impressive baseball collection Lee began donating to the museum nearly 20 years ago. Lee is a longtime and passionate collector of sports memorabilia.
He returned to Kansas City on Saturday to meet fans, visit the collection and sign his new book, “72 Stories: From the Baseball Collection of Geddy Lee!”
There seemed to be as many Rush fans as baseball fans in the audience. They have certainly heard the news that Lee is returniing to the stage with Rush next summer. There’s a new drummer, German composer and producer Anika Nilles, standing in for late drummer and lyricist Neil Peart.
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But Saturday was all about baseball, the sport that “was in my bones long before music started to seriously divert my attention,” Lee has said.
Museum director Bob Kendrick has said Lee’s donation is one of his favorite displays. In a video five years ago he described how the donation from “THE Geddy Lee” happened.
“Well, Geddy is a huge baseball fan,” he said. “As a matter of fact, you can see him at Toronto Blue Jay games all the time, keeping score.”
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In 2023, The Athletic described the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer as a “meticulous curator of the American pastime.
“Over many decades, Lee has filled his office with baseball treasures. He has a a 1917 Chicago White Sox ball signed by Shoeless Joe Jackson, a 1942 Negro Leagues ball signed by Josh Gibson, and a Mickey Mantle bat that’s been traced back to the 1960 World Series.
“He also has a ball signed by The Beatles and four signed by John F. Kennedy. It is a collection of Rock and Roll excess, but also of passion and stewardship.”
Lee’s connection to the Negro Leagues museum began years ago when Rush played in Kansas City.
While he was here, a friend of Geddy’s who has since died took him to the museum. And, like most people, Kendrick said, Lee fell in love with what he saw.
Later, a collection of single-signed baseballs autographed by Negro League players came up for auction and Lee bid to acquire them for the museum. The museum folks didn’t know at the time that Lee collected sports memorabilia
“Geddy wins the bid,” Kendrick said in the video. “His office calls and says Geddy has a few baseballs he’d like to donate. ‘Would you all like to have them?’
“Well, naturally, we said yes. But we’re thinking three or four (baseballs) that might have been picked up in an auction somewhere. Turns out to be 200.
“He has since donated an additional lot of 200 ... one of the largest collections of those in the world. And it’s all due to the benevolence of one Geddy Lee, a white Canadian rocker. It goes to show that there’s no boundaries when it comes to this story.”
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The collection, displayed under glass, contains baseballs autographed by Hall of Famers and “cup of coffee guys in the leagues, but they’re all important to us,” said Kendrick.
“Because 99.9% of the signatures — we couldn’t get their signatures if we wanted them because they’ve all passed on.”
One of the baseballs is signed by legendary country singer Charley Pride, who pitched in the Negro Leagues and worked his way into the Yankees organization before he hurt his arm and turned to music as a career backup.
Lee came to Kansas City to donate the collection in person all those years ago, Kendrick said.
“I can’t say I was a big Rush fan before,” he said. “But I’m a big Rush fan now.”
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