Rooting for Buck

 Later this evening MLB Network will reveal the names of those players from the Early Baseball Era and Golden Days Era who are to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Each of the ballots consist of ten players, and 75% of the 16 person selection committee needs to vote for an individual to get the nod. You can find more information about the selection process and the different committees at the National Baseball Hall of Fame's website.

 I have opinions about many of the twenty combined names on the ballots, but I'm all-in on one particular individual: Buck O'Neil. 

 I visited the Negro League Baseball Museum in January of 2008, which started me down a rabbit hole about the often underrecognized Negro Leagues. I've learned a lot about many of the greats, like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell, but Buck O'Neil has become my favorite. 

 I actually had a somewhat comprehensive write-up on O'Neil's career and influence when I was counting down my favorite bobbleheads in my collection back in 2012.  Buck O'Neil's name is all over the game of baseball. 

Since then I have been tracking down baseball cards which focus on the Negro Leagues and anything Buck O'Neil related which I may happen upon. Yes, in fact, he is represented in my Folder of Fun.

Dreams Fulfilled and artist Graig Kreindler produced a 184 card set celebrating the Negro Leagues during the summer of 2020. I wrote a blogpost after purchasing a copy of the set and the first two cards I spotlighted were of Buck O'Neil. 

Fast forward to this past summer and I read The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America.  This book was just the pick-me-up I needed after a year of pandemic teaching. Buck seemed to have had such a positive influence on everyone he met and he possessed a special talent of being able to put a positive spin on nearly every situation. 

 Recently, I've jumped back into blogging a bit by showing off Mail Day purchases. A particularly special one arrived a week ago, but I saved it for today's post. 

I never met Mr. Buck O'Neil, but Joe Posnanski's book resonated so strongly within me that I felt I needed to immortalize Buck within my own collection. I haven't been this excited about adding a singular card to my handcrafted storage box in quite sometime.  Assuredly, this card was a pricey acquisition, but completely worth it.  

Good luck today, Buck!