Peter,
You are wrong. Look at the numbers for the Negro League HOFers in the back of Shades of Glory. Particularly with respect to the ones who played in thirties and forties, it is my understanding that the researchers think they have found box scores for nearly 100% of the league games and that their numbers are very solid.
All of the numbers are small. If someone simply looked at Josh Gibson's league numbers, without any context, I don't think they would be likely to conclude that he is even a HOFer, let alone arguably the greatest catcher ever. The numbers do not support his greatness.
Contrary to what you seem to think, it isn't that his stats weren't recorded or that some portion of them has been lost. They have them. Lost or unrecorded stats isn't the reason the numbers are small. Rather, the reason
they are small is that, due to the circumstances which existed at the time, he only played in 510 league games over the course of his entire career. Not even Josh Gibson can post huge numbers in only 510 games.
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