James "Cool Papa" Bell

In 2001, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) established the Legacy Awards, to recognize and honor the best Major League baseball players, managers and executives with awards given in the name and spirit of Negro Leagues legends. "The Legacy Awards were created by the Museum to pay homage to America's unsung heroes and to insure that their contributions to the game of baseball and the advancement of American society are never lost," said Bob Kendrick, the NLBM's director of marketing, on MLB.com.

The Legacy Awards include the Satchel Paige Award (presented to the pitchers of the year), the Josh Gibson award (presented to the home run leaders), the Cool Papa Bell Award (presented to the stolen base leaders), the Buck Leonard Award (presented to the batting champions), the Oscar Charleston Award (presented to the most valuable players), the Andrew "Rube" Foster Award (presented to the executives of the year), the C.I. Taylor Award (presented to the managers of the year), the Larry Doby Award (presented to the rookies of the year), the Hilton Smith Award (presented to the relievers of the year), the Jackie Robinson Lifetime Achievement Award (presented to an individual for career excellence in the face of adversity), and the John "Buck" O'Neil Award (presented to a local or national corporate/private philanthropist for outstanding support of the museum). Players from both the National League and the American League are honored in each category.

Past recipients of the Legacy Awards include Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens (Satchel Paige Award), Sammy Sosa (Josh Gibson Award), Ichiro Suzuki and Luis Castillo (Cool Papa Bell Award), Larry Walker (Buck Leonard Award), Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds (Oscar Charleston Award), John Schuerholz (Andrew "Rube" Foster Award), Tony LaRussa (C.I. Taylor Award), and Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson (Jackie Robinson Award).