Game recognized game: These Royals greats embodied spirit of Negro Leagues Baseball | Opinion
At the Negro League Baseball Museum’s annual Hall of Game ceremony Saturday at Starlight Theatre, Kansas City Royals broadcaster Joel Goldberg asked former Royals outfielder Amos Otis about not using two hands to catch a fly ball.
The audience shared a collective laugh after Otis explained the rationale behind his immaculate glove work. So did I.
“I only had one glove,” Otis said.
Otis is generally considered one of the greatest ballplayers in team history. Affectionately known as A.O. to fans, he finished his 14-year career here among the Royals all-time leaders in several offensive categories including hits, home runs, runs scored and stolen bases.
He also excelled defensively, nabbing three Gold Gloves during his playing days from 1970-1983.
Local baseball aficionados may recall Otis’ smooth playing style in center field. To use a term coined by officials with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City — Otis got game.
“Amos Otis was the original five-tool player,” Goldberg said. “Elite outfielder and at the plate, that rare combination of power and speed.”
But to some baseball purists, the one-handed catches Otis made look routine back then were anything but.
“I did play with a little swagger,” he said.
Otis was joined onstage by former Royals players John Mayberry, Frank White and Willie Wilson. All of them plus former Royals player and manager Hal McRae were inducted into the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s Hall of Game. McRae was the only inductee not in attendance.
This year’s ceremony, dubbed the Monarchs Ball, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues’ first World Series won by our very own Kansas City Monarchs in 1924. The gala, dedicated to celebrating Kansas City’s rich Black baseball history, was Royals-centric — every single inductee is a member of the Royals Hall of Fame.
But former Kansas City Athletics pitcher Diego Segui was honored as well. The Cuban-born Segui received the NLBM’s Jose Mendez Beisbol Legend award.
‘Big John’ Mayberry’s favorite memory
On this night, eloquent storytelling was on tap. What else would you expect at a NLBM event?
Along with Goldberg and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick, these famous ballplayers recounted what made playing in Kansss City so special.
Otis wasn’t the only former Royal showing off comedic chops. Mayberry’s one-liner about his favorite memory as a ballplayer elicited a few laughs.
Mayberry, a former first baseman known for his prodigious power at the plate, averaged more than 24 home runs and 94 RBI during his six seasons in Kansas City from 1972 to 1977. Because of his towering presence, teammates and fans referred to him as “Big John.”
When asked about his favorite moment during his playing days, Mayberry didn’t hesitate. It wasn’t the home runs, runs batted in, or two All-Star teams as a Royal that stood out, he said. He recalled an on-field fight he had with pitcher Stan Bahnsen of the Chicago White Sox.
“You know what I remember most about baseball is the fight that I had,” Mayberry said. “I used to hit a home run every time he raised his arm up. He got tired of that. He decides to hit me with the baseball. So I said, ‘Hey buddy, you’re not that wild. Get the ball over the plate.’ He told me to shut up and go down to first base. When he said that, boom, I went out to the mound. He tried to put a football tackle on me. He went down, and pow, pow, pow. That was exciting.”
Another exciting element of the night was the $1.35 million check presented to Kendrick by a delegation of state representatives from Jackson County. The money will help fund a new 30,000-square-foot facility in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District, according to Kendrick. What was proposed as a $25 million project is now at $30 million, he said.
“We’re dreaming out loud about a Negro Leagues campus at 18th & Vine,” Kendrick said. “The energy at 18th & Vine is alive and well.”
At Saturday’s Hall of Game ceremony, that same infectious energy that embodied Negro Leagues Baseball was on full display from some of the finest Kansas City Royals to play the game.
