Several Individual Major League Records Are Now Held by Hall of Famer Josh Gibson, While Other Negro Leagues Stars Newly Appear on Leaderboards.
Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that it will officially integrate statistics from the Negro Leagues into its historical records starting today, May 29, 2024.
This decision will recognize the achievements of players from the Negro Leagues between 1920 and 1948, significantly altering the MLB's record books.
Today’s announcement is the first major step that makes the achievements of the players of the Negro Leagues available to fans via the official historical record. These historic changes to long-held baseball records follow an evaluation by the independent Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee.
The statistics of more than 2,300 Negro Leagues ballplayers from 1920-1948 – including this era’s three living Negro Leagues players: Bill Greason, age 99; Hall of Famer Willie Mays, 93; and Ron Teasley, 97 – launch today in a newly integrated MLB.com database (career records here and season records here) that combines seven different Negro Leagues from 1920-1948 along with the American League, the National League and other major leagues in history. This effort will allow fans to view the statistics and records of Negro Leagues alumni as easily as all other historical Major League players.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale first reported the news.
“We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “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.”
John Labombarda, the Senior Historian for MLB’s Official Statistician, the Elias Sports Bureau, and a committee member, said: “Being on the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee was one of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding projects I have ever worked on in my 44 years at the Elias Sports Bureau.”
In a statement this week, John Thorn, Official MLB Historian and chairman of the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee, told Yahoo Sports: “We looked for historians, statisticians, and stakeholders who all could be expected to have concern that MLB would get the process and the product right… We were not looking for 'like minds' but instead potentially contentious ones.”
Larry Lester, a Baseball historian and Negro Leagues expert who served on the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee, said: “Stories, folklore and embellished truths have long been a staple of the Negro Leagues narrative. Those storylines will always be entertaining, but now our dialogues can be quantified and qualified to support the authentic greatest of these athletes. Every fan should welcome this statistical restitution towards social reparation.”
Notably, Josh Gibson, a legendary figure from the Negro Leagues, will now hold several MLB records, including MLB’s single-season record holder in the batting average (.466 in 1943) and slugging percentage (.974 in 1937).
It’s only been 3 1/2 years since December of 2020 when Major League Baseball elevated the Negro League statistics to “Major League” status.
Now, Bob Gibson, who spent his entire career in the Negro Leagues from 1930, 1933 - 1940, and 1942-46, will be considered the greatest catcher of all time, and arguably the best player of all time, according to the official historical records after an independent committee reviewed them.
In an interview with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, Sean Gibson, Gibson’s great-grandson, when discussing the adding of the Negro League Stats, said: “When you hear Josh Gibson’s name now, it’s not just that he was the greatest player in the Negro Leagues… but one of the greatest of all time. These aren’t just Negro League stats. They’re major-league baseball stats.”
The integrated stats will also enhance the numbers from several Hall of Famers who played in the Negro Leagues, such as Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Satchel Paige, Monte Irvin, Roy Campanella, Willard Brown, and Minnie Minoso.
For example, Satchel Paige, who also played in Major League Baseball, has the third-best single-season ERA at 1.01 in 1944 for the Kansas City Monarchs, with his career victory total jumping from 28 to 124.
Some players who played for The Homestead Greys, which was the Washington D.C.’s team in the Negro Leagues, will also now be added to Major League Baseball record books.
Specifically, we will see more mentions of Homestead Gray’s Josh Gibson, whom Baseball historians consider the best power hitter and catcher in baseball history.
Gibson was the second Negro League player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. He will now be the second-highest single-season major league batting average at .466 (1943).
Experts estimate that the available Negro Leagues records between 1920-1948 are nearly 75% complete. Future findings by the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database and other baseball researchers may result in additional modifications to the game’s all-time leaderboards.
Phil Dixon, a Baseball researcher, author, and Negro Leagues expert who served on the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee, said: “Working with this expert group of baseball historians has been an honor. This is a great effort. There is so much work to be done and so many stories to be told through the numbers, the articles and the box scores – found and yet to be found. The future of Black men in baseball has never looked brighter.
Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, said in response to this announcement by Major League Baseball: “Thanks to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for his embracing of the importance of the Negro Leagues and an incredible team of historians and researchers who have dedicated themselves to pull this groundbreaking data together. This is a major milestone in baseball history.”
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