Negro League Statistics
Who is Major League Baseball’s all-time batting average leader? For a long time, the baseball community accepted Ty Cobb as the title holder, posting a .367 lifetime average. Cobb played in the majors between 1905 and 1928, mainly for the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics. Cobb also made the first class ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936.
Major League Baseball announced this week it will incorporate Negro Leagues records to official statistical databases after completing a three-year research project. Consolidating these records will add over 2300 players to the databases, which has already led to recognizing “new” leaders in a few categories. For example: Catcher Josh Gibson claims the title for all-time batting average leader at .372, and leads several other categories, including the highest single-season batting average (.466) in 1943. He even moved ahead of Babe Ruth in slugging percentage (.718 from .690) and OPS (1.177 from 1.164).
After making his Negro League debut playing one game for the Memphis Red Sox in 1930 and going 2 for 4, he was recruited to the Homestead Grays by owner Cumberland Posey. Gibson made his Grays debut on July 30, 1930, moving to the Pittsburg Crawfords from 1932-1936, back to the Grays from 1937-1939, and then to a Domincan league, a Mexican league, and finally serving as the first Manager of the Cangrejeros de Santurce, a historic franchise in Puerto Rico. Gibson was the second Negro League player elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 (the first was Satchel Paige in 1971).
Perhaps the more fascinating tidbits about Josh Gibson come from his early life, not just his baseball numbers. Gibson attended pre-vocational school to become an electrician in Pennsylvania. His first organized baseball team was one sponsored by Gimbels Department Store, which Gibson learned about when he worked as an elevator operator. He was recruited by a semi-professional team in Pittsburgh and his brother Jerry also played in the Negro Leagues. Gibson met his wife Helen while working at Gimbels, and the year of his debut, Helen gave birth to twins. Unfortunately, Helen died in childbirth. Gibson also died young, at the age of 35, after suffering a brain tumor and recurring headaches for the last years of his life.
Gibson accomplished so much as a baseball player, moreso given he died so young. Certain differences between the major leagues and Negro Leagues Negro League teams also demonstrate how much Black players accomplished often receiving less opportunities. Negro League teams played only 60-80 games per season (while for the National and American Leagues in 1930, there were 130 games scheduled). Gibson played in less than 700 games in his entire career. In contrast, Ty Cobb had 11,440 at bats during his 22 seasons and his WAR is listed as 151.5. All of this is not to take away from Cobb, a clear American baseball legend. Rather, incorporating these records allows us to recognize Negro League players in the same light as Cobb and gives baseball fans more generational players to admire.
Historians recognize that Negro Leagues data is not entirely complete- for example, Gibson’s career homerun total in the statistical database was 166, while many accounts suggest the total is closer to 800 or more. Recognizing there is always room for statistical error, the addition of the records still offers a more comprehensive story. We can now see a path from the Negro Leagues to the major leagues for players like Jackie Robinson and Don Newcombe, among so many others. The additions also reveal how baseball has changed through different decades.
The addition of Negro Leagues data to current Major League Baseball records is important on many fronts- the data tell a more complete story of baseball in the United States (and beyond), lift up players who developed baseball into a quintessential American spectator sport, and perhaps most importantly, reveal a community heritage that has been hidden from public view. Along with these records, baseball fans can reflect on the importance of the Negro Leagues to baseball’s current status as an international community. Although it may seem like the data simply changes statistics in the MLB, the addition should encourage fans to look further into the histories and backgrounds of players and teams who, without the record additions, may never have received the attention they deserved.
By Jem Jebbia