Today In Black History: The Negro League Players are included in MLB Stats
Josh Gibson replaces Ty Cobb as the all-time batting average leader
Issue #621 Today In Black History, Friday, May 31, 2024
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Today’s Black History WOW!
In a historic move, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today that it will officially recognize and incorporate statistics from the Negro Leagues into its historical records. This decision comes after years of debate and advocacy from players, fans, and historians who have long argued that the accomplishments of African American players in the Negro Leagues should be given the same level of recognition as their counterparts in the MLB.
The Negro Leagues were a collection of professional baseball leagues predominantly made up of African American and Latin American players who were excluded from playing in the predominantly white Major Leagues during the era of segregation. Despite facing systemic racism and discrimination, players in the Negro Leagues showcased immense talent and skill, producing some of the greatest baseball players of all time.
Black Americans have played baseball ever since the game became popular during and after the Civil War period, but by the early 20th century they were excluded from the teams at the time.
In 1920, Negro League superstar Rube Foster and six owners of Black teams began organizing what would become the National Negro League s that the Black baseball players could properly showcase and profit from their talents.
Negro League Baseball remained wildly popular through the 1930s and early 1940s, with an estimated 3 million fans coming to ballparks during the ’42 season. The death of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis – one of the major figures who kept Black players out of MLB for decades – in 1944 allowed Negro Leagues star Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier and make his historic debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers three years later. Fellow Black stars Larry Doby and Satchel Paige quickly followed Robinson into the Majors, and the Negro Leagues dissolved soon after.
The inclusion of the stats of the Negro League players realigned the order of the white players that had been listed changed. Five of the top ten players for the career batting average stat are now from the Negro League.
Josh Gibson will be recognized as the game's all-time leader in batting average (.372), slugging percentage (.718) and OPS (1.177). He will pass Hall of Fame outfielder Ty Cobb in the first category and Hall of Fame outfielder Babe Ruth in the other two.
Gibson’s stats will also demolish the single-season record book. His .466 batting average for the 1943 Homestead Grays will eclipse Hall of Fame outfielder Hugh Duffy's hallowed .440 in 1894, and his .974 slugging percentage for the 1937 Grays is also a record.
"When you hear Josh Gibson’s name now, it’s not just that he was the greatest player in the Negro Leagues,’’ Sean Gibson, Gibson’s great-grandson, said, “but one of the greatest of all time. These aren’t just Negro League stats. They’re Major League Baseball stats."
This decision will not only add new depth and context to the history of the sport but also provide a more comprehensive understanding of the talent and achievements of players who were previously overlooked.
It will give fans and future generations the opportunity to appreciate the greatness of players like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Cool Papa Bell, whose contributions to the game should never be forgotten.
Today In Black History
In 1279 BCE, Rameses II became Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
In 1870, Congress passed the first Enforcement Act which provided stiff penalties for public officials and private citizens who deprived non-white people of their suffrage and civil rights.
In 1909, the National Negro Committee of 300 Blacks and whites met in New York City for the 1st NAACP Conference.
In 1910, the Union of South Africa was formed with apartheid as its foundation.
In 1921, the worst race riot in American history occurred on May 31 and June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing about 300 Black people. It was the first American city to be bombed by airplanes, and the 35-block all-Black Greenwood District (known as the “Black Wall Street”) was destroyed.
In 1955, The Supreme Court ordered school integration “with all deliberate speed.”
In 1979, Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence.
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