Caption: NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUE LEGEND: John "Buck" O'Neil, the first Black coach in the Major Leagues, gets ready to throw the ceremonial first pitch at the Minnesota Twins' game with some help from Twins player Jacque Jones. O'Neil, honored the night before at the Metrodome for the team's fifth annual African-American Heritage Night, played for and managed the Kansas City Monarchs between the 1930s and 1950s and managed teams during the East-West All-Star games, a premier event for Black baseball players. Throughout his career, he played in two Negro American League World Series and three Negro American League All-Star games. In 1962, he became the first Black coach ever hired in the majors by the Chicago Cubs. Today, the 93-year-old is a board chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and a Missouri Sports Hall of Fame member. A bronze casting of O'Neil's hands on a baseball bat called "Hitter's Hands" is currently in the "Shades of Greatness" exhibit, featuring art inspired by Negro Leagues Baseball history, at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit.

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