Although baseball was integrated over 75 years ago, it wasn’t until this past week that the statistics from black professional baseball players were added to the Major League Baseball record books. Let the record now reflect that some of the greatest players who ever played the game were black players who weren’t allowed in Major League Baseball because of the color of their skin. The records from seven different Negro Leagues from 1920-1948 were added to the historical record. With the calibration of the record books, the addition of those players has shaken up the baseball world and the record books. New leaders from the storied Negro Leagues are right alongside MLB’s all-time greats. Josh Gibson now leads in three batting categories, including the all-time average leader at .372, replacing Ty Cobb in the top slot at .367. In all, black players make up half of the top ten players in career batting average. New names on the top ten list from the Negro Leagues include Oscar Charleston (third with .363), Jud Wilson (fifth, .350), Turkey Stearnes (sixth,.348), and Buck Leonard (eighth, .345). Josh Gibson’s .718 slugging percentage overtakes Babe Ruth’s .690 — a fitting accomplishment for a man often known as “the black Babe Ruth.”“Josh was known for his home run greatness,” his great-grandson, Sean Gibson, said. “But this shows that not only was he a great hitter, but he was a great all-around player.” He also commented on what was commonly felt among the players. “The Negro League (players) always felt they were Major Leaguers anyway,” Gibson said. “Society made that choice to divide them.”Many players benefited from the addition of the statistics from the Negro Leagues, including Jackie Robinson, who had numbers from both leagues going into his totals. And the great pitcher Satchel Paige, whose numbers skyrocketed. Paige’s career wins total jumped from 28 to 125, Minnie Miñoso’s hits with the New York Cubans lifted his career total above the 2,000 milestone, and Jackie Robinson’s hits from his season in the Negro Leagues boosted his career total from 1,518 to 1,567. The seven Negro League teams had 3,400 players across seven leagues: the Negro National League, the Eastern Colored League, the American Negro League, the East-West League, the Negro Southern League, the Negro National League, and the Negro American League.Although statistics are not an exact science, many factors go into the calculations. And the integration of the records is only 75% complete. But these great players excelled despite the injustices of the times. They deserved to be included for what they accomplished, given the circumstances they had to deal with. Not being allowed to stay in hotels because no Blacks were permitted. Players were forced to sleep in their buses for days without being able to shower. Baseball was the nation’s number-one sport during the reign of the Negro Leagues. Black fans would fill stadiums to watch superstars like Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Josh Gibson. In some cases, they were allowed to play in the same major league stadiums as their counterparts from MLB played when they were on the road playing their road games. But the talent pool from the Negro Leagues was so great that as those gifted players migrated to Major League Baseball, the once prosperous black neighborhoods eventually would suffer as a result. The economic decline in the Black neighborhoods that once thrived was a direct result of businesses closing down when the Negro Leagues lost the talent on their teams. Hotels, restaurants, and other Black businesses would go out of business, becoming vacant, boarded-up buildings. It was positive for the players who went to Major League Baseball but bad for their communities that were left behind. And it was an unintended consequence that contributed to the economic decline of Black neighborhoods. “All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s finest players, innovations and triumphs against the backdrop of injustice,” MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred said when the league announced the records change in 2020. Only three players are still alive who actually played in the Negro Leagues and can now see the fruits of their labor recognized. Bill Greason is now 99 years old, Ron “Schoolboy” Teasley is 97, and Hall of Famer Willie Mays is 93.“We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues. This initiative is focused on ensuring that future generations of fans have access to the statistics and milestones of all those who made the Negro Leagues possible,” Commissioner Manfred said. Sean Gibson, also the Executive Director of the Josh Gibson charitable foundation, said, “I’m very excited that it came from Major League Baseball,” Sean Gibson said Wednesday. “This is not an independent statistics committee that came to get these statistics in; this came from Major League Baseball. So now, when you Google Josh Gibson’s name, you’ll see Josh Gibson’s name ranked as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.” Even with the integration of records, validating how great these Black players were was unnecessary. They were already accepted by their community. Although Major League Baseball did have great players in its long-tenured history as well, having the records integrated shows just to what extent black players stacked up to the other privileged players who played in the same period. It would have been remarkable to see a world of sports that could have existed without hate getting in the way.