MLB
Which major records will change after the MLB adds Negro League stats?
Four years ago, Major League Baseball announced that it would be “correcting a oversight” by adding the Negro Leagues’ stats to its historical records.
A 17-person committee, including Negro Leagues experts and statisticians and led by MLB’s official historian John Thorn, has completed the new updated version of MLB’s database. Thorn estimated that 72% of Negro Leagues records from 1920 to 1948 are included and said that additional research might lead to future modifications. This database will be made public before the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants play a tribute game to the Negro Leagues on June 20 at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
The updated database now includes individual and team records from the first Negro National League (1920-31), Eastern Colored League (1923-28), American Negro League (1929), East-West League (1932), Negro Southern League (1932), second Negro National League (1933-48) and Negro American League (1937-48). This milestone was achieved after the statistics of over 2,300 Negro Leagues players were officially recognized following a comprehensive three-year research project.
Which historical records will change?
Josh Gibson
Josh Gibson made history in Major League Baseball by achieving a career batting average of .372, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367. Notably, Gibson’s impressive .466 batting average for the 1943 season with the Homestead Grays set a new standard, surpassing Charlie “Chino” Smith’s .451 for the 1929 New York Lincoln Giants and Hugh Duffy’s .440 for the National League’s Boston team in 1894. Moreover, Gibson also claimed the top position for career slugging percentage at .718 and OPS (on-base plus slugging) at 1.177, surpassing Babe Ruth’s .690 and 1.164, respectively.
In 1937, Gibson set the season record with a .974 slugging percentage, while Barry Bonds’ .863 in 2001 dropped to fifth place, trailing Mules Suttles’ .877 in 1926, Gibson’s .871 in 1943, and Smith’s .870 in 1929. Bonds’ prior OPS record of 1.421 in 2004 dropped to third place behind Gibson’s 1.474 in 1937 and 1.435 in 1943.
Career hits total
In 1948, Willie Mays had 10 hits while playing for the Birmingham Black Barons, bringing his total to 3,293. Minnie Minoso had 2,000 hits, 150 of which were attributed to his time with the New York Cubans from 1946 to 1948, increasing his total to 2,113.
In 1945, Jackie Robinson, who broke MLB’s color barrier with the 1947 Dodgers, was credited with 49 hits while playing for the Kansas City Monarchs, bringing his total to 1,567.
As for pitchers, Satchel Paige achieved 28 wins, bringing his total to 125.