MLB Recognizes Negro Leagues Legends Stats

Perhaps, more than any other major sport, baseball prides itself on its statistics. It’s how the sport recognizes its all-time greats. Those stats are now changing in a big way. Major League Baseball announced today it will officially incorporate statistics from the Negro Leagues into its record books. That means some of the greatest players from those leagues will now move into the top 10 ranks in the record books. The legendary hitter, Josh Gibson, for example, will move to the top of several record lists. We are joined now by Gibson’s great-grandson, Sean Gibson, as part of our ongoing coverage of Race Matters. Sean, welcome to the News Hour, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

Your great-grandfather, Josh Gibson, will now be recognized as having the highest season batting average, the highest career batting average, in all of Major League Baseball. What’s this moment like for you and for your family?

You know what? This is a great moment for our family. It’s not just for our family, it’s for all the Negro League family members as well, because this is not just about Josh Gibson. I mean, as you mentioned, Josh Gibson will be at several categories, ranked number one, some at two and some at three, but for us, it’s more exciting too to also see some of the other great Negro League baseball players we recognize as well. As you saw in the press release, over 2,300 African-American baseball players were now being included in the MLB record books, and so we’re very excited to see Josh Gibson ranked at some of the top of all time in some of these statistics. It’s been a long time coming. This announcement was made back in 2020, almost four years ago, and here we are four years later and the statistics has finally have came out, and we’re very excited to see Josh ranked at some of those top categories.

This does now put him officially in MLB stats ahead of Ty Cobb for his batting average ahead of Babe Ruth’s slugging percentage. These are the greats, these are names that even if you’re not a baseball fan, you know, when it comes to American baseball. Why hasn’t the name Josh Gibson been part of that conversation before?

Well, I think because of the league that he played in which is the Negro Leagues. Some people try to discredit some of the records from the Negro Leagues, but as I always say is that, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige and other great African-American players, they would’ve loved to play in the Major Leagues. Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner of the Major League Baseball at the time, denied over 3,400 African-American men opportunity to play in the Major. When you look at Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston and Buck Leonard and the rest of the Negro League baseball players, yes, they did not play in the Majors, but they suited up just like their counterparts. They put their pants on, they put the jerseys on, and they put their cleats on. They went out there to play the game of baseball. Today, marks a day in history.

Sean, I do want to put to you, because some people have criticized this decision by the MLB, they say it basically allows them to rewrite history. The sports journalist, Howard Bryant said this, in addition to their exclusion from playing against their white peers, the totality of condition stands as embarrassing testimony to what the Major Leagues forced black players to endure, and that cannot be erased with a procedural merger a century later. Sean, he’s basically saying this allows them to kind of cleanse a racist past. Do you agree with that?

I love Howard, I know Howard very well, and that’s his opinion, I respect his opinion, but with the way I look at it and there other family members look at it, is that we understand that racism… Racism is going on today still, no matter what, and the one thing I don’t want people to think is that this is something that Major League Baseball to basically just appease the African-American community and say, hey, let’s do this to make right a wrong. As I was saying before, these guys earned, that 466 batting average that Josh had in 1943, he earned that. He earned that. Satchel Paige, his strikeout, he earned that, on base percentage. Josh Gibson earned that, and so whether if it’s something that Major League Baseball didn’t acknowledge a hundred years ago because they didn’t play in the Majors? No, I feel like these guys deserve to be recognized. Major League Baseball is making the decision because it’s the right thing to do. Not only that though, it is definitely a piece of our history. Even though these guys did not play in the Major League, it’s still a part of baseball history.

Sean, what else do you want us to know about your great-grandfather, both on the field or off the field? What kind of stories did you hear about him through your family that we should know about?

Well, the one thing I want people to know is that just when you look at these statistics and when you go into Google, the top baseball player of all time, or the top home run leader, the top batting leader, and you’ll start seeing different faces that you never saw before. Take the time and educate yourself on these players. Take the time and do some research on these players. These men played the game because they loved the game of baseball. They enjoyed the game of baseball.

That is Sean Gibson, great-grandson of the late great Josh Gibson joining us today. Sean, thank you for your time.

Thank you for having me, and have a great day.