[Rush vocalist makes donation to Negro Leagues Museum]

UPDATE - 6/7@12:15PM: Here's a video of Geddy presenting the baseballs at the Museum (thanks Brian K).

It's no secret to Rush fans that Geddy Lee is a huge baseball fanatic. Last year Geddy paid a visit to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City and was so impressed by it that he recently donated about 200 baseballs from his collection to the Museum. All the balls are autographed by former Negro Leagues baseball players or backers such as Cool Papa Bell, Hank Aaron and Lionel Hampton. From the Kansas City Star:

Close to 200 baseballs, all autographed by former Negro Leagues baseball players or backers, have been donated to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum by a somewhat surprising fan ... Rush singer/bassist Geddy Lee ...

... Lee, whose band performs Saturday at Starlight (see Page 39), dropped by the museum last year unannounced, Kendrick said.

�I wasn�t here, but another employee walked him through the museum, and apparently he fell in love with the place,� Kendrick said. �He already had a huge respect for the Negro Leagues, as the collection shows, and this brought it home to him.�

Kendrick said the museum still needs to figure out how to display the baseballs, but just having Lee make the donation is a big plus for the museum.

�It opens us up to another audience that may not have thought about the Negro Leagues prior,� he said. �And again it shows the wide range of folks who have been struck by this story.�