Quote:
Originally Posted by Hankphenom
It seems to me that to say that the Negro Leagues (and certainly Puerto Rico and Cuban teams) were on a par with the white leagues ignores the tremendous differential in the demographic pools they were drawn from. I just don't understand how this is possible when the population was 90% white and less than 10% black, unless you want to take it a step much further to say that blacks were inherently or genetically much better ball players. I have no doubt that there were many terrific black players who would have excelled in the majors as they did when integration came, or that a black all-star team at any time probably could have beaten the white champions, but those leagues on a par generally speaking, I don't think so. It is undoubtedly also true that Josh Gibson and many others from the NL would hold MLB records today if they had been allowed to compete equally among white players, but I don't see how you can invent those records from what they did do in their separate leagues. I say keep the histories separate, as they were in their time, and don't try to pretend that it was all one big happy family playing together. It wasn't, it will forever be a stain on baseball that it wasn't, and no amount of imaginary numbers juggling will make that fact any prettier.
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Every time I've brought up the size difference in population and the fact that there was barely a size difference in the league, no one has wanted to hear about it, so I'm glad someone else realized this point. The NL/AL could also pull Native American players and Latin players who passed as European (even if it wasn't true in some cases such as Bobby Estalella and Tomas de la Cruz, who were Cubans of African descent), so you can't just throw in the Latin players in the Negro Leagues to help their case.
There's also the fact that the white/native/passing Latin players could go through the levels of the minors to get better, while the Negro League players didn't have that luxury. They had barnstorming teams. They had very few jobs available in baseball, so it wasn't an avenue most pursued.
Even when I point out that the best players will play in any league, so Josh Gibson would have been great anywhere, it doesn't help the common sense argument. It matters who plays around them for the level of competition. Satchel Paige didn't even play every season in the Negro Leagues. He spent plenty of time playing in other leagues, so those players weren't facing him. Josh Gibson played in Mexico in 1940-41. Oscar Charleston spent four seasons in leagues that aren't consider Major League. This list of greats missing time goes on and on.
The Negro League comparison would be similar to MLB just saying in 2024 that if you're born in Texas, you play in the 30-team Texas Major League. Players from the other 49 states can play in the Major Leagues. A Texas League All-Star team would compete with a team of quality 49 staters, but the quality of the league itself as a whole would be much lower.