Padres manager Mike Shildt will join the “Pitch for the Future” to bring greater awareness to the legacy of the Negro Leagues with an expansion of the famed Kansas City museum.
Shildt was a frequent visitor of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum when he managed the Cardinals and remained hopeful that expansion would provide the resources needed to educate a new generation of fans.
“There’s a bigger story to tell,” Shildt said in Thursday’s announcement. “What’s taken place has been more grassroots oriented. They’ve been able to put it together without the resources to tell the full, big-picture story.”
Shildt will join famed former Phillies slugger Ryan Howard in the effort to support the Negro Leagues museum at a time when San Diegans are getting a taste of that story. That’s thanks to the museum, which in partnership with the Padres, brought the traveling “Barrier Breakers” exhibit to the main San Diego Public Library. It continues through May 31.
The museum is fundraising for a new 30,000-square-foot facility and campus in Kansas City, aimed at advancing the museum’s mission of preserving the rich history of Negro Leagues baseball and its impact on social progress in the United States.
Padres manager Mike Shildt and Ryan Howard have joined the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s Pitch for the Future campaign—supporting a new 30,000 sq. ft. facility in Kansas City.A powerful moment honoring history and building for the future. #MLB #Padres pic.twitter.com/NwkRPUCiYZ
— Mark Bartlett (@mark_a_bartlett) April 24, 2025The museum that was founded in a tiny, one-room office space in 1990 attracts about 70,000 visitors each year — plus major leaguers who stop by during road trips — but it has outgrown its space.
Museum president Bob Kendrick said he hoped to raise $30 million to complete the project.
“It’s a tremendous indicator of the growth of his museum and the heightened interest in the subject matter that we’ve generated through the years and has dictated a need for us to grow in all phases of our operations,” Kendrick said. “This is a byproduct of growth.”
Interest in the Negro Leagues has spiked in large part because of its inclusion in the video game MLB The Show. In addition, records for more than 2,300 players were incorporated last year into Major League Baseball statistics.
Howard was a rookie with the Phillies when he met Buck O’Neil, a champion of Black ballplayers during a monumental, eight-decade career on and off the field. He was introduced to O’Neil as a modern-day Josh Gibson, one of the Negro Leagues’ greatest players.
Padres manager Mike Shildt and Ryan Howard have joined the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s Pitch for the Future campaign—supporting a new 30,000 sq. ft. facility in Kansas City.A powerful moment honoring history and building for the future. #MLB #Padres pic.twitter.com/NwkRPUCiYZ
— Mark Bartlett (@mark_a_bartlett) April 24, 2025“Mr. O’Neil was like, ‘Do you got that power?’ I said, ‘Yes sir, I do,’” Howard said. “He told me: ‘Don’t be ashamed of it. Let it out.’ It was great, just hearing the stories from and just being in his presence.”
O’Neil, who died in 2006, was long a champion of the Negro Leagues museum. Howard, who won an NL MVP and a World Series with the Phillies, is ready to take up O’Neil’s cause.
Howard toured the museum long before he was one of the feared sluggers in the National League.
“It was my way of paying homage to the Negro Leagues and former Negro League players that didn’t get the opportunity to play in the big leagues,” Howard said.
Howard was always struck by the Field of Legends — 13 life-size statues of the first Negro Leaguers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York — that deepened his understanding of the journey the players took to reach the Hall.
“I think that’s why it’s important to keep the story going, keep it alive,” Howard said. “You’ve got to understand the history of Black baseball and how it correlates with baseball, in general, and Major League Baseball.”
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found during its last published study that Black players represented just 6.2% of players on MLB opening day rosters in 2023, down from 7.2% in 2022.
Former New York Mets slugger Darryl Strawberry said over the weekend that MLB needed to focus on developing and marketing the game within the inner cities in order for the percentage of Black players to rise substantially.
Howard said connecting Black youth with baseball has long had its issues.
“It’s tough, trying to help figure things out,” Howard said. “I think there are now more young Black kids starting to get back into baseball. You have to be able to turn on the TV and see somebody that looks like you.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Padres skipper Shildt backs expansion of Negro Leagues Baseball Museum )
Also on site :
- Trump’s attack on diversity takes center stage as Boston remembers 1965 Freedom Rally led by MLK
- Pacifica graduate Nohl Williams drafted in 3rd round by the Kansas City Chiefs
- Lana Del Rey Sings About Kissing Morgan Wallen, Covers Tammy Wynette and John Denver, and Goes Swinging in Unpredictable Stagecoach Set