All true fans of baseball know, to some extent, the history of the Negro League. We have all heard the stories of Satchel Paige striking out six MLB All-Stars in a row during an exhibition game or Josh Gibson’s mammoth home runs. MLB will begin to include that league’s stats into MLB’s record book. One article is listed below.
I am personally thrilled to see this but Baseball is as stat driven, probably more, than any other sport. My only concerns are 1) potential sloppy record keeping for Negro League games 2) quality of some of the fields they played on. First, I think most of us agree that MLB stats have well kept (on a game by game basis) since at least 1900. Sport’s writers, fans, and the teams keep daily records. Could some Josh Gibson or Satchel Paige’s stats been the product of someone’s memory or bragging. Secondly, I remember reading (decades ago) about some of those being played in open fields without a fence which could allow for a gapper between CF and LF to roll and roll allowing what should be a double to turn into a HR.
As I said I am thrilled to see these players get their long overdue recognition. I am curious of that the board thinks.
www.nytimes.com
I am personally thrilled to see this but Baseball is as stat driven, probably more, than any other sport. My only concerns are 1) potential sloppy record keeping for Negro League games 2) quality of some of the fields they played on. First, I think most of us agree that MLB stats have well kept (on a game by game basis) since at least 1900. Sport’s writers, fans, and the teams keep daily records. Could some Josh Gibson or Satchel Paige’s stats been the product of someone’s memory or bragging. Secondly, I remember reading (decades ago) about some of those being played in open fields without a fence which could allow for a gapper between CF and LF to roll and roll allowing what should be a double to turn into a HR.
As I said I am thrilled to see these players get their long overdue recognition. I am curious of that the board thinks.
As MLB changes its records, Josh Gibson replaces Ty Cobb as all-time batting leader
Numbers from Negro Leagues are now being integrated into baseball's existing records, altering some of the leaderboards.
www.nytimes.com
