KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's Free February for the fourth consecutive year at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City, Missouri.
It's made possible by the Kansas City Royals Foundation, the charitable arm of the MLB team, which underwrites all admission to the museum in celebration of Black History Month.
"I just love this," said Trinity Dokes, who visited the museum Tuesday with her father. "I'm glad that they opened this opportunity for us to explore and enjoy all this stuff in history."
Dokes, a native of Denver who is in her freshman year at the University of Kansas, learned about Free February at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, or NLBM, from her mom.
She had visited the museum as a child and fondly remembered the Field of Legends, but the experience was different as a 19-year-old college student.
"All my brothers play baseball, so I grew up with it and I have a huge love for it," Dokes said. "I'm actually obsessed with it. But then remembering that this is here, I was like, 'Wait, I need to go back and look at my history in this,' because being mixed and having my brothers who play baseball, and some of them are literally the only Black person on the team, it's like interesting to look at this."
School groups pour through the museum in February. That's always been the case at the NLBM, but the Royals Foundation’s generosity has upped the ante in recent years.
"What we've seen through the last four years, we've raised the level of participation in Black History Month," NLBM President Bob Kendrick said. "Last year, over 16,000 people came through these turnstiles. That is as large a single-month effort as we've had. Those are kind of June, July, types of numbers in a really, really good year for the museum."
During the first Free February at the NLBM, roughly 7,000 visitors stopped in for a visit. That number doubled in 2023 and attendance spiked to 16,000 in 2024.
"What that ended up as for us, in terms of the Royals Foundation, was a donation of $135,000 to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum," Royals Vice President of Community Impact Luis Maes said. "It's something that keeps growing every year."
The exciting thing for Kendrick is that it’s often children and Kansas City residents who take advantage of Free February.
"It has been a little extra push to get locals to come in and experience what people who come from outside the area, they can't wait to see it," Kendrick said. "Sometimes as locals, we have a tendency to be a little kind of passé about taking on experiences in our own city. We go other places and pay for those experiences, but we don't, oftentimes become tourists in our own hometown. This has been that little extra push to get people through and, man, it's been incredible."
Michael Gunter, a Kansas City-area lawyer and history buff, frequents the NLBM.
"It's a hidden gem," he said."I don't know how many people from Kansas City even come down, but I hope it sparks more interest now that the Royals do this every year for Free February. It's fantastic."
Gunter said he'd heard about Free February before, but he'd forgotten admission was complimentary this month when he dropped by Tuesday morning — and stumbled in Kendrick making his way through the exhibits.
"I've been here before, but I was just learning some new things, hearing from Mr. Kendrick about the traveling team, the Negro all-stars, going to Japan," Gunter said. "I did not know that. I always thought the first time it was done was the white ball players in 1934. ... It's always great to hear Bob Kendrick explain things he knows about the Negro Leagues."
Gunter also learned for the first time that the Royals baseball club was behind the Free February community outreach initiative.
"I didn't realize it was the Royals that were doing it, but I think that's amazing," he said. "I love the new ownership and the things he's done for the team and now Kansas City."
Maes said Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman insists that the club continue to operate in the generous spirit in the club’s founder Ewing Kauffman
"As the Kansas City Royals, it's part of our DNA," Maes said. "It started with our founder, Ewing Kauffman, in terms of him seeing that the club is an asset for the community. This is an extension of that. Our chairman and CEO, John Sherman, and our ownership group, they eat and breathe and sleep that as well."
It's no secret that the U.S. is fractured politically and efforts to create or maintain diversity, equity and inclusion are under attack.
"A cultural institution like the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the life lessons that stem from this story of triumph over adversity may be more important today than ever before," Kendrick said.
He’s always said the museum is a social-justice museum as much or more than a baseball museum: "The premise is baseball. The story is far more grandiose than the game of baseball."
The Royals agree: "It's not just a history about baseball; it's a history about civil rights in this country," Maes said. "For us, we feel that everyone should be able to hear that story."
Kansas City’s pitchers and catchers report Wednesday for spring training in Surprise, Arizona, with the rest of the team set to arrive Monday.
With football season now finished, baseball fans looking for an appetizer before the season have a few more weeks to take advantage of Free February at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on the Royals Foundation's dime.
"Come and learn," Maes said. "Come check it out. This is in our backyards. This is something we should all be proud of."
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