June 5, 2024 – Major League Baseball (MLB) has received accolades for its recent actions to embrace the history of the Negro Leagues, most recently with last week’s announcement that MLB has integrated Negro Leagues players and their statistics into its own historical records.
This follows last month’s news that the league announced a joint program with the Major League Baseball Players Association to fund pensions for Negro Leagues players who played less than four seasons in the Negro Leagues.
Dennis Biddle serves as the president of Yesterday’s Negro League Baseball Players Foundation, an organization working to generate pensions for Negro Leagues players. “I’m grateful that [Major League Baseball] is going to do this,” Biddle said. “I just wish some of those players were still living so they could be recognized. I know they would be proud.”
MLB had announced in 2020 that the Negro Leagues would be recognized as Major Leagues, and the league built on that decision last week as several names took their new place at or near the top of the leaderboards. Josh Gibson became the league’s all-time leader in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging (OPS), while Satchel Paige’s 1.01 ERA in 1944 for the Kansas City Monarchs now ranks as the third-best single-season mark in history.
“We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues,” Manfred said. “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.”
“I think the stats will give [the Negro Leagues players’] legacies more validation, more recognition and more celebration,” Biddle’s wife Patrice added.
In addition, several Hall of Fame players who got their start in the Negro Leagues — including Willie Mays, Roy Campanella, Larry Doby and Robinson — are among the many players whose career statistics will rise with the inclusion of their Negro Leagues accomplishments. Robinson’s and Mays’ career hits will increase by 49 and 10, respectively, and Paige’s career wins total climbs from 28 to 125 as a reflection of his long career in the Negro Leagues.
Baseball historian and Negro Leagues expert Larry Lester, who served on the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee, said: “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.”
Baseball researcher, author and Negro Leagues expert Phil S. Dixon, who likewise served on the committee, concluded: “The future of Black men in baseball has never looked brighter.”
The Nashville Stars agree and applaud Major League Baseball’s efforts to recognize the talents of all players, creating an admirable standard for generations to come.