Miami, FL.– As reported by journalist Bob Nightengale, starting tomorrow, the statistics of players who saw action in the Negro League or Negro Leagues will be incorporated into the Major Leagues. That means, the baseball writer detailed, that; “Josh Gibson is now the all-time single-season record holder for batting average (.466), eclipsing Hugh Duffy; Slugging percentage (.974) and OPS (.1.474), eclipsing Barry Bonds.
He also has the highest batting average (.372), eclipsing Ty Cobb; slugging (.718), eclipsing Babe Ruth and OPS (1.177), eclipsing Ruth.”
He was called “The Black Babe Ruth” because of his similarity to “The Great Bambino.” The comparison was made by those who had the opportunity to see them both. Joshua Gibson was a catcher who could have had a place in the Major Leagues if he had not been African-American. The pitchman Walter Johnson, a legend whose career ended in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, among those elevated in 1936, in the First Class, along with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Christie Mathewson and Connie Mack, once said of him: “ There is a catcher that any Major League club would like to buy for $200,000. His name is Josh Gibson. He can do everything. He hits the ball a mile. He catches it so easily he might as well be in a rocking chair. He shoots like a rifle. It’s a shame that Gibson is a colored guy.”
In an article about Gibson by Bill Johnson for the Society of American Baseball Research, he says: “He was referred to as ‘the black Babe Ruth,’ but some (then and now) believe it might be just as accurate to call him El Bambino. ‘The white Josh Gibson.’ In June 1967, a column in The Sporting News credited Gibson with a home run in a Negro League game held at Yankee Stadium, which hit just two feet from the top of the wall surrounding the field’s stands. from the Brox, approximately 580 feet from home plate in the original park. If the ball had been just two feet higher, the article reflected, the ball could have traveled 700 feet. Jack Marshall of the Chicago American Giants swore that he saw Gibson hit a ball completely out of Yankee Stadium, and some accounts credit Gibson with between 800 and 1,000 home runs in a career that lasted only 16 years.”
However, it is worth making it clear that the numbers incorporated are those that were compiled with rigor.
For years, some historians, journalists and writers insisted on detracting from the value and merit of Negro Leagues baseball, something that has been amended for the good of baseball and based on research.
Uniforms of two emblematic Negro League teams.
They are exhibited in the “The Souls of the game” room, dedicated to the history and contributions of African Americans to this game that we love.@baseballhall It is an extraordinary destination, the room is magnificent. pic.twitter.com/A7b3BMNNaZ— Marie Montes 🇻🇪 ⚾️🐾🫓🎵💜✝️🏳️🌈 (@porlagoma) May 25, 2024
They were segregated and it took decades until their statistics were no longer segregated. It is a vindication of a baseball that contributed and continues to contribute, whose men, since the arrival of Jackie Robinson in 1947, demonstrated that they were always at the level of the Major Leagues.
It is an achievement for history, a conquest that gives dimension to the game that also, thanks to them, became the great pastime of the United States and served as a stage for the unity of every nation.
This Wednesday, May 29, will be a great day, with the integration of the records of the Negro Leagues, the game is enriched; baseball is better now.
2024-05-29 00:49:03
#Negro #Leagues #MLB #Numbers #color
