When Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, it heralded an end to racial segregation in professional baseball.
And even though Major League Baseball teams were integrated, official recordkeepers refused to acknowledge stats from the Negro Leagues – where Black players were relegated to for decades.
Author and historian Larry Lester is one of the people who has fought to change that for years.
He's spent over 50 years compiling statistics from the Negro Leagues. Now, that effort is getting recognition from the MLB, and Lester spoke to Ari Shapiro on the battle for inclusion.
Statistics from the Negro Leagues have now been incorporated into the MLB's records – and it's reshaping the history of baseball.
For generations, Black baseball players' contributions to the sport have been ignored. Now, their legacies are being recognized.
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Baseball's Hall of Fame will unveil a bronze statue of Hank Aaron on May 23, and the U.S. Postal Service will release a commemorative stamp picturing Aaron in his Atlanta Braves uniform. Both announcements came on the 50th anniversary of Aaron's 715th home run, which topped the record 714 hit by Babe Ruth.
The Baseball Hall of Fame is going Bananas. An exhibit dedicated to the sport's wackiest team, the Savannah Bananas, is opening at the hallowed shrine in Cooperstown, New York.
The beloved Red Sox player who helped put an end to the "Curse of the Bambino" was voted into the elite group in his first year on the ballot. Bonds and Clemens fell short in their final year.
Don Sutton played most of his 23-year Major League playing career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.