34 Facts About Buck O'Neil

Buck O'Neil was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 as an executive.

Buck O'Neil was born in Carrabelle, Florida, to John Jordan Buck O'Neil and Louella Campbell.

Buck O'Neil was initially denied the opportunity to attend high school owing to racial segregation.

Buck O'Neil grew up in Sarasota, Florida in the Newtown community.

Buck O'Neil worked the celery fields in Sarasota while his father ran a pool hall in Newtown.

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Buck O'Neil left Florida in 1934 for several years of semi-professional "barnstorming" experiences.

The effort paid off, and in 1937, Buck O'Neil signed with the Memphis Red Sox for their first year of play in the newly formed Negro American League.

Buck O'Neil's contract was sold to the Monarchs the following year.

Buck O'Neil played in three East-West All-Star Games in three different seasons and two Negro World Series.

Buck O'Neil served his enlistment in a naval construction battalion in New Jersey.

Buck O'Neil returned to the Monarchs at the start of the 1946 season.

Buck O'Neil was named manager of the Monarchs in 1948 after Frank Duncan's retirement, and continued to play first base as well as a regular through 1951, dropping to part-time status afterward.

Buck O'Neil managed the Monarchs for eight seasons from 1948 through 1955 during the declining years of the Negro leagues, winning two league titles and a shared title in which no playoff was held during that period.

Buck O'Neil was known to have played full-time in 1951 and as a reserve and pinch-hitter as late as 1955, but Negro leagues statistics for the period 1951 and after are considered unreliable, and rapidly dropping below major league quality.

When Tom Baird sold the Monarchs at the end of the 1955 season, Buck O'Neil resigned as manager and became a scout for the Chicago Cubs, and is credited for signing Hall of Fame player Lou Brock to his first professional baseball contract.

Buck O'Neil is sometimes incorrectly credited with having signed Hall of Famer Ernie Banks to his first contract; Banks was originally scouted and signed to the Monarchs by Cool Papa Bell, then manager of the Monarchs' barnstorming B team in 1949.

Buck O'Neil played briefly for the Monarchs in 1950 and 1953, his play interrupted by Army duty.

Buck O'Neil was Banks' manager during those stints, and Banks was signed to play for the Cubs more than two years before Buck O'Neil joined them as a scout.

Buck O'Neil was named the first black coach in the major leagues by the Cubs in 1962, although he was not assigned in-game base coaching duties, nor was he included in the Cubs' "College of Coaches" system, and was never allowed to manage the team during that time.

Buck O'Neil gained national prominence with his compelling descriptions of the Negro leagues as part of Ken Burns' 1994 PBS documentary on baseball.

In 1990, Buck O'Neil led the effort to establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, and served as its honorary board chairman until his death.

In 1996, Buck O'Neil became the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri.

In February 2002, at the end of the NLBM's Legacy Awards annual banquet, Buck O'Neil received an induction ring from the baseball scouts Hall of Fame in St Louis.

Buck O'Neil was a member of the 18-member Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee from 1981 to 2000 and played an important role in the induction of six Negro league players from 1995 to 2001 during the time the Hall had a policy of inducting one Negro leaguer per year.

Buck O'Neil was nominated to a special Hall ballot for Negro league players, managers, and executives in 2006, but received fewer than the necessary nine votes to gain admission; however, 17 other Negro league figures were selected.

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On July 29,2006, Buck O'Neil spoke at the induction ceremony for the Negro league players at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

On December 7,2006, O'Neil was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W Bush; the award was presented to his brother, Warren, on his behalf on December 15.

Buck O'Neil was chosen due to his "excellence and determination both on and off the baseball field", according to the White House news release.

On November 13,2012 the family of Buck O'Neil donated his Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in honor of what would have been O'Neil's 101st birthday.

On March 31,2007—the day of Major League Baseball's first annual Civil Rights Game—Buck O'Neil was posthumously awarded MLB's first annual Beacon of Life Award at the inaugural MLB Beacon Awards luncheon.

On October 24,2007, Buck O'Neil was posthumously given a Lifetime Achievement Award named after him.

Buck O'Neil had fallen short in the Hall of Fame vote in 2006; however, he was honored in 2007 with a new award given by the Hall of Fame, to be named after him.

On November 5,2021, Buck O'Neil was selected to the final ballot of 10 candidates for consideration by the Early Days Committee during voting for induction to the Hall of Fame.

Buck O'Neil was formally enshrined on July 24,2022, with his niece Angela Terry accepting the nomination and delivering a speech on his behalf.