UNSCRIPTED: HISTORY HAPPENS as MLB Recognizes Negro League Stars & Statistics!
Unscripted By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer
“We must never lose sight of our history, insofar as it is ugly, never to repeat it and insofar as it is glorious to always cherish it.” ~Bart Giamatti former Commissioner Major League Baseball
The pictures that you see are of men that were considered some of the GREATEST to EVER play professional baseball. These men played in the Negro Baseball Leagues and though it was professional baseball, they weren’t allowed to compete in Major League Baseball with their “white” contemporaries because of their color. Nevertheless they played, and when I say they played, I mean they played! They broke records, and dominated their league in such a way that their accomplishments could not be overlooked ANYMORE! Their exploits that had been denied by MLB officials and dignitaries, had to be viewed and reviewed again and again. Until finally... Major League Baseball recently announced, that the records of more than 2300 Negro League players that played between 1920-1948 will be incorporated into their official record books! In today’s UNSCRIPTED I will share what this historic moment means, and attempt to bring some historical perspective into how this will affect MLB and baseball fans FOREVER!
Just to give you a brief history on why/how all of this happened, let’s go back and take a look at how the Negro Leagues influenced MLB to rewrite the books. Prior to the debut of Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the American and National Leagues were a microcosm of society. With black players unable play in those leagues, they decided to form their OWN league, the National Negro League led by Andrew Rube Foster. This led to a variety of Negro League teams over the next 30 years of it’s original inception. There was even a Negro League World Series featuring the champions of the Negro National League against the champions of the Eastern Colored League. Records were being set at an alarming rate, so much so that MLB had to take a look at what had occurred for years prior to their formation. After years and years of discussion, MLB began going more in-depth regarding the Negro leagues and FINALLY Major League Baseball and Elias Sports Bureau made the historic decision to include records from Negro League baseball in their record books!
One player that benefitted greatly from this inclusion was Josh Gibson. Experts say that he was very good at his craft, so much so that many think that he may have been the single greatest player in the HISTORY of professional baseball many even calling him the “Black Babe Ruth.” He was in a word.. PHENOMENAL! What are you talking about Keith? You mean better than: Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays? The record books, and I emphatically say Yes! Better than ALL of those players and here’s why.
When you compare the statistics of Josh Gibson to some of the greatest to ever play baseball, names such as Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, and Ty Cobb his statistics can no longer be denied. In 1943 while playing with the Homestead Grays his batting average of 466 is now baseball’s highest ever! His slugging percentage of 974 (in 1937) now stands as the greatest ever along with his 1.474 OPS (on base plus slugging) in 1937 and 1.435 in 1943 which now moves the great Barry Bonds record-setting 1.421 percentage in 2004 to 3rd place! Gibson finished his career with a batting average of 372 which now moves him past the great Ty Cobb 367 for best in the history of the game! Want more information? Okay how about this?
Oscar Charleston (who was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1976) had a career batting average of 363 which because of the recalibration of stats now places him 3rd behind Gibson and Cobb. His OPS of 1.061 places him in 5th all time (behind Gibson, Babe Ruth, Williams, and Lou Gehrig) and ahead of Bonds! Not to forget Buck Leonard who batted behind Gibson for the Homestead Grays and look at his statistics: Batting average 345 (8th all time) 452 on base percentage (ahead of Gehrig 447 and Bonds 444) and his 1.042 OPS is 7th best all time ahead of the great Jimmy Foxx and just behind Bonds!
The record books have been changed in such a way that we can now recognize pitchers such as Sachell Paige who had 125 career wins and 1,484 strikeouts (an average of 7.74 strikeouts per 9 innings] which is just behind MLB star CC Sabathia and ahead of the great Bob Gibson’s 7.22 strikeout ratio for 9 innings. Dave Brown (whose career ended when he was accused of killing a man and left baseball) still put up numbers that read: 2.24 ERA (8th All-Time) and 1.08 WHIP (10th all time) which is ahead of current MLB star Max Scherzer. Now I could go on and on about the accomplishments of many other Negro League stars such as Ron Teasley, Minnie Minoso, Buck O’Neil and Hall of Famer Willie Mays.
I think that former MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti said it best regarding the Negro Leagues omissions when he said “We must never lose sight of our history, insofar as it is ugly, never to repeat it and insofar as it is glorious to always cherish it.” These men are worthy of our praise and recognition of their talents and perseverance. I for one am proud that this decision was made, and MLB has corrected a huge disservice to those many Negro League pioneers and the thirty-five players from the Negro Leagues that have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. You men have touched the entire baseball world and for that alone we say... Well done!