This summer just got a little sweeter for Omaha baseball fans.
Not only will they have the College World Series in June, but two exhibits from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City also will be on display nearby during the series.
City, Omaha Public Schools, Douglas County and museum officials announced the news Wednesday.
"It's a story about more than just baseball," Mayor Jim Suttle said of the Negro Leagues. "It's a story about injustice, inequality and the important role that baseball played in bringing social change to this nation."
Two exhibits will be at Conestoga Magnet Elementary School, 2115 Burdette St., from May 18 through June 26: "Discovering Greatness: an Illustrated History of Negro Leagues Baseball" and another telling the life of Buck O'Neil, a former player and manager and an icon of the Negro Leagues.
The school is about 1.5 miles from TD Ameritrade Park, the home of the CWS.
Exact hours and admission fees have not yet been established.
Local officials also are trying to make arrangements to put a third exhibit — showcasing the Negro League's best teams and players — at the ballpark during the CWS.
The Negro Leagues museum has four traveling exhibits.
"It was important for us to give people around the country access to the story that they've never had," said Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
Jim Beatty, chairman of the Great Plains Black History Museum's board of directors, initiated talks with the Kansas City museum.
The exhibits will cost the local history organization $41,000. An $10,000 grant already has been secured from sales tax funds set aside to promote tourism, but $31,000 still needs to be raised.
Part of the money will pay at least 20 students to be tour guides for the exhibits. To be considered, kids must be in the fifth through 12th grades, read the book "Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues," write a 500-word essay and give a two-minute presentation to event organizers.
"They've got to earn this," Beatty said. "We want to have young people involved."
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