Giants fans visit Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KGO) -- The San Francisco Giants face off against the Kansas City Royals Tuesday night in Game 6 of the World Series. What we have is drama playing out in two very large American cities. The average fan knows that the Royals last won a World Series in 1985. But few know that the city has actually won 26 baseball championships. The first 25 belonged to the Kansas City Monarchs. Ever hear of them?

When fans attend a World Series game, especially a potential closing game, they get an "I was there" claim to baseball history. Why else would Giants fans come all the way back to Kansas City?

But catching history is different than learning it. For that in Kansas City, visit 18th and Vine, where you'll find the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

"The great thing about our museum is you don't have to be a baseball fan," said museum president Bob Kendrick.

No. This is a place where baseball provides the theme, but segregation would be the real story. How, while Major League Baseball remained all white, African American players formed their own leagues and filled their stadiums. It was an alternate baseball universe.

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"This is America at her worst, but it's also America at her triumphant best," Kendrick said.

Kendrick runs the museum, which celebrates more than 100 teams and players from Satchel Page to Willie Mays.

"Before he was known as the Say Hey Kid, he was Young Buck," said Kendrick.

It's a museum in multiple dimensions: intellectual and emotional.

"It touches a special place," said one museum visitor. "And I get to actually see it and place my hands on it."

And it's physical in the form of uniforms, bats, balls, and even a hotel room showing how the players traveled.

"Those are like dress shoes with cleats hammered in," said Giants fan John Dannerbeck.

For John and Laura Dannerbeck, who came to Kansas City for the series, a visit to the museum put today's game and era in a different light.

"You can say the glass is half empty or half full," John said. "I mean, it's a history of segregation that represents the worst times in American history. But I think it also represents the best times in American history; that we were able to overcome segregation and integrate the greatest players in baseball history."

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If you're looking for historical context, it's at the museum. There are posters of the first Colored World Series. Yes, they called it that. It took place in Kansas City 90 years ago this month, with the Kansas City Monarchs playing against the Hilldale Daisies.

And there's one other historical parallel you might not like -- the Daisies had a two-game lead going into the end of it.

"The Monarchs would win that World Series," said Kendrick. "And you know how they did it? They had to win the last two games of that series to win the World Series. So we're hoping here in Kansas City that a little history might be on our side."

We'll see about that. Either way, there's a little more baseball history in a city already overflowing with it.

ABC7 News reporter Wayne Freedman is in Kansas City covering the World Series. Follow him on Twitter for updates!

For full coverage of the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, click here.

Show your support for the San Francisco Giants and email playoff fever fan photos to uReport@kgo-tv.com!