The Incredible Tale of Geddy Lee and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

James Brown is the owner/editor-in-chief at Everybody’s Got Their Something.  Other than being the Southeastern US writer, he’ll occassional write columns over the connection of music and sports.  This is one of those columns.

This is the strange tale of how Geddy Lee became an important part of sports history.  Most people see the name Geddy Lee and think of…

Yes, the bass player from Rush, and probably one of Andrew’s favorite artists of all time.  However, there’s also another side of Geddy that most really don’t know about unless they’re looking on around on the internet.

People don’t know how much he really means to the history of African American sports.  Follow me and learn how much…

Geddy Lee is probably one of the premier bass players in the history of Rock.  He’s also one heck of a multi-instrumentalist.  But, he’s also one of the most eclectic of baseball fans.  Geddy is a hopeless Blue Jays fan, because he is a Toronto native, through and through.  However, there’s also another side to how much of a fan that Geddy is to baseball.

Along his years of being a rock star, Geddy was also an admirer of Negro League baseball.  So much so, that he had in his possession the total of 200 autographed baseballs from various Negro League legends.  Which legends, you ask?  Only the most important legends in the history of the NLPB and MLB.  Names like Hank Aaron, Cool Papa Bell, and Lionel Hampton.

So, what does Geddy Lee have to do with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum?  It’s real simple.  With not much fanfare, Geddy donated all of his baseballs to the Museum.  As the curators would later state, Geddy had managed to procure the autographs of various legends that the museum was not able to, due to difficulty of acquisition or the player’s death.

Needless to say, the museum was quite surprised at this small fortune given to them.  And as you read that article, you get to see how much more important Geddy’s collection is.  Because, the donation also possessed one of the “first balls” thrown by JFK.  It also possessed the rare autograph of the Negro League’s own home run king, Josh Gibson.

In scope, Geddy Lee provided a strange, yet vital link from a part of American sports history.  A sad, yet triumphant part of American history.  And if you’re ever in Kansas City, then by all means, please visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  While you’re at it, take a look at the new exhibit simply called,  ”The Geddy Lee Collection.”

It’s a strange way for America to regain some of its history, but for Geddy Lee…  It was one service he felt that he had the means to do for the men like Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige.

Strange, but true…  Now you can say that Geddy Lee is more than a rock star.  He’s now a part of sport history.

Tags: Canadians, Geddy Lee, James Brown, Legends, mlb, MLB History, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Rush, Strange But True
Categories: Domestics, Imports

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under Domestics, Imports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.