Posted on 12/17/2020 6:40:12 PM PST by foreverfree
Major League Baseball on Wednesday announced that records of Negro Leagues players will be included in the game's official statistics, in a "long overdue recognition."
...
The records and stats of 3,400 players who competed in seven leagues for Black players between 1920 and 1948, will be included in MLB records, officials said.
https://nypost.com/2020/12/16/how-mlbs-negro-leagues-decision-affects-record-book/
They were not major league teams, though
They should not be regaded as such.
Nothing wrong with accurate history.
The timing of this doesn’t come off as pandering at all.
Triple A quality? (During the era they played ball in)
I wonder if anyone looked into Negro League owners being against integration. It seems to me that they would have had a vested interest in not letting their stars go to MLB. That’d kill their narrative though.
I have a hard time believing the decision to not allow blacks into MLB was solely up to the people running the league back then. I know quite a few were, but there were a LOT of people upset that blacks were not allowed to play for MLB teams ... my grandfather was one of them :-) ... when the Pittsburgh Pirates all but stunk after the 1920s, he followed the Homestead Grays and had said that many Negro League players should have been on major league teams :-).
MLB’s rationale was interesting. I wasn’t aware that the old pro leagues like the American Association and the Federal League were considered “Major Leagues” for record-keeping purposes.
Great news. The Cleveland Indians can change their name to the Cleveland Negros to honor the group. I’m sure that will be well received. /s
What about the Pacific League and the Women’s Baseball League?
The "Maya Angelou" impersonation is almost as funny as the content of her poem. LMAO.
Until Robinson, and Branch Rickey, the players in the Negro League, no matter how good they were, did not have the option to play in the American or National League.
Ah, we’re now to the point where ‘history’ is being officially rewritten. How Orwellian of them. This is not to say that the best stars of the Negro League weren’t major league quality and would have performed well in the majors but for the racism of the time, but they were competing in a minor league against mostly minor league players.
>honoring Jackie Robinson for breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
I guess that isn’t the case anymore?
Baseball seems hellbent on alienating its fan base. Baseball is a game of records - now they’re meaningless?
Yeah! We gots da home run record and s—t dawg!
The Atlanta Braves will be next.
Of course, they can pay hommage to the negro league by changing their name to the Atlanta Crackers—which was the name of the negro league team in Atlanta.
Cracker is considered a racial slur against by some, as one meaning is: a poor, dumb, white southerner.
It makes sense to me. If you’re going to include other (defunct) pro leagues for stat purposes, then the Negro Leagues should be included as well.
MJ
My favorite team name:
The Atlanta Black Crackers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Black_Crackers
I am a long time baseball fan, 64 years, and I am totally on board with this.
Good job MLB for doing this. The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown has already welcomed the stars of the Black League back in that era.
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