By Todd Moning
FMCA.com editor

Before African-Americans were permitted to play major league baseball, Negro Leagues and barnstorming teams traveled across the country. They played games and exhibitions against some of the best players of the day, black or white.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, founded in 1990, is reaching a vast audience through a barnstorming tour of its own.

The second season of "Times of Greatness,” a mobile museum, winds up its 30-city tour Aug. 26 at Oriole Park in Baltimore, Md.

Inside a 53-foot trailer, visitors can learn about the powerful story of Negro Leagues baseball.

Historical items
"Times of Greatness,” presented by trucking company Roadway Express, offers historic film footage, rare photographs, interactive displays, players’ equipment, team jerseys and other memorabilia from throughout the history of Negro Leagues baseball.

Displays feature well-known greats like Buck O’Neil, James “Cool Papa" Bell and Josh Gibson. Also on hand is a life-size replica of Leroy "Satchel" Paige, considered the greatest pitcher in the history of the Negro Leagues.

“I liked playing against Negro League teams," Paige was quoted as saying, "but I loved barnstorming. It gave us a chance to play everybody and go everywhere …"

Paige, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, played in the Negro Leagues for 22 years before getting his chance in the major leagues in 1948 with the Cleveland Indians.

The Negro Leagues reached their heyday around 1927 and continued through the 1930s. The leagues declined after 1947, when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African-American in the major leagues.

Tour stops
For those not able to visit the Negro Baseball Leagues Museum in Kansas City, the mobile museum is a chance to see what the main facility is like.

In July and August the public can view the free museum in Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and Maryland. This year, the museum features localized content in the form of a changing regional display.

When completed, “Times of Greatness” will have stopped in more than 30 cities during the 2006 baseball season. Many of the tour stops coincide with Negro Leagues commemorative days at the stadiums.

For the remaining tour schedule, visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum web site, www.nlbmcom.

Then, buy some peanuts and cracker jacks and point the motorhome toward a “Times of Greatness” tour stop.