Yesterday, the commissioner of Major League Baseball announced that seven of the Negro Leagues that operated between 1920 and 1948 will be considered Major League team and (I assume) their stats will be also included. I have been making cards of Barrier Breakers as part of my latest project. This is my latest, a 1949 Leaf card of Hank Thompson.
******************************************************
Hank Thompson was the only player who integrated two different teams. In 1947 he was the fist Black player on the St. Louis Browns. On the Browns, he was joined on the field two days later by Hall of Famer, Willard Brown. He made his Giants debut on July 8, 1949. He started the game at second base and was the leadoff hitter. Monte Irvin made his Giants debut that same day. Because he came in as a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning, Thompson technically broke the color barrier by 7 innings.
Yes, Negro League stats will now count as major league stats. It's expected that once all stats are confirmed, Josh Gibson will be the single-season batting average record holder. (While he's said to have hit over 800 home runs, many of those were in non-league games, so Barry Bonds' home run record is safe.) Willie Mays' hit total will be increased. Things like that.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a shame that the stats will no doubt be incomplete in many cases.