The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum - one of the best museums I've ever visited - is having financial problems.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a unique window into a vital chapter of American history that the late Buck O'Neil helped open 20 years ago in Kansas City, Mo., could be in trouble.

Attendance and revenues are down, and a decision by new management to distance itself from O'Neil has splintered many of its most loyal supporters.

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What's more, the recession has cut deeply into donations. After posting its first loss two years ago of about $30,000, the museum is looking at what one staffer termed a "monster loss" that could approach a quarter of a million dollars when the final accounting for 2009 is complete.

"For museums all over the country, dollars are becoming hard to find," said Greg Baker, who took over as executive director a little more than a year ago. "We are challenged by that. We've got to raise money to keep going."

There is an easy fix for this, of course.

An institution that barred black players from playing in their league could write a check to support this museum without a second thought. As could a franchise that has seen portions of its fan base rightly or wrongly accused of racism. As could any number of players who make millions after the likes of Josh Gibson (pictured above), Oscar Charleston and Cool Papa Bell toiled in the margins of sporting society.

Update (new idea): Or - perhaps better yet - they could take one day (Jackie Robinson Day?) or weekend to ask fans at ballparks across the country to donate to the museum, with the teams providing a dollar-for-dollar match. That would undoubtedly provide a decent-sized endowment that would keep the museum in the black for a good amount of time.

The museum's Web site lacks a donation button, but donations can be sent to 1616 E. 18th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64108.

(h/t ACB)