Debatable Sneak Peek | MLB & NLBM Partner to Create Negro Leagues 101 Program

Debatable Sneak Peek | MLB & NLBM Partner to Create Negro Leagues 101 Program

by | Jul 7, 2021 | THE TWO HOLE

Major League Baseball and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum have partnered to create a new initiative that will keep the memories and accomplishments of Black and Brown baseball players alive.

They are collaborating to produce the “Negro Leagues 101” featuring a multimedia platform where contemporary former Black MLB players will honor former Negro League greats through vignettes that will pay homage to those who played the game but were never truly give their due among other ways to remember the

The initiative began on June 25 and will last until October 3, which is the final day of the 2021 regular season.

MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds threw out the first pitch on this virtual opening day by sharing the first set of facts about  Negro League player Willie Wells to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the establishment of the Negro National Leagues.  This effort is part of a larger educational initiative led by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum called “Negro Leagues 101,” which includes a series of programs, lectures, and events along with other learning experiences, including a virtual tour of the NLBM.

 

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“I don’t think there was ever a time that people didn’t want to know about the Negro Leagues,” said Bob Kendrick President of the Negro League Baseball Museum. “They just simply had no way to know about this rich history because it has never been fully documented in the pages of American History books.”

Each day’s fact is being unveiled by a Major League Player, Legend, youth baseball or softball player, or general representative of Baseball.

A dedicated landing page (MLB.com/NegroLeagues101) and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum social media platform (@NLBMuseumKC) will be the primary sources of the content.

 

 

Social media platforms from MLB, the Major Leagues Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), and clubs will also support this campaign designed to educate and inform the public about the rich and vast history of the Negro Leagues and Black excellence in the sport.

“The Negro Leagues is a story of excellence and resiliency by individuals who accomplished extraordinary feats in the face of bigotry and discrimination,” said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Since Reynolds opened the series of tributes, several MLBbros from the past have shared memories of the unheralded legends of the game who opened doors for the future success of Black players on the diamond.

Former players Mike Cameron and Fred McGriff have offered their appreciation for what has often been historically marginalized efforts to preserve the impact of Black players of past and present on MLB.

 

(Some) Negro League Stats Officially Recognized By Baseball-Reference.com

 

Current MLB second-generation Black Knight Ke’Bryan Hayes of the Pittsburgh Pirates also joined in the celebration on July 4. His father Charlie played in the majors and won a World Series as part of the Yankees Soul Patrol.

“A full understanding of Baseball includes knowing the history and legacy of the men and women in the Negro Leagues who paved the way for so many of us,” MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark said.

(Some) Negro League Stats Officially Recognized By Baseball-Reference.com

(Some) Negro League Stats Officially Recognized By Baseball-Reference.com

by | Jun 16, 2021 | 5TH SLOT

Negro League Baseball records have been added to the Baseball-Reference website, meaning players such as Josh Gibson can take his statistical place amongst his white legendary counterparts.

In a major boost to the legacy of Negro League Baseball, records of several leagues have been officially added to the history of the game’s statistics, vindicating the credibility of many great players who were denied the opportunity to play in the Major Leagues against white legends of the game.

According to the BaseballReference.com website, the statistical authority on the game’s records has expanded its coverage of the Negro Leagues Black major league players from 1920-1948.

 

 

Those statistics are now officially listed with the National League and American League as major league records. That now means the records of Josh Gibson and Satchel Page can be legitimately compared to their white counterparts such as Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson.

The historic announcement admits that the research is ongoing and that 28 years of statistics that have been incorporated into the record banks are “incomplete”

However, it does bring credibility to those who are looking to have Gibson’s name added to either the National or American League Most Valuable Player Award.

 

 

“The Negro Leagues are not less than the National and American Leagues,” reads the statement on the Baseball-Reference website. “They are different, and we recognize that our work must acknowledge those differences.”

This era and the Negro League teams they encompass don’t include the barnstorming teams that were ambassadors during their travels to play against Caribbean counterparts.

They also don’t include other independent teams many historians consider to be as good as the teams that have been included as major league Negro teams on their website now.  The complete register of baseball history contains a significant record of Independent and non-major Negro Leagues including a page for the 1917 Chicago American Giants.

The research is ongoing and there has been no timetable for when it will be complete.  Record-keeping was fractured because of what Baseball Reference acknowledges was systemic racism and the lack of media accounts and record keeping.