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The Monarchs

The Kansas City T-Bones baseball team is renamed the Kansas City Monarchs to honor the team that played in the Negro Leagues after reaching an agreement with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Story by Caroline Hinkebein | Sports Team & Photos by Carmon Baker |Web Editor The sun sets over a T-Bone's baseball game in 2004. The T-Bones were established in Kansas City in 2003 and will change their name to "Monarchs" for the 2021 season. photo courtesy of Wikimedia

There are those who will say that the Kansas City Monarchs were the New York Yankees of the Negro Leagues, but there are others who will say that the New York Yankees were the Kansas City Monarchs of the major leagues—they were that good,” President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Bob Kendrick said. The Kansas City Monarchs had the longest-lasting franchise in baseball’s Negro League’s history. The Monarchs have a rich history, kept in the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball, and its profound impact on the social advancements of America, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. “The story of the Negro Leagues could have only happened in America,” Kendrick said. “It is anchored in the ugliness of American segregation, a horrible chapter in this country’s history. But out of segregation rose this wonderful story of triumph and conquest. And it’s all based on one small, simple principle. If you won’t let me play with you in the major leagues, then I’ll just create a league of my own.” The Monarchs were one of the original eight teams that established the Negro National League in 1920. They were owned by James Leslie Wilkinson—affectionately known as Wilkie. Wilkie was the only white owner of the original eight Negro League franchises. “Wilkinson would bring the Kansas City Monarchs into the fold, and the Monarchs would go on to become one of the greatest baseball franchises not in black baseball history, but in baseball history,” Kendrick said. “One losing season, in their almost 40year existence in the Negro Leagues, sent more players to the Major Leagues than any other Negor League franchise, they were an absolute model organization. And I say this with no disrespect to my beloved Kansas City Royals, the Kansas City Monarchs are still the greatest baseball franchise this city has ever seen.” The Kansas City Monarchs hold such a powerful history in our community. It was due to this that when the owner of the former Kansas City T-Bones, Mark Brandmeyer, came to Kendrick with the idea of rebranding to the Monarchs, he was a bit hesitant. “The monarchs is our, that’s our baby,” Kendrick said. Kendrick’s perspective began to switch as he got to know and trust Brandmeyer and consider all the opportunities this partnership could provide the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “It really started to shift because the realization that I came to was as a museum and particularly a history museum, and a cultural institution like ours, the challenge is how do you create relevancy?” Kendrick said. “Negro Leagues baseball hadn’t been played in over 60 years. And the opportunity to bring this brand back to light now creates relevancy. That’s what you want to have.”

Second Baseman Jackie Robinson smiles in his Kansas City Monarchs jersey in 1945. Robinson played for the Monarchs before becoming the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball. photo courtesy of Wikimedia To Kendrick, the most important part of all of this is to make sure people have access to the story. “Since we started this thing, that’s one of the reasons why we built traveling exhibitions, to take this story on the road,” Kendrick said. “We needed people to have access to the story. I don’t think there was ever a time that people didn’t want to know about the history of the Negro Leagues they just didn’t have any way to do so, it’s not in the pages of American history books. And so we needed to provide that access.”

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