There's so very much we can disagree on, but in this it's hard to see any detractors. This situation needs to be corrected. Mr. Posnanski's view on things needs to be an important part of that correction. Period.

Has anyone ever been around a situation where someone on the search committee got the job and it actually worked? (Baker was on the search committee for the new executive director, before getting the job.) I have been around it three times, twice were tremendous failures, and the other one is still on going and seems to not be a disaster, but saying it is working would be a stretch.

I kind of think it is a Rocky and Bullwinkle "This trick never works" kind of deal.

I wonder if Bud Selig was on the search committee for the commissioner of baseball?

Has anyone ever been around a situation where someone on the search committee got the job and it actually worked?

Dick Ch...

Never mind.

Has anyone ever been around a situation where someone on the search committee got the job and it actually worked?

Dick Cheney led the search committee for a VP candidate for George W. Bush.

I realize that doesn't answer your question as much as underscore it.

EDIT: Coke to CFBF. That's what I get for watching a baseball game instead of posting quickly.

I actually agree that hiring a person on a search committee is pretty much always a bad idea, but wasn't Theo Epstein in charge of finding Lucchino a GM for the Red Sox or somesuch? That move seemed to work out pretty well, so long as you're not karlmagnus...

After a major police scandal in Chicago in 1959, Daley put together a big blue ribbon panel with the most distinguished reform police commissioner they could find to head it. Then they made him police chief. He lasted until 1967, and the police generally were seen as doing a good job handling the 1966 protests when Martin Luther King came to Chicago. They acted with restraint and didn't do anything to make a volitile situation worse. (Daley was PISSED - he wanted them cracking heads of the protests but he didn't dare do anything. After the 1959 scandal - which was arguably the most serious crisis he faced until the late '60s fun - Daley gained credibility for himself as a supporter of reform by pledging complete non-interference in the department and backing his commissioner publicly every chance he could).

In 1967, the police commissioner retired. Daley went back to tradition and put one of his boys in charge. By 1968, instead of using restraint, their actions caused the term "police riot" to enter America's lexicon. (Not only for what they did in the 1968 DNC, but also for actions during a smaller peaceful anti-war protests in the spring of '68).

I went to the Negro leagues Museum this summer. Man this place was boring. It was in a lousy part of town and it was just flat-out unenjoyable. Good luck finding a leader.

In 1967, the police commissioner retired. Daley went back to tradition and put one of his boys in charge. By 1968, instead of using restraint, their actions caused the term "police riot" to enter America's lexicon. (Not only for what they did in the 1968 DNC, but also for actions during a smaller peaceful anti-war protests in the spring of '68).

"The police aren't there to cause disorder. The police are there to preserve disorder."

Of course, Daley easily won re-election, and died in office a few years later.

There was a substantial percentage of Americans who enjoyed it when hippies got beat up (see also: the New York Hard Hat Riot of 1970).

I went to the Negro leagues Museum this summer. Man this place was boring. It was in a lousy part of town and it was just flat-out unenjoyable. Good luck finding a leader.

That is too bad. I was thinking, when my son was older, of making a trip to KC with the museum being the focal point of the trip. I've wanted to go since it was unveiled.

STF, Banacek is only one wo/man's opinion. I quite liked it - it's a low-key museum but a 2-hour visit for a baseball fan. I went there a couple of times when I lived in KC, although that's going on 10 years. (Where does the time go?)

KC has some gems -- the Steamship Arabia museum is fun and educational, the Doll and Miniature Museum is fun enough for boys (old toys there too) if geared towards the female persuasion. For the history oriented the Truman house tour in Independence is worth it -- could you imagine an ex-president today returning to his house on the corner in a small city? As art museums go, the Nelson-Atkins is a good smallish one. Of course, Kauffman is a fine venue for a ball game. I feel like I'm missing something but there's enough there for a couple of days, depending on tastes.

That is too bad. I was thinking, when my son was older, of making a trip to KC with the museum being the focal point of the trip. I've wanted to go since it was unveiled.

Complete homer view point, but it is really as good as any museum without outstanding artifacts. I am surprised a baseball fan wouldn't think it is quite entertaining. I went through with Joe Dimino about a year ago and we spent two hours there, so ask Joe if he liked it.

Thanks Mike and Edmundo. I am glad to hear it.

I feel like I'm missing something but there's enough there for a couple of days, depending on tastes.

The Plaza is a great place for shopping and (admittedly overpriced) dining; the horse drawn carriages are fun. I haven't been to the Power and Light district, but it seems like a perfectly lovely nightspot. I love driving down Ward Parkway; big houses, nice scenery.

But yeah, "enough for a couple of days" is pretty much right. I'm a big fan of Kansas City, but it's more of a livable than a visitable city. A few months ago, a local radio tandem tackled the question of what you'd show a visitor to Kansas City. After running down most of what we mentioned, the sidekick ended up mentioning Nebraska Furniture Mart, which the host took as evidence that there wasn't much to see in town.

I went back in the Buck O'Neil days, and I thought it was pretty neat. I'm grasping for the word here, but they treat the League more as an element of racial history than racist history -- they talk about the role it played in black America, rather than focusing on the segregation aspect. There's a jazz museum just next door, and Arthur Bryant's is pretty close*.

Within a week of the museum hiring Baker, both Posnanski and Jason Whitlock had written columns bashing the decision. Even if you thought hiring Baker was a good idea, there's no way that you can afford to alienate the two most prominent sports columnists in town. Kansas City's just too small for a niche museum to survive without boosterism.


*18th and Vine was historically the center of Kansas City's black district, so a lot of sites relating to that are fairly close together. Ironically, and not unlike the Negro Leagues themselves, a lot of black-owned businesses got hit hard by the end of segregation, and the area went into decline.

I read the headline as Necro League Musuem, and thought this thread was going to be about zombies. Left disappointed.

Just my personal whining, but I tried to apply for a membership to the NLBM a few weeks ago online. I got a call that I had entered my credit card number incorrectly. Odd, I thought, but I said I'd do it again online. So I did it again. A few days later, I got a call that they tried to run it again and it didn't work. In the time in between I had purchased other items online using the same card. I guess it kinda surprised me that "online" process really just involved me emailing my cc number and someone manually running it, and the fact it kept messing up kinda discouraged me from doing it again. I don't know if that's indicative of how things are run overall, but it certainly left a frustrating feeling for me.

I went to the Negro leagues Museum this summer. Man this place was boring. It was in a lousy part of town and it was just flat-out unenjoyable. Good luck finding a leader.

It would have been ideal for a new stadium to be put in this area to help revitalize it, and give a connection to KC's proud baseball past and maybe even have the Royals help subsidize it and maybe even a bunch of youth baseball fields. But instead, we have a Taco Bell and Denny's outside our lagoon of parking.

KC has some gems -- the Steamship Arabia museum is fun and educational, the Doll and Miniature Museum is fun enough for boys (old toys there too) if geared towards the female persuasion. For the history oriented the Truman house tour in Independence is worth it -- could you imagine an ex-president today returning to his house on the corner in a small city? As art museums go, the Nelson-Atkins is a good smallish one. Of course, Kauffman is a fine venue for a ball game. I feel like I'm missing something but there's enough there for a couple of days, depending on tastes.

I haven't been, but I hear the World War I Museum is outstanding as well. And the College Basketball HOF is not really a typical museum, but its a lot of fun. The NLBM really pales in comparison to some of these other museums, which I would guess has to do with funding.

But yeah, "enough for a couple of days" is pretty much right. I'm a big fan of Kansas City, but it's more of a livable than a visitable city. A few months ago, a local radio tandem tackled the question of what you'd show a visitor to Kansas City. After running down most of what we mentioned, the sidekick ended up mentioning Nebraska Furniture Mart, which the host took as evidence that there wasn't much to see in town.

I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous. Yea, its not NYC or Chicago, but for a city its size, KC has a lot of interesting tourist attractions. We have a huge local arts community (the runner up of that Bravo reality art show is one of the more prominent local artists), we somehow bring in great musical arts and theater productions, we have a world class art museum, a great contemporary arts community, several interesting museums, a fun new entertainment district, the County Club Plaza - one of the preeminent outdoor retail areas in the nation, casinos, a new race car track, and major sports franchises in football, baseball and soccer - all for a metro area of about 2 million. Anyone that has to resort to NFM isn't really trying.

Man this place was boring.

You have no soul.

You are correct, me having a soul is up for debate. I drove from NJ to KC to see a game at Kauffman and to see the museum. The stadium and game were great, the museum not so much. I walked from downtown to the museum, most places were boarded up and the ones that were open had "no guns" signs on the doors. I suppose the museum is worth going to for curiosity's sake but we were all diappointed.

The entire 18th and Vine area is very disappointing. Kansas City uses Tax Increment Financing quite heavily, and that would be a prime candidate for such a subsidy, but since its not a tony white part of town, it gets neglected, while the Country Club Plaza, arguably the most thriving part of the city, gets subsidies for projects.

I read the headline as Necro League Musuem, and thought this thread was going to be about zombies. Left disappointed.

And hungry for brains?

This may help.

I'm kind of unhappy to see that Joe's original blog post on the board vote appears to have gone to the big keyboard in the sky.

The blog archive on Joe's original website is apparently gone, but you can still find his original piece on The Museum online in his SI blog's archives.

The entire 18th and Vine area is very disappointing. Kansas City uses Tax Increment Financing quite heavily, and that would be a prime candidate for such a subsidy, but since its not a tony white part of town, it gets neglected, while the Country Club Plaza, arguably the most thriving part of the city, gets subsidies for projects.

This was my take on that dynamic when I visited the museum.