Showalter, O's honored with Legacy Awards

KANSAS CITY -- A trio of Orioles were honored by the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City on Wednesday afternoon, with manager Buck Showalter, center fielder Adam Jones and closer Jim Johnson receiving Legacy Awards for their accomplishments last season.

Showalter accepted the C.I. Taylor Award honoring him as the 2012 American League Manager of the Year, his second such award. Johnson, who led the AL with 53 saves in 2012, was the Hilton Smith Award recipient and Jones was honored with the "Pop" Lloyd Award presented for "baseball and community leadership."

"We don't do this for recognition," Jones said. "Our on-field play is a testament to our hard work. I think we all understand what we mean to our individual communities. We all try to do our part."

The trio were treated to a special tour of the Museum by president Bob Kendrick before the ceremony, which took place on the Field of Legends. Johnson, Showalter and Jones couldn't attend the award ceremonies held this winter due to scheduling conflicts.

"Getting this award is special and learning where this [award] came from. It's a great history lesson while we're here and we enjoyed it," Johnson said. "You really didn't understand what they had to go through to get to the next level, the times they to deal with, some of the barriers they broke."

The Legacy Awards were established by the NLBM in 2000 and annually recognize the best baseball players, managers and executives with awards named for Negro League legends such as Taylor, Smith, Lloyd, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Rube Foster and Buck O'Neil.