With the Negro Leagues being an integral part of baseball history, it’s important that’s included in the full-spectrum of Americana. The records from this league will only add to overall stats and overdue respect as players like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson’s records transition in Major League Baseball history. Here are the highlights:
- Due to this new faction, Josh Gibson, the greatest of all Negro League sluggers, may end up with a new major league record, too.
- After reclassifying the Negro Leagues as a major league, it’s time to check the records for Gibson, Irvin, Paige and roughly 3,400 other players.
- MLB said Wednesday it was “correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history.” Of course, Jackie Robinson was the first black player to get in MLB via Brooklyn Dodgers, but the records of many other Negro Leagues players who transitioned or never got to play for the MLB should count as well.
- These leagues were unfortunately excluded in 1969 after the Special Committee on Baseball Records declared six official “major leagues” dating to 1876.
- The league said that the omission of the Negro Leagues was clearly a mistake that’s needed correction for decades.
- They’re working with the Elias Sports Bureau to review Negro Leagues statistics and records and find the best way to incorporate them in major league history.
- They’re looking at the score boxes for a good rubric to help measure stats.
- If all the information is accurate, it could certainly positively impact those that transitioned from the Negro Leagues to the MLB greatly. For example, Gibson could wind up with another impeccable record-setting year.
- Edward Schauder, legal representative for Gibson’s estate and co-founder of the Negro Leagues Players Association, said they couldn’t be more thrilled at this indoctrination. Someone like Gibson would’ve been one of the greats if he had a chance to get some major league action.
- Baseball historian John Thorn said that’s it been a double penalty not including the Negro Leagues in MLB history. After a century of their founding, it’s “gratifying” they finally get recognized.
