For over a century, baseball statistics in America were missing a piece of history because of racial segregation. That changed when Major League Baseball announced the incorporation of Negro Leagues statistics in the official MLB record book.
The record now reflects the accomplishments of over 2,300 Negro Leagues players, including dozens of St. Louis Giants and St. Louis Stars players. These ballplayers will receive long-overdue respect for their talent, said baseball historian Ed Wheatley.
“They were forgotten figures in a way, because they weren't in the [MLB] record books,” Wheatley told St. Louis on the Air. “Now they're going to be in, they're going to be recognized.”
St. Louis has a rich Negro Leagues history. The St. Louis Stars, originally named the St. Louis Giants, competed as early as 1909 and joined the Negro National League in 1920. Wheatley said the players quickly proved their excellence, claiming three championships in four years.
Oscar Charleston, who played with the St. Louis Giants for a year, is among the most notable St. Louis players to join the MLB leaderboard. After a rebalancing of the stats, Charleston is now in the top 10 in several categories and ranks third in career batting average at 362.
“I think it's going to bring respect for who these men were. You're seeing people pick up books to go looking, ‘Well, who's this Oscar Charleston guy that we keep hearing about from St. Louis? What were his stats?’” Wheatley said.
Some baseball fans disagree with the incorporation of Negro Leagues statistics, arguing that it is not fair to compare players who played at different levels. For Wheatley, putting the ballplayers in the same mix is “the right thing to do.”
“You can go back and forth in this pendulum of discussion. But [it’s] simple: Get over it,” Wheatley said. “We're all together, we all love baseball, we all play it, we all go out on the same diamond, we run 90 feet to first base.”
For the full conversation with baseball historian Ed Wheatley about the St. Louis Giants and St. Louis Stars players now included in MLB records, listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
