FOX 4: AP is reporting Buck'O Neill has died

[chiefqueen]

haven't heard it from other stations

[chiefqueen]

Ch. 41 is now reporting it.

They said Buck died at 9:00 P.M. CDT

[Phobia]

I kinda expected it. Reports weren't good last week. RIP Buck.

[Thig Lyfe]

This is really, really sad. I was fortunate enough to meet him several times. What a great man. This hits home. RIP Buck.

[tk13]

That's awful. A true legend. Had the chance to hear him speak and shake his hand once, never forget it.

[Halfcan]

RIP Buck. He should be in the HOF.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

Local ABC station just ran a nice obit. Thanks for everything, Buck. Rest in peace.

[SLAG]

Wiki Updated - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_O'Neil

Fast as all hell as usual-

R.I.P Buck

You get my avatar for awhile now

[DomerNKC]

94 years. he lived life on his terms. he won. RIP Buck, i wish everyone could enjoy life as you did.

[WilliamTheIrish]

It's true.

So long Buck.

[Archie F. Swin]

On to that HoF in the sky

Thanks Buck...for everything

[007]

Rest in Peace Buck. We will never forget you.

[VonneMarie]

RIP Buck. :(

[chief52]

Watch them put him in the HOF now...sucks that it did not happen in his life time.

[Tactical Funky]

Buck was a true inspiration to this town and the nation as a whole.

Godspeed.

[Coach]

Damn, that sucks.

RIP Buck.

[007]

Watch them put him in the HOF now...sucks that it did not happen in his life time.


It may be too late but he deserves to be in there. The sooner the better.

[VonneMarie]

Former Negro Leaguer O'Neil dies

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Buck O'Neil, baseball's charismatic Negro Leagues ambassador who barnstormed with Satchel Paige and inexplicably fell one vote shy of the Hall of Fame, died Friday night. He was 94.

Bob Kendrick, marketing director for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said O'Neil died at a Kansas City hospital.

O'Neil had appeared strong until early August, when he was hospitalized for what was described as "fatigue." He was released a few days later but readmitted on Sept. 17. Friends said that he had lost his voice along with his strength. No cause of death was immediately given.

Always projecting warmth, wit and a sunny optimism that sometimes seemed surprising for a man who lived in a climate of racial injustice for so long, O'Neil remained remarkably vigorous well into his 90s. He became as big a star as the Negro League greats whose stories he traveled the country to tell.

He would be in New York taping the "Late Show With David Letterman" one day and then back home on the golf course the next day shooting his age, a feat he first accomplished at 75.

"But it's not a good score any more," he quipped on his 90th birthday.

O'Neil had long been popular in Kansas City, but he rocketed into national stardom in 1994 when filmmaker Ken Burns featured him in his groundbreaking Public Broadcasting Service documentary "Baseball."

The rest of the country then came to appreciate the charming Negro Leagues historian as only baseball insiders had before. He may have been, as he joked, "an overnight sensation at 82," but his popularity continued to grow for the rest of his life.

Few men in any sport have witnessed the grand panoramic sweep of history that O'Neil saw and felt and experienced in baseball. A good-hitting, slick-fielding first baseman, he barnstormed with Paige in his youth, twice won a Negro Leagues batting title and then became a pennant-winning manager of the Kansas City Monarchs.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2615960

[HemiEd]

RIP Buck! You did it great!

[Reaper16]

Rest in Peace, Buck You deserve it after the immense amount of good you've accomplished.

[big nasty kcnut]

RIP Buck.Now ty cobb and you can play baseball together.

[KevB]

Watch them put him in the HOF now...sucks that it did not happen in his life time.

Interesting how that's played out. Buck got more support after not having been voted in than he ever did before. I'd have to think the backlash from fans, media and other baseball people to his snub from the HOF really demonstrated to Buck how respected he truly was. Wish he'd been voted in, but there were positives to come from it regardless.
You'll be remembered Buck.....

[BigRock]

So long, Buck. :( :(

[beavis]

I normally don't post on these threads, but Buck is an exception to the rule. What an awesome person. RIP "Nancy".

[beavis]

Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2615960)

Updated: Oct. 7, 2006, 12:10 AM ET
Former Negro Leaguer O'Neil diesAssociated Press


KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Buck O'Neil, the goodwill ambassador for the Negro Leagues who fell one vote shy of the Hall of Fame, died Friday night. He was 94.

Wright Thompson
The death of legendary Negro Leagues player and manager Buck O'Neil is a loss for more than just baseball, Wright Thompson writes.

Bob Kendrick, marketing director for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said O'Neil died at a Kansas City hospital.

A star in the Negro Leagues who barnstormed with Satchel Paige, O'Neil later became the first black coach in the majors. Baseball was his life -- in July, he batted in a minor-league All-Star Game.

O'Neil had appeared strong until early August, when he was hospitalized for what was described as "fatigue." He was released a few days later but readmitted Sept. 17. Friends said that he had lost his voice along with his strength. No cause of death was immediately given.

O'Neil was the first black coach in the majors and also the oldest man ever to play in a pro baseball game.
Always projecting warmth, wit and a sunny optimism that sometimes seemed surprising for a man who lived in a climate of racial injustice for so long, O'Neil remained remarkably vigorous well into his 90s. He became as big a star as the Negro League greats whose stories he traveled the country to tell.

He would be in New York taping the "Late Show With David Letterman" one day and then back home on the golf course the next day shooting his age, a feat he first accomplished at 75.

"But it's not a good score any more," he quipped on his 90th birthday.

O'Neil had long been popular in Kansas City, but he rocketed into national stardom in 1994 when filmmaker Ken Burns featured him in his groundbreaking Public Broadcasting Service documentary "Baseball."

The rest of the country then came to appreciate the charming Negro Leagues historian as only baseball insiders had before. He may have been, as he joked, "an overnight sensation at 82," but his popularity continued to grow for the rest of his life.

"He brought the attention of a lot of people in this country to the Negro Leagues," former Washington manager Frank Robinson said. "He told us all how good they were and that they deserved to be recognized for what they did and their contributions and the injustice that a lot of them had to endure because of the color of their skin."

Few men in any sport have witnessed the grand panoramic sweep of history that O'Neil saw and felt and experienced in baseball. A good-hitting, slick-fielding first baseman, he barnstormed with Paige in his youth, twice won a Negro Leagues batting title and then became a pennant-winning manager of the Kansas City Monarchs.

As a scout for the Chicago Cubs, he discovered and signed Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Ernie Banks.

In 1962, a tumultuous time of change in America when civil rights workers were risking their lives on the back roads of the Deep South, O'Neil broke a meaningful racial barrier when the Cubs made him the first black coach in the major leagues.

Jackie Robinson was the first black with an opportunity to make plays in the big leagues. But as bench coach, O'Neil was the first to make decisions.

He saw Babe Ruth hit home runs and Roger Clemens throw strikes. He talked hitting with Lou Gehrig and Ichiro Suzuki.

"I can't remember a time when I did not want to make my living in baseball or a time when that wasn't what I did get to do," he said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2003. "God was very good to old Buck."

Born in 1911 in Florida, John "Buck" O'Neil began a lifetime in baseball hanging around the spring training complex of the great New York Yankees teams of the '20s. Some of the players befriended the youngster and allowed him inside.

In February 2006, it was widely thought that a special 12-person committee commissioned to render final judgments on Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues figures would make him a shoo-in for the Baseball Hall of Fame. It would be, his many fans all thought, a fitting tribute to the entire body of his life's work.

But when word came from Florida that day that 16 men and one woman had been voted in, he was not among them. For reasons never fully explained, he fell one vote short of the required three-fourths.

Several hundred of his friends and admirers had gathered at the Negro Leagues Museum for what they thought would be a celebration. Instead, they stood in awkward, restless silence as the old man once again -- for how many times in his long, eventful life? -- brushed bitterness aside.

"Shed no tears for Buck," he told them. "I couldn't attend Sarasota High School. That hurt. I couldn't attend the University of Florida. That hurt. But not going into the Hall of Fame, that ain't going to hurt me that much, no. Before, I wouldn't even have a chance. But this time I had that chance.

"Just keep loving old Buck," he said.

But among his close friends, few believed that his heart wasn't really broken.

"It is clear the Baseball Hall of Fame has made a terrible error in not inducting Buck on this ballot," Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver said. "It is rare that an entire community rallies around a single person, but our city loves Buck, what he stands for and his indomitable spirit.

"Buck O'Neil is a man who has done more than anyone to popularize and keep alive the history of the Negro Leagues," Cleaver said.

In the months that followed, O'Neil embarked on an exhausting schedule that had him flying to California, Ohio, Arizona and New York among other stops. He spoke at the induction ceremonies in Cooperstown. In July, he batted in the top and bottom of the first inning of the Northern League All-Star Game, making him the oldest man ever to play in a professional baseball game.

"He was one of the pioneers of Negro League baseball, and he was one of the guys who never let it die," Oakland third-base coach Ron Washington said. "He was one of the guys that made sure that people knew of all the talent that was in that league. I was quite disappointed when he wasn't inducted into the Hall of Fame, but he made it possible for the ones who were inducted into the Hall of Fame."

O'Neil was especially loved by the very young. In appearances at children's clubs and elementary schools throughout the country, kids of all color would gather around to hear the merry-eyed, grandfatherly figure spin his tales.

Among older African-Americans, however, he would sometimes run into resentment. Why relive the Jim Crow past? Why dredge up bitter memories of segregated lunch counters and public facilities with insulting "whites only" signs?

But O'Neil would fire right back.

"It's very important that we know our history. We have to do that," he said. "I would remind them of a time when baseball was a source of joy for them. Then as we talked about it, they would remember who they were with, even what they wore to the games.

"I would tell them this is not a sad story. It's a celebration!" he said.

In the foreword to O'Neil's autobiography in 1996, Burns wrote of his amazing ability to see the goodness in his fellow man.

"His life reflects the past and contains many of the bitter experiences that our country reserved for men of his color, but there is no bitterness in him," he said.

"It's not so much that he put that suffering behind him as that he has brought gold and light out of bitterness and despair, loneliness and suffering. He knows he can go farther with generosity and kindness than with anger and hate," Burn wrote.

O'Neil has no children; his closest living relative is a brother, Warren O'Neil.

[SCTrojan]

Sad day for baseball and Kansas City. RIP Buck.

[ExtremeChief]

RIP Buck.

[Al Bundy]

RIP Buck, you were a true pioneer for baseball, for Kansas City and for real men everywhere.

[OmahaChief]

I had the chance to meet Buck several times but the time I will never forget was at the 2004 All Star game.

I was able to sit at his table for breakfast and listen to him tell stories of the Negro Leagues and all the great players. He was a true gentleman of the game. He represented all that is good about baseball. I hope some day young players read a book on his life and feel as inspired by it as I did that July morning listening to his stories of personal strife and triumph of the Negro leaguers.

The world lost a wonderful person today. It breaks my heart to hear that Buck is gone now. He was a KC legend. Maybe babeball will get it right this year and honor him by putting him in the hall. He deserves it.

Good bless Buck's family. Rest in Peace Mr. O'neil. I will miss you.

[DT4everaChief]

I have meet Buck on a few different occasions what an awesome human being. When a person looks up passion, class and dignity in the dictonary it reads Buck O'Neil. Rest in peace you will be missed.

[Pitt Gorilla]

This news hit me right in the gut. I don't know what to say. Buck was always smiling and eternally gracious. Buck didn't get inducted into the Hall, but he made sure everyone else that could did. Buck spoke of the game with a passion that could make anyone love baseball. He could be elected to the Hall, but he doesn't have to be; he'll always be the greatest ambassador for baseball to anyone who has ever met him.

[RP_McMurphy]

A truer Hall of Famer in the game of life was Buck. May Heaven be full of ladies in red dresses for you tonight.

[Sure-Oz]

damn :(

[bkkcoh]

A truer Hall of Famer in the game of life was Buck. May Heaven be full of ladies in red dresses for you tonight.


Not to mention his true recognition that he justly deserves. It is a true shame that he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as he should have been.

Maybe the Baseball Writers of America will do what they should have done a long time ago and vote him in. :toast:

RIP Buck.......

[Eleazar]

If you have a chance, there is a really nice piece on him in Golf Digest the September 2006 issue, page 87. Column by Dave Kindred. I'll see if I can find it on their website here.

[Eleazar]

Here it is:


Golf is his new pastime: former Negro League star Buck O'Neil still loves a good game

Golf Digest, Sept, 2006 by Dave Kindred

THE OLD MAN HAS TWO CHANCES, slim and none. But he says, "I can make up for it." He means he can make up for the previous bad shot, what he called an "ugggh-ly." He can redeem the mistake by knocking in this long and twisty snake of a putt. It's downhill and sidehill across a green that seems to start in St. Louis and stretch to these wheat fields outside Kansas City. He's standing just west of Columbia.

Buck O'Neil is 94 and plays golf every chance he gets. Not for exercise, not to get outdoors, but to whup up on buddies at Swope Park, a muny in Kansas City. Winner buys everybody lunch. They're scufflin' to buy lunch because with winning comes braggin' rights.

Maybe you've seen the tall, lean Buck O'Neil with that gentle face and quick, broad smile. Maybe you've heard his sweet voice and the perpetual rolling tide of laughter that carries us along on his life's joyride.

John Jordan O'Neil, the grandson of a slave, was made famous in Ken Burns' 1994 documentary, "Baseball." Late but just right, the fame came after O'Neil had worked unknown for most of the 20th century in a separate nation of black Americans.

A separate nation, the same game. O'Neil calls baseball the American sport. "You can tell," he once said, "because I don't care how good a player is, there are people up in the bleachers saying, 'I could do that. They're not saying that about 7-foot basketball players dunking balls or 300-pound football players. But baseball, they say, 'That sucker do that, I can do that.'"

He did it as child and man. Played for no money, played for 50 cents when enough folks bought tickets, finally made $700 a month with the Kansas City Monarchs, the Negro Leagues' royalty. Line-drive hitter, good glove at first base. The year before the young Jackie Robinson became the first black man in Major League Baseball, Buck O'Neil, old at 34 and about to become the Monarchs' manager, led the Negro American League in hitting at .353.

Robinson did more than baseball. And on this day, driving to a private golf course, so private it allows only men on the premises, Buck O'Neil laughs with his young black colleague, Bob Kendrick: "What make you think they're going to let us play?" At lunch in the club's grillroom, the old man says, "Jackie was the start of the whole civil rights thing. You know it, I know it."

He points at Kendrick. "If it wasn't for Jackie, you wouldn't even be wearing an apron in this place." Laughter here, and more when O'Neil and Kendrick wind up in the driver's seats of golf carts with their white playing partners: "Here we are, Bob, chauffeurs! For the white folks again!"

One white guy is holding the flagstick when Buck O'Neil stands on that green about the width of Missouri. From out there near Columbia, lying 4 on the par 5 and looking ready to make 7, O'Neil's voice comes toward the flagstick, "I can make up for it."

At the flagstick is George Hobbs. He's a Georgia native, 51, born and raised in Augusta, the home of Augusta National Golf Club, men only, once white only, still white by a landslide. He rattles the stick against the cup, the joke being that this putt is so long Buck O'Neil probably can't see that far but might hear the racket and slap his golf ball toward the noise.

Ten years ago, Hobbs came to Kansas City as a sales rep of E-Z-Go golf cart's Heartland branch. He loves baseball, so he made a pilgrimage to the city's 18th and Vine neighborhood to meet the famous Buck O'Neil. Found him at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which is a place with a story.

"Put that museum in the South," Hobbs says,"and all racial troubles would go away. It changes your heart." Its story speaks of a world a Georgia boy never knew. A world of people with two chances, slim and none, who made their dreams real. Their story is preserved in the museum O'Neil helped build by raising money. Those people were all black.

Sounds hard now, what the Negro Leagues players did, buses rattling across America in a parallel universe, Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson over there, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige over here. But say as much to Buck O'Neil on the golf course and he says,"Nah. Time of our lives. Ain't work if you love what you're doing. What's not to love? Ain't nothin' but a game."

He knew players named Steel Arm and Copperknee, Sea Boy and Gunboat. On a night of romantic maneuvering, Satchel Paige stood in a hotel corridor calling for Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. His fiancee, Lahoma, suddenly appeared and asked," Nancy? "At which point, Buck O'Neil, familiar with his partner's multilayered love life, popped open his door and said,"Here I am, Satchel."

The grateful Satch said, "Oh, Nancy, there you are. I've been looking for you." And forever after called him Nancy.

Which explains why the golfer Buck O'Neil cries out, "C'mon, Nancy, hit it," when his tee shots don't fly all that far.

He took up golf after baseball. One day 50 years ago, scouting, O'Neil had nothing to do while waiting to see a college player. So a coach gave him a 7-iron and a bag of balls. He hit them and hasn't stopped yet. Never had a lesson, just lets those big, soft hands work the way they did in baseball.

He was 75 when he first shot his age.

"Maybe you'll do it again today," I say.

"Way I'm playing, nope. Ugggh-ly. Not today. I ain't that old."

At the turn, O'Neil detours into the club parking lot to say hello to another Kansas City icon, Tom Watson, who's only 56 but liable to shoot his age any minute. A baseball fan forever, Watson loves the "confident serenity "that casts such a warm glow from O'Neil. "Mr. O'Neil," he says, "you're looking awfully nimble out there."

Another O'Neil friend puts it this way: "Been playinq with Buck 40 years," says Ollie Gates, the barbecue mogul and lunch-game contestant at Swope Park. "I tell you, when Buck hits a shot, it stays hit.

That long, snaky putt is rolling now, downhill, sidehill, twisting to the right, and George Hobbs takes the flagstick out, and Buck O'Neil's voice gets louder, full of beseeching that morphs into hope on its way to possibility. And now the words come faster, no air between them," Icanmakeupforit, Ican ..."

And by damn. Pretty as you please, it goes in.

Might've been an ugggh-ly Nancy 7. Instead, a beee-you-ti-ful Buck 5.

From halfway across Missouri, Buck O'Neil, with two chances, slim and none, knocks in the snake for a par, and he turns his back to the hole, high-stepping, a 94-year-old man high-stepping, and he's singing out, "I told you I could make up for it."

There comes a great roar of laughter, and O'Neil shouts, "Told you! Ain't nothin' but a game!"

You get one guess what he shot this day.

Yes, sir.

A 94.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Golf Digest Companies
COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group

[Phobia]

Here's how you can honor the man now:
http://www.nlbm.com/buck/buck.htm

[Phobia]

RIP Buck.Now ty cobb and you can play baseball together.

I'm sure Buck would like that. I'm not so sure about Ty.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Here's how you can honor the man now:
http://www.nlbm.com/buck/buck.htmGreat idea. Thanks.

[Reaper16]

Wright Thompson has a nice piece on ESPN.com:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=thompson_wright&id=2608378

[Demonpenz]

thank you.

[SPchief]

Wright Thompson has a nice piece on ESPN.com:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=thompson_wright&id=2608378


Watching that video brought a tear to my eyes.

RIP Buck and godspeed.

[kcfanXIII]

i feel lucky to have met him, he led my class on a tour of the nlb hof. such a great person. he will be missed. rip

as for ty cobb? his eternety should be spent playing satchel paige, josh gibson, and buck o'niel. and never winning.

[the Talking Can]

I hope the assholes who didn't think he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame are proud of themselves.

How many people have given more of their lives to Baseball?

[StcChief]

RIP - Buck O'Neill

I can't see why the HOF wouldn't let him in it's the honerable thing to do.

[JBucc]

Bye bye, Buck. **** you HOF voter assholes.

[teedubya]

Dude hung with Satchel. Won 2 Negro League Batting titles, numerous Negro League championship, Managed the Monarchs to Negro League Championship. As a scout found Ernie Banks and Lou Brock. Was teh FIRST black man to coach in the Major Leagues. Was an ambassador for the game and the curator of the Negro League Museum, and was not inducted into the Baseball HOF?

WTF.

Buck is rejoicing today. Think of all his wonderful friends welcoming him home. That nearly brings a tear to my eye. He was so full of joy and happiness... and today, he is happier than he has ever been.

Congrats Buck and Welcome home!

[wazu]

Bye bye, Buck. **** you HOF voter assholes.

[KChiefs1]

Rip Buck!

You'll always be a HOF guy to me.

[gblowfish]

I never saw anyone who loved baseball more than Buck O'Neil. In light of the gambling scandals, free agent greed, steroids and all the garbage that is Major League Baseball, he's been one of the few shining lights as a true ambassador for baseball over the past 20 years. To exclude him from the HOF by one lousy vote pretty much sums up the injustices to Buck over his lifetime.

Buck O'Neil makes me very proud to be a Kansas Citian. I can think of no other man who I'd rather have associated with my home town.

We'll miss him, and today we'll celebrate his life.
My avi has been changed today to say thanks, Buck.

[tomahawk kid]

I hope the assholes who didn't think he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame are proud of themselves.

How many people have given more of their lives to Baseball?

Yep. They should all wake up this morning with a scortching case of herpes.

RIP Buck. You'll be missed.

[Braincase]

Thanks, Buck. RIP, and take Satchel deep your next at bat.

[gblowfish]

Very nice tribute and video clip on ESPN website this morning:
http://tinyurl.com/mcc5c

[KCFalcon59]

RIP Buck. Tis a sad day when we lose a great one like him.

[dirk digler]

RIP Buck what a sad day it is.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Here's a collection of NBC's videos.

collection of articles/videos from NBC (http://www.nbcactionnews.com/kshb/nw_local_news/article/0,1925,KSHB_9424_5035696,00.html)

[Sure-Oz]

The Royals should retire his seat at the K and make sure no one sits in it again.

[VonneMarie]

He was recently diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. :(

[chiefqueen]

Okay, here's some dates:

Buck's body lies in state at the Negro League Baseball Museum, Friday, 10/13 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Private Funeral and Burial 10/14

Public Memorial Service TBA (per FOX 4 this will occur on 10/14 in the afternoon)

The 95th Birthday Party @ Starlight will still go on. The date for that is 11/11.

[VonneMarie]

Okay, here's some dates:

Buck's body lies in state at the Negro League Baseball Museum, Friday, 10/13 9:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Private Funeral and Burial 10/14

Public Memorial Service TBA

The 95th Birthday Party @ Starlight will still go on. The date for that is 11/11. Ladies, wear your red dresses.
:)

[chiefqueen]

The Royals should retire his seat at the K and make sure no one sits in it again.

I agree, I'm also thinking that for next year only, the Royals should wear the Monarchs uniform more than once.

Wearing them @ every home game may be going overboard, the idea running thru my head now is wearing Monarchs uniforms at all day home games and on Friday nights home games. On road games & non-Friday night games a commerative patch would be worn on current day uniforms. (Of course, the commerative would also be worn with the Monarchs uniforms.)

To me, just wearing a commerative patch on the modern-day uniforms with us just wearing the Monarchs uniform just once or twice would not suffice. Buck deserves more.

[bringbackmarty]

I had the privelege of knowing Buck a little bit through his association with the Museums 18th and Vine. I talked to him about what K.C. was really like when he was playing ball. What a wealth of knowledge, history, and information this man had. Kansas City and Baseball just lost it's greatest ambassador, and one of it's most solid citizens.

[Immaculate]

R.I.P Buck. It's an absolute discgrace that you weren't inducted into the hall of fame while alive. A true pioneer to the sport, The race, And the world. A great man, Great player, And a great representative of Kansas City. Our city, State, And world are now that much worse for having lost you.