“It was a roller coaster for everybody except him,” said Bob Kendrick, the museum’s director of marketing. “Certainly he was disappointed. But he taught us how to handle disappointment. In the scope of things that have happened in his life, not getting into the Hall pales in comparison.”

Since the ballot was cast, the T-Bones have become the unofficial champions of Buck O’Neil.

The club has been passing petitions through the stands at all home games, asking commissioner Bud Selig or former commissioner Fay Vincent to intervene. T-Bones officials say they’ve already collected more than 10,000 signatures.

“The Negro Leagues were the original independent baseball,” Ehlert said. “And Buck O’Neil is the patriarch of independent baseball.”

Standing in the shade at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, John Park labored Tuesday to gather signatures, already sweating through a white T-shirt that read “Sign the petition. Get Buck in the Hall.”

“He’s a legend in his own time,” said Park, 59, from Kansas City, Kan. “I don’t know all of the statistics. I’m just saying how I feel.”

Across the stadium, opposite O’Neil’s name emblazoned on the outfield wall, Abbey Evert marveled that the sinewy, old right-hander was stepping to the plate on a day when temperatures in Kansas topped 100 degrees.

“It’s pretty crazy,” said Evert, 17, from Shawnee, Kan. “That’s someone who really loves baseball.”

But O’Neil dismissed concerns about the heat.

“This is Kansas City weather,” he said. “We used to play doubleheaders in this weather with wool uniforms.”

A lifetime .288 hitter and two-time Negro League batting champion, O’Neil became Major League Baseball’s first black coach with the Chicago Cubs. He went on to discover Hall of Famer Lou Brock and countless others as a scout, and now works tirelessly with Kendrick to keep alive the story of the Negro leagues.

His exclusion from the Hall of Fame caught nearly everybody by surprise. Players including Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and Brock took aim at the selection process, and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, said the vote had left “a community in tears.”

“He should be celebrated in baseball,” said Kansas City T-Bones manager “Dirty” Al Gallagher, a former San Francisco Giants pitcher who met O’Neil in the late 1960s. “Why the commissioner hasn’t put him in the Hall of Fame, I have no idea.”

MORE FROM BASEBALL

Baseball Section Front

Twins’ Mauer wins AL MVP award CTB: Mauer had truly historic season CTB: Did A-Rod throw cousin under financial bus? CTB: Red Sox willing to throw money into Lowell deal DeMarco: Red Sox should take measured approach CTB: Handicapping the Halladay chase Blyleven: Pitching to be had beyond Halladay CTB: Should the Yankees get younger? CTB: Mets may play some games in Puerto Rico   CTB: Future Hall of Famer Vizquel joins White Sox Baseball Section Front   Add Baseball headlines to your news reader: