O’Neil gains honor

BOSTON – Buck O’Neil got his spot in the Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement Award created in his memory.

One of the game’s most beloved ambassadors, O’Neil was posthumously honored Wednesday by the Hall before the World Series opener between Colorado and Boston at Fenway Park.

“His impact on the game has been enormous,” commissioner Bud Selig said. “He’s now in Cooperstown where he belongs.”

O’Neil, a Negro Leagues star and the first black coach in the majors, fell two votes shy of induction to the Hall of Fame during a special election in February 2006.

Many fans were stunned. They were sure he’d finally be rewarded for a lifetime of service and dedication to baseball, not to mention his standout career as a Negro Leagues player.

Months after missing out, O’Neil died at age 94.

A statue of O’Neil will be placed inside the museum, and the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to a worthy recipient no more than every three years.

“I don’t think this is necessarily trying to right a wrong. I think we’re just trying to honor a person,” said former Cincinnati Reds star Joe Morgan, vice chairman of the Hall of Fame.

“There are a lot of people who are not elected to the Hall of Fame that the public, myself included, think should be in. It doesn’t mean that we should try to go out and fix something.”

An astute spokesman for the Negro Leagues with a light-up-the-room smile, O’Neil gained worldwide fame in 1994 after historian Ken Burns featured him in the documentary “Baseball.”