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If you haven’t heard by now, Major League Baseball has finally incorporated Negro League stats in its database. MLB announced in December 2020 that it would be “correcting a longtime oversight” by adding the Negro League statistics, and sports fans across America, particularly Black baseball fans, are excited that it’s finally come to fruition.
Now, Black baseball legends make up half of the top 10 highest batting averages in pro-baseball history, including Josh Gibson, who “became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367, when Negro Leagues records for more than 2,300 players were incorporated Tuesday after a three-year research project,” according to the Associated Press.
Of course, the second the announcement was made, we already knew who would be mad about it, and the perpetually fragile anti-woke whites did not disappoint.
That’s right, folks—white people who are as predictable as the sun’s rise and fall schedule responded to the news of the incorporated Negro League stats by calling the MLB “woke,” which is generally what they call anything that doesn’t center Caucasians. They also accused the MLB of pandering to Black people while completely ignoring the fact that the only reason the Negro League’s top players weren’t allowed into the major leagues is that white people have always needed to be pandered to and that pandering has always included placating their racism.
These people are no different than the horse of white people lamenting the relatively recent diversifying of Hollywood. For the overwhelming majority of the American entertainment industry’s existence, white actors, writers and producers have dominated TV, film, broadcasting, mainstream literature, advertising and much more for no other reason than white people needing to see themselves and only themselves on the screen. But now that the pendulum has shifted even an inch towards making diversity a priority and common practice, white people have been kicking and screaming about people of color being pandered to and white people being discriminated against in “woke” America.
Interestingly enough, when the stats from other pro-baseball leagues were incorporated into the MLB database in the late ’60s, it wasn’t nearly this controversial.
From AP:
A special committee on baseball records decided in 1969 to recognize six major leagues dating to 1876: the National (which launched in 1876), the American (1901), the American Association (1882-1891), Union Association (1884), Players’ League (1890) and Federal League (1914-1915). It excluded the National Association (1871-75), citing an “erratic schedule and procedures.”
Of course, there are also white people on social media who are stretching themselves to make their objection to the Negro League stats about anything but race, such as the logistics of incorporating stats from a different league with different game scheduling and a different pool of players.
Yep—arrogant whitesplaining Caucasians think they know more than, say, John Thorn, MLB’s official historian, or the 17-person committee that included Negro Leagues experts and statisticians, which Thorn chaired.
More from AP:
“The condensed 60-game season for the 2020 calendar year for the National League and American League prompted us to think that maybe the shortened Negro League seasons could come under the MLB umbrella, after all,” Thorn said.
The committee met six times and dealt with issues such as when compiled league statistics didn’t make sense, such as a league having more wins than losses and walks that were missing. Researchers had to identify whether players with the same name were one person or separate, tracking dates of birth, and identify people listed by nicknames. Documenting transactions and identifying ballparks in a time when neutral sites often were used is ongoing, along with uncovering statistics for independent teams.
“We made the decision at a point in time that we became convinced that it was possible to get accurate statistics that could be appropriately integrated into our record books,” Manfred said.
But, you know, these are just the people who did the research as experts in their fields. Who cares about their opinions when we have the Caucasian Committee of Trust Me, Bro to inform us that it’s all a woke farce and a slap in the face to the achievements of the historic MLB players who were talented enough and, more importantly, white enough to make it into the league, right?
SEE ALSO:
The Best Black Baseball Players Of All Time
Why Are There So Few Black American Players In Major League Baseball?
