Buck O'Neil

Athletic Coach

• Born: November 13, 1911
• Birthplace: Carrabelle, Florida
• Died: October 6, 2006
• Place of death: Kansas City, Missouri

Baseball player, coach, and manager

O’Neil was a first baseman and manager in Negro League baseball, most notably with the Kansas City Monarchs. He eventually became a Major League Baseball scout and was the first African American coach in the major leagues. In later years, he became well known as a speaker and an ambassador for the Negro Leagues.

Areas of achievement: Social issues; Sports: baseball

Early Life

John Jordan O’Neil was the grandson of a slave. He was born in Carrabelle, Florida, but later moved to Sarasota. One of his first jobs was as a box boy in a celery field where his father was foreman. One day, O’Neil’s father overheard him say, “There has got to be something better than this.” His father later told him that he would not be able to find it in the fields but would have to go out and get it. O’Neil became interested in baseball as a result of watching his father play on weekends with local teams.

When O’Neil graduated from eighth grade, there were only four high schools for African Americans in the entire state of Florida. He was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, which had a high school department. O’Neil eventually earned his high school diploma and took two years of college courses before beginning his baseball career in 1933 with the Tampa Black Smokers. He also began accumulating nicknames during his youth. Because his given name was John Jordan, his family took to calling him J. J., which was ultimately shortened to Jay. He got the nickname Foots because of his big feet. He got the nickname Country from his Edward Waters coach because his rural ways were so much different from those of the city boys on the team. He was called Cap, short for Captain, during his playing days in the Negro Leagues because his demeanor was always that of a team captain. Nancy was a nickname he acquired from a colorful Satchel Paige story. However, the nickname that stuck was Buck, which he got that as a result of mistaken identity with Miami Giants semipro team coowner Buck O’Neal.

Life’s Work

O’Neil spent most of his career in the Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs after playing his first season with the Memphis Red Sox. He lost two seasons and part of another while serving in the military from 1943 to 1945, but came back with a flourish, leading the league in hitting with a .350 average in 1946. He became player-manager of the Monarchs in 1948, a position he held until 1955. He then began working for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB) as a scout, signing future Hall of Famers Ernie Banks and Lou Brock.

In 1962, at the age of fifty, O’Neil was hired by the Cubs as the first African American coach in the major leagues. He returned to scouting for the Cubs in 1964 and remained with them until 1988, signing future stars Lee Smith and Joe Carter.

After a short-lived retirement, O’Neil took a job with the Kansas City Royals as a special-assignment scout. He enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the 1990’s when, at the age of eighty-two, he shared details of the history of Negro League baseball in director Ken Burns’s documentary Baseball (1994). O’Neil became a driving force behind the creation of the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, and eventually served as the chairman of its board. He served on the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame’s Veterans Committee from 1981 to 2000 and was instrumental in gaining recognition and admission for a number of Negro League players, including Ray Dandridge, Hilton Smith, Turkey Stearnes, and Mule Suttles Although he never played in the Major Leagues and never was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he said he had no regrets: “Waste no tears for me. I didn’t come along too early—I was right on time.”

O’Neil died on October 6, 2006, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was posthumously given an award named after him, the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. The Baseball Hall of Fame announced it would present the award no more than every three years. On December 7, 2006, O’Neil was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.

Significance

O’Neil spent six decades in baseball as a first baseman and manager in the Negro Leagues and as a scout for the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals. He also was the first African American coach in Major League Baseball. He was not considered a great player, but he was a good one. He was, however, a great manager who led the Kansas City Monarchs to many championships and sent numerous Negro League players to the major leagues. One of his most significant accomplishments was the preservation and promotion of the Negro Leagues’ legacy through the documentary Baseball, books, speaking engagements, and his service as a member of the Veterans Committee for the Baseball Hall of Fame and as chairman for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Bibliography

Hogan, Lawrence D. Shades of Glory: The Negro League and the Story of African American Baseball. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2006. Celebrates Negro League baseball and describes the racial injustices that its athletes had to endure.

O’Neil, Buck, Steve Wulf, and David Conrads. I Was Right on Time. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1996. Memoir of O’Neil’s days in the Negro Leagues during a time of deep racial divisions in America.

Peterson, Robert. Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams. Norwalk, Conn.: Eaton Press, 1996. Engaging history of Negro League baseball that includes league standings and a comprehensive list of players and officials.

Posnanski, Joe. The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. A look at the game of baseball and a perspective on life through the eyes of O’Neil.

Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. Baseball: An Illustrated History. Rev. ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. A comprehensive history of baseball, including the Negro Leagues, covering every milestone of the game. Originally published as a companion to Burns’s PBS documentary on baseball.