Respect
When my daughters each turned ten years old, I took them on a weeklong car trip where we would visit MLB and minor league ballparks. They were carefully designed trips by a baseball-crazy dad with a game to see each day as we toured the Midwest. Together, we shared special one-on-one time with lots of baseball and fun, some not so healthy food, and a little education, all mixed in. One stop along the way was always Kansas City, where I included a tour of the Negro League Baseball Museum (NLBM) on the itinerary. They often waited, and admittedly were sometimes annoyed, as I poured through statistics at the museum. There soon will be more statistics to explore!
In December 2020 MLB announced that “it would be correcting a longtime oversight” and add the records of the Negro Leagues into the official MLB statistics. A 17-person special committee, chaired by MLB historian John Thorn, has now completed its research. An updated version of MLB’ s database will be released on June 20 when the Cardinals play the Giants in a tribute to the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Last week in a press release MLB highlighted some of the revised statistics, the purpose of which is to give the Negro Leagues the respect it deserves in baseball annals.
The first black professional baseball team was the Cuban Giants in 1885, formed because blacks were not accepted into white major or minor league baseball. Jim Crow laws, enacted in the 1870s and 1880s in many states, mandated racial segregation. While the Giants and a handful of other black teams played in early, organized leagues, they made the most money through “barnstorming” around the country to play any team that would accept their challenge. Due to the sparcity of information, the MLB special committee decided not to include the barnstorming exhibition games in the new database.
Rube Foster was the dominant black player in the early 1900s, pitching the Cuban X-Giants to the first “Colored Championship” in 1903. Foster joined the Leland Giants in 1907, not only as its star player but also manager, becoming one of the great innovators in baseball history. It was Foster’s vision to create an all-black league with all-black owners. His vision became a reality in February 1920 when he founded the Negro National League at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, just a few blocks from the present site of NLBM. Foster, known as the “father of Black Baseball”, was named league president and controlled the league in all operational aspects. He was elected to Baseball’s HOF in 1981.
Josh Gibson is another HOF inductee who played in the Negro Leagues (1930-1946) for the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Gibson, a dynamic power hitter, was known as the “black Babe Ruth”. Some say that he may have hit close to 800 HRs in his Negro League career. Josh never played in MLB. Josh’s name though will forever be remembered once the revised MLB statistics come out in the next two weeks. Gibson will jump to number one on the highest single-season batting average (an incredible .466 in 1943) and also to the top spot in highest career batting average (.372). Move over Ty Cobb!
MLB Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, and Ernie Banks are just a few of the greatest baseball players of all-time who played in the Negro Leagues. Last week’s MLB press release noted in particular that Mays’ career hit total will be increased to 3,293, based on the hits he accumulated while playing for the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons. Robinson’s new hit total will be 1,567, taking into account his 49 hits while with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945.
The win total of Satchel Paige, maybe the top right-handed pitcher ever, will also be increased. Paige began his career with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League in 1926. In 1929, Satchel had 179 strikeouts while pitching for the Birmingham Black Barons, believed to be a Negro League record. Paige drew huge crowds throughout the Negro Leagues, often making spot appearances for various teams so they and he could cash in on his notoriety. While starring for the Kansas City Monarchs in the 1940s, he was making four times the salary of any player in the Negro Leagues. In 1948, at the age of 42, he signed with the Cleveland Indians, the oldest MLB rookie ever. He was elected to the HOF in 1971.
A Negro League player who received the honor of induction into Baseball’s HOF in 2022 is Buck O’Neil. O’Neil’s career is more than admirable, as he symbolized the vision of Negro League Baseball as a player, manager, MLB scout, and founder of NLBM. Buck was a solid first baseman and hitter, starring for the Kansas City Monarchs beginning in 1938. O’Neil became player manager of the Monarchs in 1948. In 1955, O’Neil started with the MLB as a scout for the Chicago Cubs, which led to the signing of Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Lou Brock. O’Neil served as a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame Veterans Committee for 20 years, a catalyst for the induction of Negro League players into the HOF. In 1990 he turned to his greatest passion, the establishment of NLBM.
In MLB’s announcement of the revised statistics, Commissioner Manfred stated: “It’s a show of respect for great players who performed in the Negro Leagues.” One of my favorite images from attending NLBM years ago was watching kids, including my daughters, playing in a small baseball diamond in the front corridor and pretending to be one of those Negro League Baseball players they just learned about. A lot of good came out of that play-acting. Now adults, each one of my daughters demonstrates the proper respect to all people they meet in life. I want to return to NLBM soon, hopefully with my grandsons, to learn more, to help educate them, and continue that same respect.
Until next Monday,
your Baseball Bench Coach