Emanuel Cleaver: “this week Kansas City and our entire metropolitan area celebrated our hometown hero, Buck O'Neil, a Hall of Famer in our…”

“this week Kansas City and our entire metropolitan area celebrated our hometown hero, Buck O'Neil, a Hall of Famer in our hearts. It is clear that the baseball Hall of Fame has made a terrible, shameful error in not inducting Buck on this ballot. As one of the Hall's own officials said, ``The Hall of Fame is not complete without Buck O'Neil.'' Buck is the reason 17 members of the Negro Leagues will be inducted this summer. Without his national visibility as an ambassador of the Negro Leagues, they would not have this honor. Without his efforts, very few would know the intimate details of segregated baseball in the United States during the 1930s, 1940s, and even into the 1950s. Buck, the classy man that he is, will never complain about not being elected to the Hall. In fact, when told by reporters that he had not made it, he smiled and said, ``That's the way the cookie crumbles.'' And so, on behalf of a community in tears, and a 94-year-old baseball legend, I will stand and complain. The omission of Buck O'Neil was wrongheaded and an insult to Buck, the Negro Leagues, and baseball fans everywhere. Buck O'Neil is a man who has done more than anyone to popularize and keep alive the history of the Negro Leagues. The fact that he was not voted into baseball's Hall of Fame is a wrong that only Major League Baseball can make right, and I hope they will make it right next year.…”