After the conclusion of a three year research project, the MLB incorporated over 2,300 negro league players into their record books. MLB announced in December 2020 that it would be “correcting a longtime oversight” by adding the Negro Leagues. John Thorn, MLB’s official historian, chaired a 17-person committee that included Negro Leagues experts and statisticians.
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
New stats kings
Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367. Gibson’s .466 average for the 1943 Homestead Grays became the season standard, followed by Charlie “Chino” Smith’s .451 for the 1929 New York Lincoln Giants. They overtook the .440 by Hugh Duffy for the National League’s Boston team in 1894. Gibson also became the career leader in slugging percentage (.718) and OPS (1.177), moving ahead of Babe Ruth (.690 and 1.164).
Gibson’s .974 slugging percentage in 1937 becomes the season record. Barry Bonds’ .863 in 2001 dropped to fifth, also trailing Mules Suttles .877 in 1926, Gibson’s .871 in 1943 and Smith’s .870 in 1929.
“It’s a show of respect for great players who performed in the Negro Leagues due to circumstances beyond their control. Once those circumstances changed demonstrated that they were truly major leaguers.” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Maybe the single biggest factor was the success of players who played in the Negro Leagues and then came to the big leagues.”
Finally! This is a great day for the MLB and baseball overall. The talent of players that were in the negro leagues were to not be questioned. Given the opportunity those players would excel in MLB. This could be viewed as a omission of guilt or righting a wrong but either way. We’ll give MLB their credit for trying to make things right.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
