(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
In an effort to show respect and appreciation for the historical contributions the Negro Leagues made to baseball from 1920 to 1948, MLB announced its decision to include Negro League stats to its records.
As you probably might expect, the decision changes many leaderboards in some important hitting and pitching stats.
For example, Ty Cobb was universally recognized as MLB’s batting champion with a lifetime .367 batting average, but that distinction now goes to legendary Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays slugger Josh Gibson.
The league itself explained a bit of the process and the reasoning behind it.
“Several Major League records are now held by Josh Gibson as he and other Negro Leagues legends officially join the all-time leaderboards. The statistics of more than 2,300 Negro Leagues players launch today in a newly integrated MLB.com database that presents records from seven different Negro Leagues from 1920-48 with longstanding AL & NL records,” they tweeted.
Several Major League records are now held by Josh Gibson as he and other Negro Leagues legends officially join the all-time leaderboards.
The statistics of more than 2,300 Negro Leagues players launch today in a newly integrated https://t.co/Z3s2EpgF39 database that presents… pic.twitter.com/UyvCu0pSzi
— MLB (@MLB) May 29, 2024
The initiative has been met positively by fans, even if some of them have concerns due to the fact that the Negro Leagues didn’t always do the best job keeping stats.
The end of the Negro Leagues started in the late 1940s, particularly 1947 with Jackie Robinson’s MLB debut.
After that, many team executives in MLB started to bring Negro League stars to their roster, and the Leagues quickly vanished.
Now, after MLB’s decision, four other Negro League stars joined Gibson in the top ten in batting average: Oscar Charleston, Jud Wilson, Turkey Stearnes, and Buck Leonard.
Gibson is also the slugging percentage leader now at .718, and Mule Suttles enters the top five.
Those are just a few examples: there are also plenty of changes on the pitching leaderboards.
Some of the best players of the 20s, 30s, and even the 40s never got a chance to play at the top level.
This is a way to recognize their contributions to the game of baseball as we know it.
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