On Wednesday, MLB finally righted a wrong when it added Negro League statistics to its record books, a move that was celebrated by most but hated by a few.
The most immediate change was the ascension of Negro League legend, Josh Gibson in the ranks of hitting greats. Gibson’s greatness was finally acknowledged as he’s now MLB’s all-time leading hitter in both a career and a single season with batting averages of .372 and .466, respectively.
It's absolutely amazing that MLB is incorporating Negro League player stats from 1920 – 1948 into its records.
— First and Pen (@firstandpen) May 29, 2024
That means that Josh Gibson is now MLB's all-time leading hitter with a .372 BA, beating Ty Cobb's .367, and has the highest single-season BA of .466 ⚾️✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/kxGI25HNfZ
While most applauded the addition of Negro League players and the statistical re-positioning it resulted in, some were upset and ridiculed MLB’s decision to right a long-time wrong. The critics feel that Negro League players were barnstorming entertainers who weren’t at the level of players they either leapfrogged over or now appear next to. This includes players like Ty Cobb, a noted racist, whose top position was taken by Gibson.
The most unsurprising response was that MLB “went woke.”
In this case, MLB did wake up, but in the right way, for the league finally acknowledged the greatness of players that former MLB leaders once refused to allow in the game while indirectly admitting the racist practices of its past.
This wasn’t a simple process where Commissioner Rob Manfred agreed to add Negro League statistics and say “our bad.”
This was a fight decades in the making by fans, journalists, historians and families who fought tirelessly for deserving players to be counted and, more importantly, given the proper respect by the biggest professional baseball league in the world.
This historic decision comes four years after the 2020 announcement that seven different Negro Leagues between 1920-1948 would be recognized as Major Leagues. After years of gathering information and tracking down stats, the independent Negro League Statistical Review Committee made the recommendation to include Negro Leagues numbers into “the official historical record.”
“We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues,” said Commissioner Rob Manfred. “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 broader learning about this triumph in American history and the path that led to Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Dodger debut.”
In current-day America, history is being denied, hidden, and, when it comes to Black history, whitewashed and eradicated.
