Editorial: Sport not larger than the man

Friday, Oct. 13, 2006 | 8:02 a.m.

Baseball lost its finest ambassador this month - John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil, who died Oct. 6 in Kansas City, Mo.

He was among the last of a generation of black men who played in the Negro Leagues. A war veteran, two-time Negro Leagues batting champion and manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, he then went to the Chicago Cubs, becoming the first black coach in the major leagues.

While he worked as a scout for years, he pushed to build the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a lasting memorial to the time when black men weren't allowed to play in the majors.

O'Neil, who was 94, will be honored at a memorial service Saturday , and the Baseball Hall of Fame, which inexplicably snubbed him in February when his name came up for consideration, ought to pay attention.

Upon learning that he had not been voted into the Hall, Buck reacted with the serenity of a man who had lived his life well in difficult times - but nonetheless times that had brought much progress for his race in this country.

"Shed no tears for Buck," the Associated Press quoted him as saying. "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."

Those weren't just words. The grandson of a slave brought to America, O'Neil meant it. When it came time in July to induct this year's class into the Hall of Fame, he gave the first speech.

If only the rest of the sport, which in recent years has been pumped up by both arrogance and steroids, had such class today.