I Was Right on Time: My Journey from Negro Leagues to the Majors » (Reprint)

Buck O'Neil is currently the chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. A former all-star player and manager for the Kansas City Monarchs, O'Neil has the distinction of being the first African-American to hold a coaching position in major-league baseball. A former scout for the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals, O'Neil now resides in Kansas City, Missouri.

From Babe Ruth to Bo Jackson, from Cool Papa Bell to Lou Brock, Buck O'Neil has seen it all. As a first baseman and then manager of the legendary Kansas City Monarchs, O'Neil witnessed the heyday of the Negro leagues and their ultimate demise.

In I Was Right on Time, he charmingly recalls his days as a ballplayer and as an African-American in a racially divided country. Whether he's telling of his barnstorming days with the likes of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson or the day in 1962 when he became the first African-American coach in the major leagues, O'Neil takes us on a trip not only through baseball's past but through America's as well.

Chicago Sun-Times

O'Neil's wry memories of the Negro Leagues are just as captivating in print as they were on TV.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Ken Burns

1. Why, Nancy, There You Are

2. Damn, There's Got to Be Something Better Than This

3. I Ate So Much My Mama Cried

4. People Tell Me I Look Good in a Dress

5. 18th and Vine

6. Seems Like I Been Here Before

7. Bring 'Em On

8. Now Hear This! Now Hear This!

9. Long Live the Monarchs

10. My Cub Scout Years

11. Love What You Do

12. Got to Give It Up

Index