It’s important to make a differentiation between quality of the leagues and the quality of the players. I believe that it is just historical malpractice to argue that the leagues were equal. Up until the 1940’s even the best negro league teams only carried 13-15 players at a time , had terribly unstable rosters with players jumping contacts all over the world, had no athletic training, poor transportation and even worse lodging. If you put the 1932 Chicago American giants in the National league and asked them to play 154 games they would have finished in last place 40 games back. The Negro league teams were not built to play the same type of season that the majors played. This is not criticizing the Negro league but merely recognizing the world they lived in the effects of existing in Jim Crow America. I would argue that by trying equalize the leagues we are actually writing out the racist reality that drove the inequality
The players however were often clearly the equal of major leaguers. Taking the same 1932 Chicago American team there were two Hofers Foster and Stearns and a couple of players who would have been perineal all stars at least in Radcliffe and Malarcher. Move any of these players into the National league in 1932 and they are still great
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