Ryan Howard was a rookie with Philadelphia just putting baseball on notice with his moonshot home runs when he met Buck O’Neil, a champion of Black ballplayers during a monumental, eight-decade career on and off the field.

Howard was introduced to O’Neil as a modern-day Josh Gibson, one of the Negro Leagues’ greatest players, who hit .466 for the 1943 Homestead Grays. Howard, who hit at least 45 homers four times in his career, was too embarrassed to accept the comparison.

“Mr. O’Neil was like, ‘Do you got that power?’ I said, ‘Yes sir, I do,’ ” Howard said. “He told me: ‘Don’t be ashamed of it. Let it out.’ It was great, just hearing the stories from and just being in his presence.”

O’Neil, who died in 2006, was long a champion of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Howard, who won an NL MVP and a World Series with the Phillies, is ready to take up O’Neil’s cause as the former slugger joined the push in helping the museum’s expansion project.

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is fundraising for a new 30,000-square-foot facility and campus, aimed at advancing the museum’s mission of preserving the rich history of Negro Leagues baseball.

Howard and Padres manager Mike Shildt announced their plans Thursday to join the Negro Leagues’ “Pitch for the Future” in bringing greater awareness to the legacy of the Negro Leagues with a museum expansion.

Costas wins lifetime achievement award: Bob Costas has won the fifth Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Baseball Digest.

The longtime broadcaster was honored with an annual distinction that “recognizes a living individual whose career has been spent in or around Major League Baseball and who has made significant contributions to the game.”

Willie Mays won the inaugural award in 2021, followed by Vin Scully (2022), Joe Torre (2023) and Dusty Baker (2024).