Negro leagues have a rich and glorious history. With so many league players in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and with widespread acknowledgment that stars such as Satchel Baiz and Josh Gibson would have easily dominated their premiers if they had come together, the leagues are often considered synonymous with importance.
On Wednesday, Major League Baseball created that authority, and Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the seven Negro leagues that operated between 1920 and 1948 would be recognized as the official major leagues, and their records and figures were calculated in the baseball record books.
“We have all known for a long time that we love baseball and the Negro Leagues have created success in the face of many of the best players in our game, innovations and injustices,” Manfred said in a statement. “We are now grateful to be able to count the players of the Negro leagues wherever they are: the major leagues in the official historical record.”
Moe received the news excitedly from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, with Bob Kendrick, the museum’s president, pointing out that league matches are legitimate for those who have already played in them.
“In terms of historical merit, this is extraordinarily important today,” Kendrick said Said in a statement. “Because there were so many Negro League players around, they never checked the Major League Baseball team. But it’s important to the fans and the historical purpose – it really is.”
Leagues elevated to official major league status were the Negro National League (I) (1920-31); Eastern Color League (1923-28); American Negro League (1929); East-West League (1932); Negro Southern League (1932); Negro National League (II) (1933-48); And the Negro American League (1937-48). Those leagues formed the 35 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, which included Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Baiz and Gibson.
The announcement focused on the work of historian Larry Lester, co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and Gary Ashville, Scott Simkas, Mike Lynch and Kevin Johnson. Negro Leagues database, Which is the most complete statistical record of the league.
The first step in linking the record books is to thoroughly review the information available by Elias Sports Bureau, the keeper of MLP’s official statistics. Its findings could lead to a number of record changes, and could affect the careers of any player who has appeared in both the Negro League and the National League or the American League – a group that includes players such as Jackie Robinson, Willie Moss and Baiz.
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