When Ken Burns released his epic 1994 documentary on baseball, no one really outshone John “Buck” O’ Neil.
A native of Florida, O’ Neil was born in Carrabelle, Florida, in 1911. He started playing baseball when he was 12, which would be just a few years after the Black Sox scandal.
Given the era he played in, O’Neil was not allowed in Major League Baseball and played instead in the Negro Leagues. His first team was the Memphis Red Sox and he also played for the Kansas City Monarchs before and after serving in World War II.