KC Royals Negro Leagues tribute loses major element this year

How MiLB ignited my passion for remembering the Negro Leagues

If you didn't know, I do not live in Kansas or Missouri but rather in Hampton, Virginia. My local minor-league team is the Norfolk Tides, the Triple-A affiliate for the Baltimore Orioles. That stacked farm system makes going out to Harbor Park a treat, watching MLB's future square off each night.

The Tides held their first Negro League Tribute Night on June 30, 2023, remembering the Norfolk Red Stockings. That team existed from 1878 to the early 1900s, making it one of the oldest teams in the region. I had surprisingly never heard of them, but loved the uniform and thought the Tides did right by the Red Stockings.

My curiosity came to fruition in the fourth inning, when I started chatting with an elderly Black gentleman attending the game. Let's just call him Charles. Charles had grown quite a gaggle of listeners around him by this point, with him sitting in a wheelchair and fans young and old listening from a standing bar. I joined the group and loved listening to Charles, speaking energetically with a drawl.

Charles had started talking about Black-only baseball in the region, focusing on teams in Norfolk and neighboring Portsmouth. He recalled attending games on Sunday afternoons, with people attending directly after church and filling up the stands. Charles is the one who educated me on the ties Satchel Paige, Johnny Bench, and Sam Allen had to Hampton Roads.

Yet, sometime after the stretch, the conversation shifted away from baseball and towards Charles' life in Hampton Roads. He recounted the area's segregation and the normalization of that segregation that still existed in 2023. I at some point told him I lived in Hampton, but wasn't from there originally. He took the opportunity to talk about how Black families were pushed from Norfolk to the surrounding cities, Hampton included. That history, insight, and genuine conversation brought a group of baseball fans into an unexpected history lesson.

I doubt Charles feels empowered to talk about his younger days without the Tides representing the Red Stockings. I doubt he talks about race relations today without talking about his younger days. I doubt I learn that history if Charles doesn't talk that day.

All because of a different uniform.

The league's new restrictions on special uniforms, including Negro Leagues uniforms, are unfortunate. When my colleague Jeremy Greco pointed out the Detroit Tigers had a similar change last month, I hoped it was a misunderstanding. I hoped that the Royals would still trot out Sunday in full Monarchs regalia, for just one game.

But nay, just a patch on a cap.

The Negro Leagues deserve more. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum deserves more. Baseball fans deserve more.

More from Kings of Kauffman