Kansas City

Pulling in to Kansas City took me past the ballpark on the Eastern side of the city, but I had plans before I went to the stadium. The Negro League Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Historic 18th and Vine and next to the American Jazz Museum, is a small and intimate place that is nonetheless very cool, as any place that has an introductory video narrated by James Earl Jones, whose voice is the embodiment of cool. Satchel Paige, Negro and Major League Badass, is a fixture throughout the museum and rightfully so. His charisma is evidenced just by the signature windup, pantomimed by looney tunes pitchers and five year olds around the world. A must see for baseball fans or not, but if you are a baseball fan, you might even run into a visiting ballplayer there, like I did with Milton Bradley of the A's.

I bet Milton Bradley sometimes wishes his mom had named him something normal, like Dontrell or JaMarcus.

Contrary to his reputation, he was as polite and helpful as a person who gets their picture taken all the time can be. He even had me check my first shot to make sure that I got us both in it when we took it (I hadn't). Oh, and his watch was so weighed down by Diamonds that it would have ripped my arm out of socket.

After the museum, I made my way down to Arthur Bryant's, a bar-b-que place that Kansas Citians (?) are rightfully proud of. Expensive, with heaping portions to match, I ordered the burnt ends and doused it with the Spicy Sauce. It was greasily delicious both meals it made for me.