Why the Negro League stats belong in the MLB record books

CNN —

Have you ever heard something on the news and responded by saying “it’s about darn time?” That’s how I felt when I heard about the integration of Negro League Baseball (NLB) statistics from 1920-1948 into Major League Baseball’s (MLB) record books.

This move doesn’t somehow “erase the years of injustice,” as the documentary “When It Was A Game” put it. Rather, including NLB statistics in the MLB ones “serve[s] to remind us of what we missed” by having racially segregated leagues.

Indeed, as elite sportswriter Neil Paine pointed out to me, it’s the stats that show us that the NLB was the equal of, if not superior to, its White counterpart.

Consider the statistics of when nine White major leaguers from various teams – who came together under the banner of “all-star” teams – played against teams of Black major leaguers.

The NLB players won 51% of the time from 1900 to 1948. This isn’t some statistical fluke, either. We have 180 documented games during this stretch, which is the equivalent of over one season of major league games (162 currently) or more than 25 World Series taken to the maximum of seven games.

As Negro League historian Todd Peterson noted when he made his case a few years ago, the Negro Leaguers were the only ones to consistently beat White major leaguers, who dominated squads of semi-pro, college and minor leaguers.

Satchel Paige (L) and Dizzy Dean at an exhibition game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, comparing grips in 1947. Josh Gibson, catcher for the Negro League Homestead Grays of Pittsburgh, practices his swing before a game at Forbes Field in 1940.

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