Ceremonial Negro League Draft to honour past players

In February 2006, several hundred friends and fans of Buck O'Neil gathered at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City to celebrate the announcement that he would be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

O'Neil had been a star in the Negro Leagues and in 1962 became the first black coach in the majors.

Instead of celebrating, however, they stood silently disappointed. Buck O'Neil was one vote short of being among the 16 men and one woman voted in.

He died later that year. It seemed that O'Neil's memory might never be honoured. But former Toronto Blue Jay Dave Winfield is trying to keep his memory alive.

For Winfield, Buck O'Neil was a pioneer for black and Latino ballplayers. In order to honour him, Winfield went to baseball's Commissioner's Office with the idea of holding a ceremonial draft for surviving players from the Negro Leagues.

The idea was accepted. The draft will be held on Thursday, before the start of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

It is meant to celebrate players like O'Neil and his teammates who were kept out of major league baseball because of the colour of their skin.

Thirty players from the Negro League and other lesser leagues will be selected. Each of them will be honoured, wearing the baseball cap of their selecting team.

Among the draftees will be Neale "Bobo" Henderson, Otha "Li'l Catch" Bailey, Bill "Lefty" Bell and Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, a female pitcher. Johnson was one of three women who played in the Negro Leagues during WWII.

Each major league team will participate.

The Negro League Draft begins 1 p.m. ET Thursday