As part of Juneteenth celebrations this week, Major League Baseball is honoring the Negro Leagues — African American professional baseball teams of the 1920s to 1940s — with several games at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, former home of the Black Barons.
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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The MLB incorporated the statistics of some 2,300 Black athletes who played in the segregated Negro Leagues between 1920 and 1948, making the late Josh Gibson its new all-time batting leader.
Baseball's box scores instantly turn human accomplishments into history. But for decades, Negro League players' statistics were kept segregated from other major leagues.
