For many baseball historians, Josh Gibson was considered the “Black Babe Ruth.” To others who truly understood Gibson’s talent, Ruth was considered the “White Josh Gibson.” Now, nearly 80 years after his passing, he may be considered “the greatest hitter in baseball history” due to the MLB incorporating Negro League players into its hallowed records books.
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The wrongs of the MLB in the slow 19th and early 20th Century can never be righted. For 70 years, the Major Leagues would not allow Black players to play for American or National League teams.
Although no rule was officially created to ban Black players, it was understood between club owners and MLB commissioner Kenesaw Landis: nobody would take any action to sign talented Negro League players. Not until Jackie Robinson in 1947.
Even “After Jackie,” a number of Negro League players such as Larry Doby, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, and Ernie Banks went on to become some of the best players in the sport.
But despite their success in the Majors, many early stars of the Negro Leagues were not recognized as some of the greatest of all time by the average sports fan, despite their undeniable play on the field.
That all changes now.
On Wednesday, the MLB officially incorporated the stats of the Negro Leagues into their record books, following the recommendations of the independent Negro League Statistical Review Committee, according to MLB.com.
For those who are confused about what this means. Some of the most legendary players in Major League history will now be replaced by players from the Negro leagues in the record books.
For example, Josh Gibson has replaced Ty Cobb as the all-time leader in career batting average with a BA of .372, surpassing Cobb’s career mark of .367.
Gibson has also become MLB’s all-time career leader in slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging), and owns the all-time single-season records in all three of the categories (batting average, slugging percentage, OPS), surpassing players like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Lou Gehrig.
Along with Gibson, another 2,299 Negro League players will also be integrated into a database on MLB.com that will combine stats from the Negro Leagues with stats from the American League, National League, and other Major Leagues throughout American history.
This means Negro League legends like Satchel Paige, Oscar Charleston, John Henry Lloyd, Buck Leonard, Turkey Steearnes, Mule Suttles, Cool Papa Bell, Willie Wells, and Ray Dandridge will now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other MLB legends in the record books. Like they always should have.
Were the Negro Leagues really equal to the Major Leagues?
Yes. They unequivocally were.
Unsurprisingly, there has already been a huge wave of detractors who strongly disagree with the MLB’s actions, claiming that the announcement was an example of “woke propaganda,” since there is no world where the Negro League was equal to the MLB.
This couldn’t be further from the truth, and there are plenty of stats to back up why.
First and foremost, Negro League teams literally played against Major League teams in exhibition games for decades. What better way to determine which league was “better” than players from both leagues playing against each other?
In John B. Holway’s 2001 book “The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History,” he states that Black players from the Negro Leagues won nearly 57.1% of the games against white Major League players.
If that doesn’t explain that Negro players were just as good — if not better —than Major League players, I don’t know what does.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Paul Hembekides, a baseball stats expert, perfectly explains why the Negro Leagues were equivalent to the MLB.
So whenever someone tries to argue otherwise, mention these stats. The Negro Leagues were always just as capable as the Major Leagues, despite the MLB taking nearly a century to acknowledge them in their record books.
