Kansas City Monarchs

The **Kansas City Monarchs** were an American baseball team. They were the longest-running team in the history of the Negro leagues. The team played in Kansas City, Missouri. It was owned by J. L. Wilkinson. They were members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930.  In 1930, the Monarchs became the first professional baseball team to use a portable lighting system. It was moved from game to game in trucks to play games at night. They used the system for five years before any major league team did. The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration. They won the first Negro League World Series in 1924. The Monarchs had only one season without a winning record. The team had more major league players than any other Negro league franchise. It was  disbanded in 1965.

## Baseball Hall of Famers

Players and managers listed in **bold** are depicted on their Hall of Fame plaques wearing a Monarchs cap insignia.  An asterisk (*) denotes the player is depicted on Hall of Fame plaque without a cap insignia or with the cap insignia obscured but the Hall of Fame recognizes Monarchs as "Primary Team"
|colspan=4 style="background:maroon; color:white;"|Kansas City Monarchs Hall of Famers|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Ernie Banks|SS/1B|1950–1953|1977|
|Cool Papa Bell|CF|1932|1974|
|**Willard Brown**|OF|1935–1944 1946–1949 || 2006||
|Andy Cooper|P|1928–1929, 1931 1933–1939 || 2006||
|Bill Foster|P|1931|1996|
|Jose Mendez|P|1917, 1920–1926|2006|
|**Satchel Paige***|P|1935, 1940–1947|1971|
|Jackie Robinson|2B|1945|1962|
|Bullet Rogan|P/OF|1920–1930 1933–1938 || 1998||
|**Hilton Smith***|P|1937–1948|2001|
|Turkey Stearnes|OF|1931, 1934 1938–1940 || 2000||
|Cristobal Torriente|OF|1916–1917, 1926|2006|
|**J.L. Wilkinson***|Founder|1920–1948|2006|
|Buck O’Neil|Executive|1938-1943, 1946-1955|2022|

## Legacy

In February 2021, the team's name was revived by a Kansas City, Kansas, minor league team, the Kansas City T-Bones. The name was approved through a negotiation with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

### MLB throwback jerseys

The Kansas City Royals have worn uniforms based on those worn by the Monarchs  during regular-season baseball games several times. They have been worn on July 14, 2001 (at Pittsburgh), July 1, 2007, and May 30, 2009 (at home vs. Chicago White Sox), June 9, 2012 (at Pittsburgh), July 21, 2012, and June 23, 2019 (both at home vs. Minnesota), August 24, 2013 (at home vs. Washington), May 18, 2014 (at home vs. Baltimore), May 17, 2015 (at home vs. New York Yankees), May 15, 2016 (at home vs. Atlanta), May 7, 2017 (at home vs. Cleveland), and August 13, 2022 (at home vs. Los Angeles ). The jerseys worn during home games have usually been auctioned as a fundraiser for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

## Other websites

- Franchise history at Seamheads.com
- 1920 Kansas City Monarchs Calendar

## Infobox (baseball team)

- **name**: Kansas City Monarchs
- **cap logo**: KCMonarchs42a.JPG
- **established**: 1920 in baseball, 1920
- **disbanded**: 1965 in baseball, 1965
- **city**: Kansas City, Missouri
- **league**: *Negro National League (1920–31), Negro National League (1920–1931)
*Independent (1932–1936)
*Negro American League (1937–1961)
*Independent (1962–1965)
- **nickname**: *Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan 1956–65 but retained Kansas City as their name
- **ballpark**: *Association Park (1920–1923)
*Municipal Stadium (Kansas City), Muehlebach Field (1923–1955)
*<small>a.k.a. Ruppert Stadium (1937–1942)</small>
*<small>a.k.a. Blues Stadium (1943–1954)</small>
*<small>a.k.a. Municipal Stadium (1955)</small>
*Valley Field, Grand Rapids (1956–1965)
- **league champ type**: League titles
- **series**: Negro World Series