Negro League baseball teams : Babe Ruth has long been considered the greatest player in baseball history, with arguments over Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Barry Bonds and even Shohei Ohtani.
The Negro League baseball teams statistics will be included in Major League Baseball’s historical records today
Well, now a new player is entering the controversy: Hall of Fame catcher Josh Gibson.
Gibson, and all former Negro League baseball teams players, will have their statistics officially entered into Major League Baseball‘s historical records, according to a person familiar with the announcement. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity since the official announcement on Today.
December 2020 marks 3 1/2 years since MLB officially elevated the Negro Leagues to ‘major league’ status.
Gibson, who spent his entire career in the Negro League baseball teams from 1930, 1933-40 and 1942-46, would now be considered the greatest catcher of all time and arguably the greatest player of all time according to official historical records. After an independent committee reviews them.
Gibson holds MLB’s new all-time career batting average (.372, ahead of Ty Cobb), slugging percentage (.718, ahead of Ruth), OPS (1.177, ahead of Ruth), and all-time single season records. In each of those categories.
“When you hear Josh Gibson’s name now, it’s not only that he was the best player in the Negro League baseball teams,” Sean Gibson, Gibson’s grandson, told USA TODAY Sports, “but one of the greatest ever. Those aren’t just Negro League baseball teams stats. They’re major-league stats. Baseball statistics.
“It means not only to the Josh Gibson family, but to represent 2,300 men in the Negro League baseball teams who never had the opportunity to play [in the major leagues].”
Major League Baseball did not integrate until 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
But now, for the first time, Negro League baseball teams statistics from 1920-1948 are included in official Major League Baseball statistics.
Gibson’s .446 batting average for the 1943 Homestead Grays is now the best in MLB history, passing Hall of Famer Hugh Duffy (.440) in 1894 for 3rd place. Fellow Negro League baseball teams star Charlie “Chino” Smith is now second with his .451 batting average in 1929 for the New York Lincoln Giants.
Gibson’s .974 slugging percentage in 1937 broke Bond’s .863 mark in 2001. Bonds dropped from first to fifth with Suttles (.877), Gibson (.871, 1943) and Smith (.870, 1929) at Mule.
Gibson’s OPS of 1.474 in 1937 and 1.435 in 1943 now rank as the top two single-season marks, ahead of Bond’s 1.421 in 2004.
Gibson moved into third in the all-time single-season on-base percentage category with .564 in 1943, behind Bond’s .609 in 2004.
Albeit Gibson’s Hall of Fame plaque reads that he hit almost 800 home runs, his original total is 238, still the highest in Negro League baseball teams history. This is because statisticians have calculated his total exhibition and barnstorming tours.
“You hear all the talk about home runs,” Sean Gibson said, “but when it comes to the stats, he’s not in the home run colloquy, but all the other colloquys about how great an all-around player he is. The numbers don’t lie.”
Now that these available new statistics validate Gibson’s greatness, Sean Gibson hopes that the Baseball Writers Association will name the league’s Most Valuable Player award in Gibson’s honor.
The MVP award was named after former MLB commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, but his name was stripped from the plaque in 2020 after former MVP winners Barry Larkin, Terry Pendleton and Mike Schmidt expressed their displeasure. Landis was MLB’s first commissioner from 1920 to 1944, and baseball did not integrate until three years after his death.
“How ridiculous it would be for Josh Gibson to replace the man who denied over 2,300 men the chance to play major league baseball,” said Sean Gibson. “I’m expecting with these stats that we can change it to a Josh Gibson MVP award. These stats make a great case for naming it in his honor.”
The combined figures also exceed the numbers produced by several Hall of Famers who played in the Negro Leagues, such as Mays, Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Satchel Paige, Monte Irvin, Roy Campanella, Willard Brown and Minnie Minoso.
Paige now has the third-best single-season ERA for the Kansas City Monarchs at 1.01 at 1.01, moving his career win total from 28 to 124.
Mays now has 3,293 career hits dating back to 1948 with the Birmingham Black Barons, which could be increased if his numbers from his time playing in the Negro Leagues in 1949 and 1950 are verified.
Robinson now has 49 more hits since playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945, giving him a total of 1,567.
Minoso’s 150 hits with the New York Cubans put him over the 2,000-hit threshold with 2,113 total.
Others who jumped into ML B’s Career Leaderboard:
Batting averages: Oscar Charleston (.363), Judd Wilson (.350), Turkey Stearns (.348) and Buck Leonard (.345).
Slugging percentage: Mules Suttles (.621), Stearns (.616), and Charleston (.614).
OPS: Charleston (1.063), Leonard (1.042), Stearns (1.033) and Suttles (1.031).
“It’s a great day for all the players in the Negro Leagues,” Gibson said. “We’re very excited by it. Hopefully, one day, we can have a National Negro Leagues Day where every MLB player wears a Negro Leagues uniform.”
Gibson requested that the date be May 2 to commemorate the first Negro League games in 1920.
“This is not to take something away from Jackie Robinson Day,” Gibson said, “but it would be nice to observance all the Negro Leagues players, not just one person.”