In 1950, Richmond had a semi-professional baseball team called the Red Sox. It was organized by Richmond’s American Legion, who hired Elwyn Lewis (1915-2015) of Kansas City to put together and manage the team. Lewis also played for the team, which faced other teams from the local area, as well as Kansas City, from May to August, ending the season on a twogame winning streak. In July, the Kansas City Monarchs, the Negro League’s champion professional baseball team, came to Richmond to play the Red Sox. The game was played at the American Legion Memorial Park baseball field on East Lexington Street, where the baseball field is today in Maurice Roberts Park. The Monarchs were coached by Buck O’Neil, a great Negro League player and a Kansas City legend who was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2022. The Monarchs’ starting pitcher was going to be Frank Barnes, but two days before the game, he was signed by the New York Yankees to play for their minor league team. Barnes would go on…