Keep Up With Global Black News

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates and events from the leading Afro-Diaspora publisher straight to your inbox.

Avatar photo
BY Mildred Europa Taylor, 3:35pm December 17, 2020,

After 100 years, Negro Leagues now recognized as part of Major League Baseball

Avatar photo
by Mildred Europa Taylor, 3:35pm December 17, 2020,
Leroy Satchel Paige warms up at New York's Yankee Stadium Aug. 2, 1942 for a Negro League game. Photo: Matty Zimmerman / AP

Major League Baseball (MLB) has announced that records of Negro Leagues players will be included in the game’s official statistics, “correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history”. Thousands of Black players including Josh Gibson, who was considered to be one of the best hitters baseball has ever seen, were barred from MLB play years before Jackie Robinson would professional baseball’s race barrier.

“All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumph against a backdrop of injustice,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

“We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.”

The Negro League, which some 3,400 Black athletes played from 1920 to 1948, was comprised of seven leagues: the Negro National League, the Eastern Colored League, the American Negro League, the East-West League, the Negro Southern League, the Negro National League (II) and the Negro American League. These leagues were formed because Black players were not allowed to join the National and American leagues.

In 1969 when the Special Committee on Baseball Records was asked to identify the leagues that deserve statistical inclusion in the MLB, it chose six leagues. The committee did not recognize the Negro Leagues, and this is what MLB now calls an error.

MLB’s announcement comes as the country comes to terms with systemic racism following protests against police brutality and racial injustice. This June, a statement from the MLB said it will address “symptoms of systemic racism, prejudice, and injustice.”

Last Edited by:Mildred Europa Taylor Updated: December 17, 2020

Conversations

Must Read

Connect with us

Join our Mailing List to Receive Updates

Face2face Africa | Afrobeatz+ | BlackStars

Keep Up With Global Black News and Events

Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest updates and events from the leading Afro-Diaspora publisher straight to your inbox, plus our curated weekly brief with top stories across our platforms.

No, Thank You