KC Royals: Buck O’Neil and some baseball memories

Buck O’Neil got the nickname “Nancy” from Monarchs teammate Satchel Paige.

O’Neil and fellow Hall of Fame pitching great Satchel Paige, who later played for the Kansas City A’s, were teammates on the Kansas City Monarchs during their heydays of the 1940s and, by all accounts, were also great friends. But while most everyone took to calling O’Neil “Buck” instead of his given name “John,” Paige had another nickname for him.

“Nancy.”

And that nickname arose from the most unlikely of events.

According to O’Neil biographer Posnanski, when the Monarchs were staying at a Chicago hotel, Paige encountered a woman named Nancy and had her belongings taken to his room.

Paige’s fiancée, Lahoma, then arrived. O’Neil’s room was next to Paige’s; O’Neil had the hotel place Lahoma in the vacant room next to his.

Later that night, Paige went to Nancy’s door and knocked more than once. But after receiving no response, he knocked louder and shouted, “Nancy!”

O’Neil heard Paige’s door open so he opened his own door and then said to Paige, “Satchel, are you looking for me?” Paige quickly responded with “Yes, Nancy. What time is the game tomorrow?”

From that moment on, Buck was also known as “Nancy,” making him the rare baseball player with two nicknames.

While every Royals fan has a baseball memory, Buck O’Neil had a great one.

Every fan has their own great baseball memory. Royals fans have many, such as the 1985 or 2015 World Series titles, seeing George Brett hit .390, or the Royals’ thrilling 2014 Wild Card comeback victory against the Athletics, just to name a few.

O’Neil was a first baseman for the Monarchs when their Easter 1943 contest against the Memphis Red Sox might have generated the best of his on-field baseball memories.

As O’Neil biographer Posnanski tells the story, O’Neil’s bat exploded that day. O’Neil doubled in his first plate appearance, then followed with a single. A home run came next.

If you’re keeping track, all O’Neil needed was the highly elusive triple to complete the cycle.

In his last chance at the plate for the day, O’Neil connected and sent the ball soaring toward the outfield fence. A homer would ruin his chances of hitting for the cycle, so Buck wanted the ball to strike, and not clear, the fence.

As fate would have it, ball and fence met. Although O’Neil’s third base coach was waving him home for an inside-the-park home run, O’Neil put on his brakes for a triple. And got the cycle.

But what happened that night might have been even greater than hitting for the cycle. Posnanski reports that Buck met who would later become his wife of over a half-century at his hotel that night.

Buck also tells the story:

Buck O’Neil becomes the oldest professional baseball player in history.

Picture this for a moment—a 94-year-old man making his way to the plate to hit in a professional baseball game.

Of course, no other person but Buck O’Neil would do such a thing.

And there he was in 2006, during the Northern League All-Star game in Kansas City. O’Neil led off for the West squad at the age of 94, appearing at the plate in a game for the first time since 1955 and, as reported at the time by the Associated Press, becoming the oldest professional player in baseball history. And he fared well, taking a walk before being replaced by a pinch-runner.

But that wasn’t the end of the story. The then-Kansas City T-Bones (since renamed the Monarchs) made a mid-inning trade that made O’Neil a T-Bone (he even signed a contract that gave him status as a professional). That meant he could, and did, play for the East—he led off the bottom of the first, actually took a swing, then drew another walk.

In typical O’Neil fashion, when asked who the last pitcher he faced off against was, O’Neil told the Associated Press, “I don’t remember yesterday, and you ask me who the pitcher was in 1955?”

Former Royals scout Buck O’Neil was a superb ballplayer and great ambassador for the game of baseball. He definitely made good memories.