Negro Leagues Baseball Museum admission will be free in February, thanks to Royals

The Chiefs are on the minds of most sports fans in Kansas City these days, but the Royals will be arriving for spring training in less than three weeks.

And when the Super Bowl is over — and if KC fans have their way, the championship parade, too — then baseball will be front and center.

And what better way to get ready for baseball than by making a trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum? It’s one of the crown jewels of Kansas City, in my opinion, and admission will be free in the month of February.

The Royals announced that they and their foundation will pay for the cost of entrance to the museum next month. It’s the third straight year the team is picking up the tab for anyone who wants to visit.

“We are excited to help Kansas Citians learn about the incredible story of the Negro Leagues,” Luis Maes, Royals Vice President of Community Impact, said in a news release. “It’s a story about baseball as well as American history and our struggles and progress in civil rights. The NLBM is the only museum in the world dedicated to bringing this incredible story to life and we are fortunate to have it in our backyard.”

The Kansas City Royals Foundation (formerly Royals Charities) paid $120,000 last year after more than 14,000 people visited the NLBM, the team said.

“We are thrilled that the Kansas City Royals and the Kansas City Royals Foundation are once again providing admission to the museum free of charge for the entire month of February,” NLBM president Bob Kendrick said in a news release. “The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is a tremendous educational resource and is one of the nation’s most important Civil Rights and Social Justice institutions. We hope that students and adults alike will take advantage of this generous gesture to learn how America’s unsung baseball heroes helped change the game and America too.”