JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three years after Major League Baseball (MLB) announced it was recognizing seven different Negro Leagues as Major League, the highest level or organized baseball in the United States recently announced it is integrating Negro League statistics to its historical records.
MLB's historian John Thorn, who chairs the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee, said the decision from officials is "not only righting a social, cultural and historical wrong, it's defining baseball as a game for Americans without exclusion."
More than 2,000 Negro League players will have their accomplishments recognized by the MLB. At one point in time, Jacksonville had a Negro American League team of its own - the Jacksonville Red Caps. The Red Caps was primarily based in the bold city of the South from 1938 to 1942.
Eddie Lindsey used to play for the Jacksonville Kings, a local baseball club during the 1960s and early-1970s. Lindsey recalls teaming up and going against former Negro League players. To Lindsey, recognizing their hard work should serve as a reminder that Jacksonville has hidden gems who played at Durkee Field (now known as James P. Small Park).
"It thrills me, I'm so happy," Lindsey told First Coast News. "Just being a part of this knowing that these guys played in the Negro Leagues that were from Jacksonville, their labor was not in vain. It's been a long time coming. It should've happened years and years ago when some of them were still alive."
The Negro Leagues data is not complete, yet. According to the MLB, researchers estimate the Negro League records are about 75% complete.
MLB's leaderboard has also changed due to the data being added, as Josh Gibson is now the MLB's career leader in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS.