Blue KC Donates $9,000 to Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Donation culminates season-long ‘Homers For History’ campaign
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A season-long effort has come to fruition for Blue KC, the American Association Kansas City Monarchs, and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) is donating $9,000 to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum as part of the ‘Homers for History’ campaign.
Blue KC donated $100 for every home run the Kansas City Monarchs hit in the 2024 American Association season. The Monarchs hit 88 home runs in 2024. Blue KC rounded up to $9,000 to support the wonderful efforts of the Museum!
The funds will go toward the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s “Pitch for the Future” capital campaign, raising money to build the nation’s only Negro Leagues campus. The project will include the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center and a brand-new, state-of-the-art museum.
“Thanks to Blue KC and the American Association’s Kansas City Monarchs for hitting one out of the park for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum,” said Bob Kendrick, museum president. “This was a fun and exciting way to celebrate the crowning achievement of the great Kansas City Monarchs winning the inaugural Negro Leagues World Series a century ago while generating valuable support and increased engagement that drove fans home to experience the museum.”
The effort is part of a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the original Monarchs’ win in the first-ever Negro League World Series in 1924.
“Blue KC is excited about the “Pitch for the Future” capital campaign and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s celebration of our rich history of African American baseball,” said Christina Lively, Blue KC Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “We love our Kansas City community, and we are dedicated to this new project, which solidifies the Museum as one of the nation’s greatest social justice institutions.”
The Monarchs’ hitters finished the season strong, blasting 19 home runs in their final 10 games.
“We at the Monarchs are thrilled to help facilitate this great effort,” Monarchs owner Mark Brandmeyer said. “Our batters had another outstanding year, and it’s heartwarming to know that every one of our homers helped support our friends and partners at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.”
The AAPB Monarchs’ 2024 season came to a close on September 2. Their 2025 campaign will begin in May.
ABOUT THE NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM:
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its impact on the social advancement of America. The privately funded, 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization was established in 1990 and is in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri’s Historic 18th and Vine Jazz District. The NLBM operates two blocks from the Paseo YMCA where Andrew “Rube” Foster established the Negro National League in 1920.
ABOUT BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF KANSAS CITY:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri and the only not-for-profit commercial health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City provides health coverage services to more than one million residents in the greater Kansas City area, including Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and 30 counties in Northwest Missouri. Our mission: to provide affordable access to healthcare and to improve the health of our members. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information on the company, visit its website at BlueKC.com.
ABOUT THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION KANSAS CITY MONARCHS
The Kansas City Monarchs are a professional baseball team in the American Association, an MLB Partner League. 2024 will be their 21st season at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas. In 2020, the team partnered with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and changed their name from the T-Bones to the Monarchs in honor of the legendary Negro League franchise that played from 1920 to 1965. This year, the Monarchs and the museum are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first Negro League World Series, won by the Monarchs in 1924.
