LOOKING AT BASEBALL'S PAST.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

A decade before he helped the Dodgers win the 1965 World Series, Sweet Lou Johnson spent three months playing in the Negro American League for the Kansas City Monarchs and Indianapolis Clowns.

``I remember how good the baseball was,'' Johnson said. ``I saw players above, talent-wise, what I played against in the major leagues.''

That was 1955, eight seasons after Jackie Robinson had finally broken the color barrier in the major leagues and near the end of the Negro Leagues' 40-year existence as baseball's parallel universe.

``Contrary to what some people say, the Negro Leagues were organized,'' Johnson said. ``They weren't recognized. That makes a big difference.''

Recognition comes this month with a Negro Leagues exhibit at the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame, located adjacent to Anaheim Stadium.

Run in conjunction with Black History Month, the exhibit is the creation of Bobby McDonald, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County. Almost all the memorabilia McDonald has painstakingly put on display - pictures, gloves, bats, balls, uniforms, pennants, programs, posters - comes from the Santa Clarita garage of Negro League historian Dick Simpson.

The exhibit is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m-3 p.m. Admission prices are $2 for adults, $1 for children.

``There are several firsts here,'' said McDonald, a founder and past president of the Orange County Hall. ``It's the first time the Hall and the Black Chamber of Commerce have combined on a venture, and it's the first time the Hall of Fame has taken on an exhibit on loan.''

A tour of the exhibit is akin to a stroll through the pages of baseball's history as the exploits of Robinson, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Leon Day, Judy Johnson, Negro Leagues founder Rube Foster and others all but spring to life.

But those chapters of baseball lore were denied to much of the public for years, thanks to the game's 48 years of separation beginning in 1898.

``I'm so glad that people today are recognizing their efforts,'' said Johnson, the Dodgers' left fielder from 1965-67 who also had two tours with the Angels. He still works for the Dodgers, in community affairs.

``Bobby (McDonald) is a person who has the expertise in putting things like this together,'' Johnson said. ``It's hard, trying to visualize something that a lot of people weren't a part of. Part of our society missed one of the greatest times of our lives, the Negro Leagues.''

Many nuggets can be gleaned, such as the fact the Indianapolis Clowns sent nine of their players to the major leagues - including a teen-age shortstop named Hank Aaron.

Prominently displayed at the start of the exhibit are the bats of Bell and Gibson, Negro League stars who never played in the recognized major leagues but nonetheless are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Reading comments by Walter Johnson - the right-hander from Orange County who was one of baseball's original Hall of Fame inductees - about Gibson helped spark McDonald's interest in portraying the history of the Negro Leagues.

``He (Johnson) said that Josh Gibson could throw a ball like a rifle, hit it a country mile and could catch it like he was in a rocking chair,'' McDonald said, ``and his regret was that he couldn't play with or against him in the major leagues because of baseball's color line.''

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Photo: The Orange County Hall of Fame is hosting an exhibit on the Negro Leagues, which featured players like Satchel Paige.

Daily News File Photo