Negro Leagues Statistics will become part of the official Major League all-time record today, May 29th. More than 2,300 players who played in the seven iterations of the Negro Leagues from 1920-1948 will be incorporated into MLB's database, a move that comes several years after MLB first announced it would elevate the Negro Leagues.
Black players were barred from MLB until Jackie Robinson broke the major league color barrier in 1947 when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.
“We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. he said in a statement. “This initiative is focused on ensuring that future generations of fans have access to the statistics and milestones of all those who made the Negro Leagues possible. Their accomplishments on the field will be a gateway to greater learning about this triumph in American history and the path that led to Jackie Robinson's 1947 Dodger debut.
“It's a big day,” said Negro League Museum president Bob Kendrick added to Yahoo Sports. “The great thing about this is that we've been saying it quite a bit over the last few days and weeks as it relates to the Negro Words… This is the result of a lot of intensive effort by some incredible historians and researchers who have been totally dedicated to trying to do something that people believed that it probably wasn't possible.”
MLB announced in December 2020 that it would “correct a long-standing oversight” and add the Negro Leagues. John Thorn, MLB's official historian, led a 17-person panel that included Negro Leagues experts, former players and statisticians. Statistics compiled from data, box scores, statistics and additional information from Seamheads, RetroSheet and Elias Sports Bureau.
“We looked to historians, statisticians and stakeholders who were all expected to be concerned that MLB would get the process and the product right,” Thorn told Yahoo Sports. “We weren't looking for 'like minds' but rather potentially controversial ones.”
The change resulted in Negro Leaguer Josh Gibson becoming the MLB single-season record holder for batting average, slugging percentage and OPS. He has passed Ty Cobb for the all-time hitting lead, while his career percentage and OPS surpassed Babe Ruth's.
“When you hear Josh Gibson's name now, it's not just that he was the greatest player in the Negro Leagues, but one of the greatest of all time,” said Sean Gibson, Gibson's great-grandson. he said USA Today in a statement. “These are not just Negro League statistics. They are major league baseball statistics. This means so much not only to Josh Gibson's family, but to represent the 2,300 men in the Negro Leagues who didn't get a chance to play [in the Major Leagues].”
Former Negro Leagues players who also played in the major leagues, including Willie Mays, Minnie Miñoso, Larry Doby, and Jackie Robinson, have also entered their Negro Leagues statistics.
“I think the past is a living thing that breathes and informs every present moment,” Thorn told Yahoo Sports. “No sport is more attuned to its history and its heroes than baseball, and now we have an opportunity to tell the story of the game and the nation, inclusively.”
MLB will pay tribute to the Negro Leagues on June 20 in a game between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, once the home of the Black Barons of Birmingham.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/negro-league-statistics-major-league-baseball-historical-record-1235029072/