KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Major League Baseball has a new leader in all-time batting average, slugging and on-base percentage.
Josh Gibson played 14 seasons for the Negro League's Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawford teams. Within those 14 seasons, Gibson set the single-season records for batting average, slugging and on-base percentage in MLB history.
“It is absolutely a watershed moment for both Black baseball and Negro Leagues history,” Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick said Wednesday morning from the Field of Legends at the museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
LINK | Major League Baseball All-Time Totals
Wednesday’s announcement is the first culmination of a project launched in December 2020 when MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the integration of Negro League stats into the major league record.
"We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues," Manfred said Wednesday. "This initiative is focused on ensuring that future generations of fans have access to the statistics and milestones of all those who made the Negro Leagues possible."
While multiple stakeholders were involved in the effort, the influence of Kansas City's Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, founded by Negro Leagues-great Buck O'Neil, is undeniable.
“It was a long time coming, and I am so deeply proud of everyone who worked so diligently on this project,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick said while baseball is a sport that uses statistics to compare the stars of today to the stars of yesterday, statistics only tell part of the story of the Negro Leagues.
LINK | What to know about Negro Leagues stats entering MLB record
Watch more of Kendrick's remarks in the video player below.
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