Now that Major League Baseball is recognizing stats from Negro League competition as Major League achievements, it's time to learn about the top players and history of the league.
Major League Baseball will incorporate player records from various Negro League competitions in its official statistics. Black players denied the chance to play in the segregated Major Leagues will now be listed among the official all-time greats, but will this move actually raise awareness of the political and social forces that kept the game segregated?
Major League Baseball will include player statistics from the seven African American baseball leagues operating between 1920 and 1948 in the major league record books in recognition of the quality of play and the opportunity denied the best Black players in the game's segregated era.
For Black Americans, the amphitheater-style stadium was home to and embodied the incredible spirit of Negro Leagues baseball. It will now be renovated so its story can be preserved.
Major League Baseball's celebration of the centennial of the Negro Leagues whitewashes the role of major league owners in segregating baseball with an 1887 "Gentlemen's Agreement."
Minnie Forbes, age 88, is the last surviving owner of a Negro League baseball team, and worries that the full story of the league and its teams and players may go untold.
After World War II, Jackie Robinson hurdled baseball’s racial divide. But while integration – baseball’s great experiment – was a resounding success on the field, at the gates and in changing racial attitudes, Negro League teams soon lost all of their stars and struggled to retain fans.
