The Negro League has a rich and celebrated history. With players from many leagues in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and it is widely believed that stars such as Seychelles Paige and Josh Gibson would easily dominate if their majors came into the unified era, leagues have often been equated with their majors. Leagues of Time.
On Wednesday, Major League Baseball made the official announcement, with Commissioner Rob Manfred announcing that the seven Negro leagues, which ran between 1920 and 1948, would be officially recognized as major leagues, with their records and statistics counted in baseball’s record books.
“We baseball fans all know that the Negro Leagues have won against many of our best players, against a backdrop of innovation and injustice,” Manfred said in a statement. “We are now thankful for counting the Negro League players where they belong: as Major Leagues in the official historical record.”
The news was enthusiastically received from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, however, the museum’s president, Bob Kendrick, said the leagues were already legitimate for those who played in them.
“For historical merit, it’s very important today,” Kendrick said Said in a statement. “Despite having a lot of Negro League players, they never looked to Major League Baseball for certification. But for fans and historians, it’s important – it really is. “
The leagues that have officially reached the top of the league are the Negro National League (I) (1920-31); Eastern Color League (1923-28); The American Negro League (1929); East-West League (1932); The Negro Southern Dar League (1932); Negro National League (II) (1933-48); And the Negro American League (1937-48). Those leagues produced 35 members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, including Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Peugeot and Gibson.
The announcement focuses on the work of historian Larry Lester, co-founder of Negro Leagues baseball Mr. Muse Ziam, as well as Gary Ashwill, Scott Simmons, Mike Lynch and Kevin Johnson. Negro Leagues Database, Which is the most complete statistical record of the leagues.
The first step in compiling the record books will be a complete review of the information available by the MLB’s official statistics keeper, Elias Sports Bureau Rowe. Many records could change as a result of its findings, and could affect the career totals of any player who joins both the Negro League and the National League or American League – a group that includes Jackie Robinson, Willie Mayes and Peggy. Include.
