The Jefferson City Mohawks, Jefferson City Redbirds and Jefferson City Dodgers have more in common than their status as historical hometown baseball teams - each team also played against the Kansas City Monarchs at some point between 1922-54.
"This was like the golden age of town baseball," said baseball historian Phil Dixon, co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. "From 1948 to 1954, the Monarchs came to Jefferson City every year, sometimes twice."
The Kansas City Monarchs were a Negro League baseball franchise from 1920-65, which gave starts to well-known Major League Baseball Hall of Famers like Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige and Ernie Banks. Dixon has researched the team extensively and began presenting about the Monarchs' games against different hometown teams on a 90-city tour last year in honor of the 90th anniversary of the Monarchs' first Negro League World Series championship in 1924. His "Monarchs in Our Hometown" tour makes its way to Jefferson City at 7 p.m. tonight at the Missouri River Regional Library.
"Thirty-five years ago I decided I was going to find every game the Kansas City Monarchs ever played, and that's how I ended up with all these cities," Dixon said. "I wanted to do something to bring recognition to the Kansas City Monarchs because I just feel like people aren't getting the history the way that it should be told."
Dixon's second of 10 books, "The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History," won the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book in 1992. Dixon, who lives in Belton, brought his "Monarchs in Our Hometown" tour to 35 cities in six states in 2014, and he plans to expand to 12 states and Canada to visit at least 55 additional cities this year.
His presentations, which last about 30-45 minutes, share the Monarchs' history as well as details about the games the team played in each particular town.
"When people think of the Kansas City Monarchs, they might think about St. Louis or Kansas City, but they don't think about Jefferson City," Dixon said. "It's not only to bring recognition to the Kansas City Monarchs, but to many of the local ball players that played against the Kansas City Monarchs because they don't get any recognition either."
Dixon noted he hopes sharing his love of baseball and love of history might also help heal race relations in turmoil across the United States, as the Monarchs were welcomed to play games against all-white teams in many cities.
"Baseball did a lot for race relations, so I thought I'd go out with a message of goodwill," he said.
Dixon's "Monarch's in Our Hometown" presentation tonight at the library is free and open to the public.
"It is really a labor of love. I am loving what I am doing because it's making people happy and it's also converting people into baseball fans," Dixon said. "I don't bore you with numbers; I tell stories. And I'm a real good storyteller."