MLB Elevates Negro Leagues to Major League status

It would be a gross understatement to say that 2020 has been a year we'd all like to soon forget, and for purposes of this blog, the sport of baseball is not exempt from that.  First and foremost, Erik and I had our Tour 2020 trip cancelled and I did not see a single game in person this year for maybe the first time since I was in kindergarten.  I would also argue that MLB and the players union handled the pandemic worse than any other sport.  Justin Turner showing zero regard for human life and running onto the field like an idiot to celebrate with teammates while knowingly being infected with Covid pretty much sums up the season in one moment.  The long-rumored MiLB overhaul and trimming was also finally announced a few weeks ago.  Even though this was anticipated, it was still a sting to over 40 minor league communities throughout the country, and I certainly plan on writing a post on it after all of the dust settles.  But to close out this disaster of a year, I choose to reflect on the one positive story to happen in baseball this year: Major League Baseball elevating the Negro Leagues to Major League status.

I will admit that my immediate reaction - and I'm sure a lot of baseball and statistics fans reacted the same way - was what will happen to all of our hallowed records?  Would Josh Gibson's fabled 800-homer career move him past Barry Bonds as the homerun king?  Would there be a player that would finally approach the long standing games played or single season batting average records?  Where would this put Satchel Page among the all-time greatest pitchers?  Selfishly my first reaction was to yet again be angry with Rob Manfred unnecessarily throwing a wrench in baseball tradition.  But after I thought about it some more, it is so clear and obvious that this is not only the right thing to do, but long overdue, and I was more than a little ashamed with myself.  If MLB can include statistics from the Federal League and several other 19th century leagues, then there is no reason that the Negro Leagues should not be included.  It was not any of these players fault that they were relegated to the Negro Leagues instead of deservedly playing in the "major leagues."  Simply because of the color of their skin, we will never know where some of the all-time great Negro Leaguers would stack up against their white peers had they played together, but they can now at least be compared statistically.

As a part of this announcement, all of the stats from what historians have determined to be the major-league Negro equivalent leagues and games, which amounts to a total of six leagues between the years of 1920-1948, will now be included with MLB historical statistics.  This announcement also coincides with MLB's planned 100th Anniversary celebration and recognition of the Negro Leagues, which is probably not a coincidence.  For those of you hoping that Hank Aaron or Josh Gibson would now surpass Barry Bonds as the career homerun leader, Aaron played for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1952 which is after the 1948 cutoff date, and only 238 of Gibson's homeruns were deemed to be "official."  The vast majority of his homeruns, which some legends put at over 800 or even 1,000 in total, were hit in exhibition or "barnstorming" type games.  The Negro Leagues were also considerably shorter seasons than Major League seasons, which has a dramatic effect on career total accumulations and is just another unfortunate reality of all this.

As Buster Olney says to close out every Baseball Tonight podcast, "hate and inequality based on skin color is something we must fight against every day."  Nothing can ever undo the injustices of a century ago, 50 years ago, or even today, but there are always steps we can take in the right direction towards a positive change, and this move by MLB is one of them.

Tour 2013: Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

All photos of Monarch Plaza and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum available on Flickr.

Following my exciting night in Springfield, I hit the road for Kansas City a little after 8 AM.  The drive took about 2 1/2 hours and was primarily on this dangerous state highway called the Kansas City Expressway that features a 65 MPH speed limit with controlled intersections, legal U-turns, a narrow shoulder, and Amish horse-drawn wagons.  My plan when I got into town was to have lunch at the famous Arthur Bryant's BBQ.  However, on my way there, I drove past an interesting place called Monarch Plaza.  It is not at all in my nature to alter my schedule, but for some reason I felt compelled to stop.  I'm fortunate that I did, because I came to find out the plaza was built on the historic site of the former Kansas City Memorial Stadium, the former home to the Athletics and later the Royals, the NFL Chiefs, and the Negro League Monarchs.  Since the park's demolition in 1976, the site has remained mostly vacant and overgrown with a few low-income housing units where the outfield used to be, but now is a great marker of Kansas City history with plaques commemorating great athletes who played there.  Google Maps does not even show the plaza, so it must be very new.  I talked to a resident there for awhile who told me a lot of stories about the old park, and one story in particular about Reggie Jackson when he was with the KC A's supposedly hitting the longest homerun in baseball history, which cleared the stadium over the centerfield wall and rolled all the way down the street to Arthur Bryant's 4 blocks away.  After the mention of Arthur Bryant's I kind of zoned out and remembered I was on my way to mow down on some brisket, so I just politely nodded until he was done talking and left.

Before I went on this trip, I asked my friend Evan, who is a native of Kansas City, what the best place was for BBQ there, and he told me Arthur Bryant's without hesitation, and I could tell by the large tour group going in as I got there that he was probably right.  It's one of those places that is so old and entrenched in the community that you really have to be "in the know" to order properly, so I was relieved the tour group was there so I did not feel like too much of an outcast.  The open-faced burnt ends sandwich on white bread was super delicious and it kept me full well into the Royals game that night. 

My next stop after lunch was the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, only another few blocks down the road.  It shares a building with a jazz museum in the 18th & Vine District, which I came to find out on the tour was a historically significant location as a former nationally known intersection and pillar of the black community.  Typically this museum is a self-guided tour, but luck was on my side again on this trip as I got there just in time to latch on with some other folks to a private tour for some of the visiting Washington Nationals players - Denard Span, Ian Desmond, and Scott Hairston - as well as some DC media.  It is not uncommon for visiting African-American players to visit this museum (Rickie Weeks did last year when the Brewers were in town), but Hairston's visit was extra special because his grandfather was a former Triple Crown winner in the Negro Leagues.  I really learned a lot I did not know about the Negro Leagues, including how long the league survived after integration, the Monarchs being the Yankees of the Negro Leagues, Latin American presence and barnstorming tours, and most impressively, just how great some of the players were.  Satchel Paige did not make it to the major leagues until his 40s, and Josh Gibson died of a stroke just 3 months before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.  Many people do not know very much at all about these two players, if anything, and it could be argued that they were the greatest pitcher and hitter of all-time.  Although many individual players were celebrated here, the tour guide made it very clear that this was an all-inclusive museum, and not just a hall of fame.  After the guided tour and sneaking some photos of the Nats players, I kind of went back through the museum in reverse because I didn't really get to look at any of the exhibits in depth.  The museum runs chronologically from the 19th century, to the formation of the Negro Leagues in the 1920s, all the way through its final days in the 60s as a globetrotter-type entertainment league.  Then there were lockers dedicated to all of the Negro League players in Cooperstown and finally the "field of legends" with 9 bronze statues by position of 9 Negro League greats, with of course Paige and Gibson front and center as the starting battery.  Overall, the tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and it was a very amazing and overwhelming experience.  Anybody who considers themselves a true baseball fan definitely needs to make the trip to Kansas City and see this museum.

In total, I spent about 3 hours at the museum, then went to check in and relax at my hotel for a few minutes, and left for Kauffman Stadium around 3:30 for a 6:10 start.