Major League Baseball (MLB)) announced that it now recognizes the Negro Leagues, that existed because African-American players were not allowed to play in the all-white American and National Leagues until 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier, as major leagues. Their players stats and records will now be included in the history of MLB. Long overdue.

Major League Baseball on Wednesday sought to correct a longstanding wrong by recognizing the Negro Leagues as a major league and counting the statistics and records of thousands of Black players as part of the game's storied history.
"My daughter and my sons heard and they were all excited and they came over to talk and rejoice in the good news," Teasley, 93, who played for the New York Cubans in 1948, said on the phone from his home in Detroit. "It's early Christmas and it will make the new year a lot happier, especially since my wife passed away in January. I just think about all the players... It's a wonderful thing."

MLB's announcement comes during the centennial celebration of the founding of the Negro Leagues, which showcased stars such as Josh Gibson -- considered one of the best hitters in the history of the game -- and Leroy "Satchel" Paige, a pitching legend who made his big league debut in 1948 at the age of 42. ...

MLB said it was "correcting a longtime oversight in the games history" by elevating the status of the Negro Leagues -- which consisted of seven leagues and about 3,400 players from 1920 to 1948.

The decline of the Negro Leagues began when Jackie Robinson became MLB's first Black player with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

In 1969, the Special Committee on Baseball Records did not include the Negro Leagues among six "Major Leagues" it identified since 1876.

"It is MLB's view that the Committee's 1969 omission of the Negro Leagues from consideration was clearly an error that demands today's designation," MLB said. "The perceived deficiencies of the Negro Leagues' structure and scheduling were born of MLB's exclusionary practices, and denying them Major League status has been a double penalty, much like that exacted of Hall of Fame candidates prior to Satchel Paige's induction in 1971," John Thorn, the official historian of Major League Baseball, said in a statement.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/16/us/ne...spt/index.html