Hey MLB, how about the Negro Leagues?
Late in 2020, the powers that be at Major League Baseball announced that they were going to officially recognize the Negro major leagues (referred to henceforth just as the Negro Leagues) as the major leagues that everyone else had known they were for years. This article isn’t about the can of worms that is MLB acting like they are the arbiters of baseball’s history. Rather, the focus of my writing today is on what has come after MLB made its announcement.
It’s now been over a year since MLB made their announcement and where do we stand? Organizations like the Society for American Baseball Research and Baseball Reference have gone all-in on the idea of the Negro Leagues being major leagues. They have built on the momentum caused by MLB’s announcement and have worked to further integrate the Negro Leagues not just into their sites but into the fabric of MLB history as well. This is a topic that is also a double-edged sword as it does feel that in some ways it is sanitizing the fact that the Negro Leagues didn’t exist alongside MLB but because MLB said players of color were not allowed in their leagues. Be that as it may, I give these organizations credit for doing their best to keep the ball rolling and further engage with fans on the idea of the Negro Leagues being at the same level as the other MLB leagues.
Where is MLB though? What measures have they taken since their announcement to ensure that the Negro Leagues were given their fair share of the historical spotlight? What has MLB done to better address the history of the Negro Leagues with modern baseball fans? Has MLB really done anything other than crafting an announcement, sending out a few press releases, and then moving on as if those actions absolved them of any responsibility for the Negro Leagues both existing and being ignored in the first place?
We know the answer to every single one of those questions. MLB has done very little after the announcement they made. They held their yearly Negro Leagues appreciation nights in various stadiums. Rob Manfred and company occasionally tossed a bone to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City with a promo spot, donation, press release, or some other measure that was quickly and swiftly moved past. When given the chance to truly let the public know about the Negro Leagues MLB said, “We finally gave them their recognition, now other than the empty platitudes we offer from time to time, can we please move on?”
What’s most frustrating about this entire affair is that it doesn’t have to be this way. Every MLB franchise could have Negro Leagues sections in their team stores, on their websites, throughout their stadiums, and so on and so forth. MLB itself could be putting out regular features on Negro Leagues players. They could be doing everything in their power to drive home the accomplishments of the Negro Leagues. Most of all, it would have been so easy for them to keep up with the statistics they decided to include and work into every radio, TV, and internet broadcast the changes to MLB history that took place as a result of Negro Leagues players now being held on equal footing with the standard MLB leagues. Heck, at this point I’d settle for the ability to go to my local MLB team store and buy some Milwaukee Bears gear. How hard is it to remove a section of the 7,000 different types of Milwaukee Brewers gear that can be found in the store and put some Bears jerseys, hats, shirts, posters, and whathaveyou out for the public to see and hopefully buy?
It’s not hard, everyone knows that. You know that, I know that, MLB knows that. Keeping the momentum going after MLB’s announcement about the Negro Leagues wasn’t hard. Sites like Baseball Reference and SABR have shown how easy it was to shift their focus even more to the Negro Leagues post-MLB announcement and retain an interest in what had just happened. Not MLB though, they couldn’t be bothered. At the end of the day, their announcement about the Negro Leagues being recognized as major leagues was a lot of hot air and yet another empty measure from an organization that lives by empty measures. That’s how MLB has treated the Negro Leagues for years now, you thought that was going to change just because MLB finally decide to rightfully recognize the Negro Leagues as major leagues?
