June 26-28, 2025
Long before the date for the memorial service for my grandma was cemented, Brandy and I booked a trip to Kansas City to watch the Dodgers take on the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
Aside from that game, I got a chance to try Kansas City barbecue and visit three museums.
Here’s the report from that trip.
Pre-Game Adventures
After just having gotten home the day before from the nightmare return trip from L.A, we took off for KC, MO, Thursday after Brandy got done with work. We had a hotel booked 20 minutes from the stadium, checking in just before 7:30.
Brandy worked from the hotel on Friday so, having the day off, I decided to explore a little bit of the city before game time.
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
I started the day by heading to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum where the legacy of the league is preserved and honored with some fascinating displays that go over the trials and tribulations that the non-white baseball players endured from the 1920s on through until just after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947. The league also included players from other marginalized populations such as Latin American players and players from the Caribbean, which I did not realize until I visited the museum.
Of course, the league suffered at the hands of rich, white MLB owners of the time and were barely given adequate facilities at which to play, sleep or travel so it was a grind for them. And, as to be expected, the salaries these players made paled in comparison to the already paltry salaries of their white counterparts in the MLB.
The league also included a team called the Clowns, which was billed as the Ethiopian Clowns, the Cincinnati Clowns, and finally the Indianapolis Clowns. This team, while comprised of legitimate players, were largely a comedy act akin to the Harlem Globetrotters, yet were still an official part of the league, alongside a similar team, the Zulu Cannibal Giants.
Of course, there were absolute superstars in the league, such as Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell and Buck Leonard and Satchel Page. The incredible accomplishments of these stars went largely unnoticed until 2024 when Major League Baseball announced that the stats from seven different Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1948 would be included in the official historical record of the MLB. This shook up some of the all-time leaderboards in several categories, including Josh Gibson taking the all time lead in career OPS, Satchel Page taking third in single-season ERA and Oscar Charleston taking 3rd in career batting average. These gentlemen whose names had never even been heard by even some die-hard baseball fan were finally given their due.
Admission to the museum was $10. The exhibit path creates a large loop around a centrally positioned mockup of a typical field with bronze statues of some of the biggest names in the league. There were lockers filled with jerseys and hats, a huge display of baseballs lined up under glass, and a huge wall of jerseys and hats showcasing the simple designs of the uniforms of the day.
On my way out, I stopped in the gift shop and picked up a couple of trinkets for my souvenir wall then headed across the lobby to my next stop.
Pictures from this stop are found in my Photo Diary.
American Jazz Museum
Housed within the same building as the NLBM is the American Jazz Museum, a showcase of the music that shaped an entire culture, particularly in Kansas City.
Admission to the Jazz Museum is ordinarily $10 as well but they offer a small discount if the NLBM is visited on the same day. I purchased my ticket for $8 and headed in.
I was immediately met by a large, extremely colorful mural of a stylized city street with a jazz club, Cherry Blossom, front and center.
As you turn the corner, you come face to face with several of the legends of jazz, including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and so many more.
There are kiosks scattered about where you can hear selections of songs from the artists being exhibited, and read more about the lives and times of the artists.
Just as with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the Jazz Museum touched on many of the trials and tribulations of the black community that made and listened to the music, which mirrored those of the ballplayers: finding venues to perform, the meager accommodations and the low pay.
Contained within the museum is a functioning jazz club called the Blue Room where regular performances are held. During non-performance times, the club’s doors are open to the public and paying visitors can stroll through and see the portraits of many of the stars from the era.
There was also a series of exhibits discussing the actual musical instruments used in the making of the music such as woodwinds, brass and the rhythm section.
Pictures from this leg of the journey are also found on the Photo Diary.
After finishing the circuit, I headed back to the hotel to check on Brandy. Once I made sure she was doing OK, I headed out to my next stop, for some Kansas City style barbecue.
Kansas City Style BBQ
After having the opportunity recently to try Nashville style barbecue and Carolina style barbecue, I thought it only fitting that I should try Kansas City style barbecue while in town.
Similar to Nashville style, the Kansas City style sauce is characterized by a thick, often sweet sauce, though Nashville style sauce tends to be a bit spicier, and while Nashville style focuses on ribs, chicken and pork, Kansas City style expands to include brisket and the local specialty, burnt ends.
My exhaustive research (which was limited to a cursory Google search) indicated that the best shot for me to get the KC Style experience was at Jack Stack Barbecue.
I made my way to a historic train building called the Freight House which is now home to three award winning restaurants, including my destination. The dining room was full at the time so I was offered a seat at the bar, which I readily accepted. I ordered a Pick Three Kansas City Combo to include brisket, burnt ends and smoked sausage, with hickory pit beans and the cheesy corn bake.
The food was delivered in short order and, being on a GLP-1, I only ate half of it (and that stuffed me to the gills.)
The burnt ends were delicious (as were the brisket and smoked sausage.) I was a little confused about what to expect with the cheesy corn bake, but it was still good.
I packed up my leftovers then delivered them to Brandy before heading off to my next stop, The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures.
Toys and Miniatures Museum
The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures is a celebration of the various toys and collectibles enjoyed by a variety of cultures and classes throughout history.
Admission to the museum was, once again, $10. I paid the admission fee and made my way in to the first level’s exhibits, dedicated to the miniatures part of the museum. There were some incredibly detailed dollhouses built, painted and on display. They varied from the ostentatious Victorian-style plantation houses all the way down to decrepit, abandoned settings that would feel at home in a horror movie.
Beyond the completed dwellings (which I was surprised to notice were largely unfurnished), the walls were lined with small, lighted niches with small scenes on display. They were mostly rooms that had been crafted by the most patient of artisans, but there were also vast displays of decorative items as well, like a display of a variety of just rugs, a display of just dishes, and so on.
I soon found myself in a small, dark room where these niches were occupied by miniatures of Native American origins. More representational than literal, many of the crafted people taking forms of animals, carved out of wood, or painted in garish colors. This, of course, steps from the culture from which these items were derived.
Seeing some of these displays really made me wonder about the patience these artists must have. Never in a million years would I be able to sit down and put together something on the scale of some of these miniatures I saw on display.
From here, I made my way back to the lobby where a staircase wound around a two story tall clear tube filled with a variety of toys spanning the ages, from the early days of mass commercial production up to the most recent toys on the market.
As I alit at the second floor landing, I came face to face with many of the toys I enjoyed growing up. I decided to tour the exhibits in the chronological order in which they were arranged. The first exhibits demonstrated the simple dolls and stereoscopes of the late 19th century. From there, we watched those simple dolls evolve into Barbies and GI Joe dolls, then the action figure was born. We see the stereoscopes evolve into the View Master, and the evolution of interests in general, from outer space men like Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon, on to the cowboys and Indians craze of the mid-century, on to the less than 4 inch tall action figures in the likeness of the characters from Star Wars, and so on.
as I moved through the late 70s, early 80s and on into the 90s, I relived a good portion of my memories. I remembered having the specific action figures on display, and the vehicles that those figures rode in. I remembered the giant Castle Grayskull playset from the Masters of the Universe collection. I remembered collecting Pogs (a capitalist marketing of Milk Caps).
There was a LOT of nostalgia as I browsed through the aisles, looking at the toys just like I did at Toys R Us when I was a kid.
Pictures from this part of the day are in the ol’ Photo Diary.
Once I’d browsed through the last of the toys display, I headed back out to the hotel to pick Brandy up. It would be time to leave for the game shortly.
Dodgers vs. Royals
We got to Kauffman Stadium just before 5:30, giving us plenty of time to explore before first pitch at 7:10.
Our first stop was at a souvenir stand for Brandy to get herself a Royals t-shirt to rock at the game, in direct contrast to the Dodgers shirt I was wearing.
We stopped for some drinks before making our way to our seats and just kind of scoping things out. Once we got settled, I headed up to the concession stand and got our food: a dog for me, and a helmet of nachos for Brandy.
Soon the game was under way, and four pitches in, Ohtani launched his 29th homer of the season into the Kauffman’s signature fountains.
My boys in (Dodger) blue would go on to win the game, but we left before the final out to beat the traffic. There still was a good amount but we made it back to the hotel in pretty short order. We quickly called it a night and the next day, we were home before 12:30.
I only took a few pictures at the game, but, as usual, they’re up in the Photo Diary.
Conclusion
What a wild week it was: flying to Orange County, California, watching a Dodger game at Chavez Ravine, honoring my grandma and reconnecting with family I hadn’t seen or even talked to in years, putting up with an absolute nightmare of a return trip only to turn around and head to Kansas City for my second Dodger game in less than a week, two time zones apart, on top of THREE museums AND trying Kansas City style burnt ends for the first time ever.
It has been said before but it is worth repeating- I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be able to do what we do. Never in a million years did I think I would have the chance to do all I have done over the last five years.
I do have a few pictures that I took outside of the adventures written about already, those are found here.
Up next, after a month of no adventures, we got set to head out for the Greens: Escape the Corn Sweat Summer 2025 Tour! Featuring stops in Salida, Walsenburg and Fruita, Colorado, Fredonia, Arizona, and our annual return to Albuquerque!
Stay tuned for more!
-Phil