'Version 2.0' of MLB's Negro League records uncovers bounty of new info

As we peruse the newly published data that can colloquially be considered ¡°Version 2.0¡± of MLB¡¯s official Negro Leagues records, let¡¯s heed the words and wisdom of Larry Lester.

For more than 30 years now, Lester, a member of MLB¡¯s Negro League Statistical Review Committee, has been researching Black baseball box scores and inputting the statistics he discovers into a database he designed. That is several decades of living history -- old outcomes that become new again as more information is uncovered in this Indiana Jones-like quest to get as close as we possibly can to a full statistical understanding of what those players barred from affiliated baseball accomplished in their segregated circuits.

¡°There¡¯s no ChatGPT or Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot or DeepSeek, no artificial intelligence,¡± Lester says, ¡°that can scan a box score and put it into a database.¡±

Human error inevitably invades this process on the front end and the back. There are many instances in which a game¡¯s box score in one newspaper publication differs from what was printed in another. And of course, there can be error in the present day, should a researcher input or interpret a statistic incorrectly.

¡°On the keyboard, the 0 is next to the 9,¡± Lester says with a laugh. ¡°You say, ¡®He went 9-for-4 that day? Oops, I know that¡¯s wrong!¡¯¡±

Long before the Negro Leagues became a part of the official record in 2024, MLB¡¯s American League and National League history had been loaded with instances in which players gained or lost accomplishments as new data presented itself or errors (in transcription or official scoring) were uncovered. Many widely accepted records -- such as Rube Waddell¡¯s strikeout total, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson¡¯s win totals, Hack Wilson and Roger Maris¡¯ RBI totals, etc. -- required adjustment long after the fact.

To this day, there remains compelling argument to increase Babe Ruth¡¯s official home run total from 714 to 715 (he was credited with a triple in his time that would have been scored as a homer in the present day) and reduce Ty Cobb¡¯s official hit total from 4,191 to 4,189 (a 1910 box score was mistakenly inputted in the daily records twice), even though that would be an adjustment to stats that are considered by baseball fans to be sacrosanct.

All of which is to say ¡­ never get too comfortable with the numbers from baseball¡¯s distant past.

¡°History,¡± says MLB¡¯s official historian and chair of the Negro League Statistical Review Committee John Thorn, ¡°is process, not product.¡±

This process is ongoing with the Negro League numbers. ¡°Version 2.0¡± includes some fun features, including:

• Box scores for more than 2,000 games
• Full schedules for all Negro League teams and seasons recognized as Major Leagues
• Final standings for each league and season
• Updated player biographical data
• Corrections to 1939 data

That last one will catch the attention of eagle-eyed observers, who will note updated statistics for some of the Negro Leagues¡¯ most legendary players.

Among the Hall of Famers, it¡¯s worth noting that the great Josh Gibson loses three home runs, seven hits and 18 at-bats (for reasons we¡¯ll explain below) from his career totals in this update, while the immortal Satchel Paige gains two more wins, three strikeouts and 14 2/3 innings pitched. Turkey Stearnes loses a homer, while Mule Suttles loses two. Jackie Robinson gains a hit, while Cool Papa Bell adds three -- all homers.

No, durable though he may have been, Paige hasn¡¯t K¡¯d anybody recently. But these changes are all part of, as Thorn says, the ¡°process¡± of discovery and amendment.

When we peruse Black baseball stats, we must understand and acknowledge that many accounts from that period will never be unearthed all these decades later and that the leagues themselves -- as a product of racist segregation -- were more scattershot (with more exhibitions, barnstorming and uneven schedules).

In other words, we don¡¯t know what we don¡¯t know.

So Negro League researchers press on as best they can, making new findings and adding important context.

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Case in point: Researcher Gary Ashwill, whose work was essential in creating the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database that became the backbone of MLB¡¯s official record, says that there are 64 players in this update that were not listed previously.

¡°As we know, Black baseball in the 1920s, ¡®30s and ¡®40s was not that well-documented,¡± Ashwill says. ¡°This means that, for a lot of, say, second-tier or third-tier players, you just know who they are right away. But with a little elbow grease, if you dig into the sources, you can find some stuff.¡±

As an example, consider the curious case of one Dave Thomas.

In Robert Peterson¡¯s influential book, ¡°Only the Ball Was White: A History of Legendary Black Players and All-Black Professional Teams,¡± published in 1992, there is mention of a ¡°D. Thomas.¡± In James A. Riley¡¯s 1994 ¡°Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues,¡± there is a player listed as Dan Thomas.

What Ashwill has discovered is that Dan Thomas was actually Dave Thomas.

¡°I found extensive evidence that he was always Dave or David,¡± says Ashwill, ¡°and that he was confused with a later player named Dan Thomas.¡±

And just to further confuse the issue, there was already a player in the Seamheads database named Dave Thomas -- a first baseman who played for the Birmingham Black Barons, the New York Black Yankees and a few other clubs between 1929-1946. The ¡°new¡± Dave Thomas, who played for the Kansas City Monarchs, St. Louis Stars and others from 1922-1932, was mostly a second baseman.

Ashwill is finding stuff like this all the time.

¡°If you¡¯re trying to track down individual Black people in the United States in that period, Black baseball and Black life, in general, has not been treated well by the historical record,¡± he says. ¡°That can create some real problems. But it can also lead to real rewarding moments where you can find somebody or a relative contacts you and you¡¯ve finally figured something out.¡±

The majority of changes in ¡°Version 2.0¡± are attributable to these kinds of identification discoveries.

As for the changes to the career stats of more recognizable names, those are a product of discovering a new or better box score source or auditing the available data and uncovering human error.

On the human error front, in the first batch of Negro League statistics added to the official record, five playoff games from 1939 had been mislabeled as regular-season games (the official record does not yet include Negro League postseason numbers).

That¡¯s how Gibson loses a few official home runs, from 174 to 171. (Considering his Hall of Fame plaque claims he hit ¡°almost 800¡± home runs, this is not the first time.)

*Note that, even with the lost hits and homers, Gibson still stands as the all-time leader in batting average (.371), slugging percentage (.717) and OPS (1.175).

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¡°Thankfully, we were able to catch that [error],¡± says Seamheads co-founder Kevin Johnson. ¡°We¡¯re going systematically. This time, we¡¯ve added five seasons of fielding statistics, and, related to that, some pitching statistics. When we do that, we¡¯re also releasing the game-level details to MLB once we get those added. That¡¯s a goal of mine: Not just having the seasonal totals but the game-level details to go with those.¡±

To outsiders, the time between MLB¡¯s 2020 announcement that the Negro Leagues would be recognized as Major Leagues and the data gradually becoming available to the public might seem an eternity.

In reality¡­

¡°We¡¯re way ahead of the schedule we set for ourselves,¡± Ashwill says. ¡°We¡¯ll be ¡®finished¡¯ -- quote, unquote -- I think pretty close to within this calendar year. A lot of stuff we¡¯re doing right now is dealing with very detailed corrections and fielding statistics. We¡¯re also auditing these seasons as we go along, just doing general corrections and also biographical research.¡±

Thorn says the committee does not have a specific target date in mind for what we¡¯ll call ¡°Version 3.0,¡± but whenever it comes, it will be, to Thorn, merely an update to the stenographic record, nothing more.

¡°Stats are an approximation of reality,¡± Thorn says. ¡°They are not real, in and of themselves. What they do is record a story. And the story of the Negro Leagues is what MLB is celebrating.¡±

Lester echoed that sentiment. To him, the specificity of a number like Josh Gibson¡¯s career home run total or Satchel Paige¡¯s win total is all academic. What matters most is the general context that the available numbers provide.

¡°The stats validate what we knew from the oral history about the greatness of these ballplayers,¡± Lester says. ¡°So I¡¯m glad they¡¯re getting out there in discussion that helps push the Negro Leagues forward in regard to recognition. That¡¯s the beauty of the stats. I just love this stuff. This is fun.¡±