It feels difficult to believe this decision was made on statistical grounds and not because every organization and company was eager to show their support for a political and protest movement in 2020 when this decision was made. Sometimes you come to the right answer anyways, but I am always highly dubious of decisions made to show support for whatever the cause of the moment is. I am also always highly dubious of revisionist history that seems to have more to do with a current desired view than history.
It's even worse than 60 games. The slugging percentage 'record' is now achieved in 183 plate appearances in 39 games. These 39 games are not even a complete record, just the box scores they were able to find. Now I have no doubt that Josh Gibson was a truly great ballplayer, and he should absolutely be held up as one of the greatest players of all time, but pretending he had the best slugging season in MLB history is..., well, highly dubious at best.
History is often uncomfortable. Revising it to suit modern sensitivity does not do anyone a service. There was no perception that these leagues were major leagues at all in that time - the entire reason they existed is because they were not the major leagues and the majors had ridiculous and racist rules preventing deserving black players from playing. I love the Negro League Museum, their plaques in Cooperstown (19th century white ball and the negro leagues are where I want to see more inductions), the great work that has been done documenting them, and efforts by MLB to remember, record their history, and honor them. But pretending X is Y because that makes people more comfortable now is silly.
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