SPORTS + RACE + HISTORY

How Negro League Stats Are Finally Shaking Up Whitewashed Heroes

Major League Baseball has finally integrated Negro Baseball League stats

Negro League Players at All-Star Game 1952 | Photo by Ernest Withers | Courtesy of Library of Congress

Baseball is a quintessential symbol of American culture. And yet, the sport is inextricably tied to this country's history of anti-Black racism. Imagine a society so segregated that a simple game between Black and White men was prohibited, and you will begin to understand what life was like when this sport was established during the Jim Crow era. While Black Americans played baseball since the 1800s, racist policies barred them from playing in Major League Baseball, first established with the 1876 founding of the National League and in 1901 with the American League. Baseball remained segregated until 1947, when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. However, the Negro National League, founded in 1920, provided Black players with their first opportunity to play the sport professionally.

Negro League Baseball thrived during the 1930s and 40s, producing legendary stars like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Cool Papa Bell. Despite the league's popularity among Americans, the records for Black and White baseball teams were kept separate. This led to White baseball heroes being celebrated while many Black heroes were overlooked…