Baseball player Josh Gibson runs to home plate.

Josh Gibson is tagged out at home plate during an all-star game in the 1940s.

Vince Compagnone/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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Setting the Record Straight

Major League Baseball officially recognizes some of the game’s greatest Black players.

Many people consider Josh Gibson one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was often compared to the sport’s most famous slugger, Babe Ruth.

But for years, you wouldn’t have found Gibson’s statistics in Major League Baseball’s record books. That’s because he was Black and played during an era when people of color weren’t allowed in the major leagues. Instead, Gibson and thousands of others played in separate leagues, called the Negro Leagues. (The term Negro once was commonly used to refer to Black people. It is now considered outdated and offensive.)

In December, Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to finally set the record straight. It announced that the statistics of about 3,400 Negro Leagues players would officially become a part of MLB history.

The statistics cover official games played in seven different Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1948. Baseball historians say MLB’s decision means more than just recognizing the players’ wins and losses.

“Fans can now go back in a ‘time machine’ and discover the greatness of players they’d never heard of,” says Larry Lester. He co-founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Missouri.

Louis Requena/MLB via Getty Images

Hank Aaron played in the Negro Leagues before being signed by MLB’s Boston (later Atlanta) Braves in 1952.

Leagues Apart

Beginning in the 1880s, an unwritten rule kept Black players out of the major leagues. So they formed their own teams. Many became part of the Negro Leagues.

Black players were paid much less than White MLB players. To make ends meet, many of them hit the road before and after their official season to play more games. This was called barnstorming. Teams would spend weeks traveling by bus from town to town. They might drive all night to play two games the next day.

Along the way, Black players faced discrimination. It was common in the U.S. at the time. They weren’t welcome at Whites-only hotels, restaurants, and even gas stations.

Getting a Chance

Black stars and White stars sometimes faced off in special, unofficial games.

“The top players in the Negro Leagues were just as good as their White counterparts,” Lester says.

In 1947, a former Negro Leagues player named Jackie Robinson integrated MLB. Major-league clubs soon began signing more Black players. This weakened the Negro Leagues, but it raised the level of talent in the majors.

One of those players was Hank Aaron. He went on to become MLB’s all-time home run king.

“Those men I played with in the Negro Leagues, I stood on their shoulders,” Aaron once said. “There was so much talent.”

Greatest Pitcher Ever?

Leroy “Satchel” Paige was the biggest star in the Negro Leagues. Many White players called him the best pitcher they had ever seen. More than anyone, Paige helped convince people that Black Americans belonged on the same field as MLB players. 

Paige finally got his shot in the majors in 1948. In 1971, he became the first Black pitcher to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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1. What is barnstorming? Why would players do it?

2. What caused things to change for Black players?

3. What is the purpose of the sidebar “Greatest Pitcher Ever?”

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