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Originally Posted by aljurgela
Pretty interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing. I do believe that the 1950s may not be the best time to look at black participation as many MLB teams still would only "allow" one or two black players on the team, thereby constraining to opportunity for many other players (who could have potentially made it to the HOF). You could argue that only the best black stars were allowed the MLB opportunity and therefore there are a disproportionate amount of them were successful (as they were already the cream of the crop).... though I imagine it has always been tougher for blacks in MLB than white (think the Aaron run up to the Ruth record)
Another point, I do not believe that we can include the NHL at all as the economics of hockey have been the main reason for the dearth of African American, in my opinion.
I do not pretend to know the answers or even be an arm chair historian, but I am convinced that there are many other Negro Leaguers who were likely far superior baseball players than some of those already enshrined in Cooperstown, and it would be fair to given them another look.
Nonetheless, interesting "math", and a fascinating perspective.
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These are points that I considered as I was writing the post. I decided to include the 1950s as there were far more black players than black Hall of Fame players allowed in by that point, so you're correct that the ones who are included were more likely to be All-Star/Hall of Fame caliber than the rest of the league or else would not have gotten the chance, but I think by the 1950s if you were not only good enough to be a successful day-to-day player in MLB but actually good enough to reach the Hal of Fame that you'd almost certainly have been one of the handful of players given a roster spot.
Certainly I'm not suggesting that because all of the best hockey players have been white we shouldn't have any Negro Leaguers in Cooperstown, only pointing out the flipside to Ryan's suggestion to look at the NBA. The NBA is the flipside to your point about the effects of economic hardship on one's chosen sport. I have no doubt that if hockey were the only game in town and the price of entry were not an issue that there would be plenty of elite African-American players in the NHL.
There are many relatively weak players currently in the Hall (Rube Marquard, Rick Ferrell, Rabbit Maranville...), and I'm convinced there are dozens of Negro League players who have not yet been inducted but are better than that threshold, but I'm convinced of more than that. I believe there are roughly 300 players past and present who have been (or currently are) good enough that they belong in the Hall and that right around 60 of those players are men who were excluded from MLB by the color barrier.